Pumpkin Bread -1

First let me say, I didn't actually make this one. I did stand over and supervise the making of it though. Chief Commentator's daughter asked to make some pumpkin bread, so I dug up a recipe in my Grandma Melusines cookbook, and the two of us hit the kitchen for a little baking time. Again a recipe that was cut out of a newspaper with no credits.

Also, much like my cranberry dilema, it seems that myself, and both Grandma's have a think for pumpkin bread too (and zucchini bread, and carrot cake... ) so I have resorted to the numbering system.

2 cups cooked pumpkin
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 cup walnuts,finely chopped (thank you food processor)

Blend pumpkin, sugar, eggs and oil, add baking powder, soda, salt, allspice, cinnamon and flour. Mix well and fold in nuts. Bake at 325 for 1 hour or until done when tested with toothpick. Makes 3 small loaves.

Delishes. Everyone who tried some loved it. No one could believe that a 10 year old made it. One friend commented that she is officially 'out baked' by a 10 year old. The recipe is pretty fool proof, and the loaf comes out with a beautiful texture and pumpkin flavor. Not overwhelming with too many spices, or faux pumpkin like some of the boxed mixes - this is really a treat to behold.

Cranberry Bread - 2

Yes. Here we have another recipe for Cranberry Bread. This one also comes from my grandma Melusine. This one is a cut out from a newspaper clipping. The clipping credits Eleanor Madigan, so cheers to you Eleanor, thank you for sharing your recipe.

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
3/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
1 cup fresh cranberries - chopped (I threw them in whole, and let the mixer chop them)
1 cup nuts (ditto on the chopping)

Combine all ingredietns except cranberries and nuts, mix well, stir in cranberries and nuts, pour into pan which is well greased and bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes.

Yes, you can see this one earned the distinction of Easy - mostly because I took it upon myself to make the chopping of the nuts and cranberries easier. A little something I learned, if you just toss them in and let them whip themselves with the dough - the crack and chop all on their.

Chief commentator liked this one a lot. He said he could really taste the orange coming through in the recipe and loved how the cranberries left little tart pockets in the orangy flavored bread. We both liked the consistancy better than the first batch, although I still feel like there is a recipe out there with a slightly better texture. Good thing I seriously have like 29 more cranberry bread recipes to try...

Cranberry Bread - 1

First off my darling readers, I must make a confession. I love cranberries. LOVE them. The day that fresh cranberries hit the supermarket shelves, I am buying bags by the armfuls and throwing them into any and every recipe I can. I'm also freezing them like crazy so I can have cranberries year around. I think one of the reasons the Chief Commentator is so hesitant to buy a deep freeze is because he secretly knows I would devote a solid 1/2 of it to cranberries.

Apparently this obsession of mine with the fruit runs in both sides of the family. Not only do the cook books I've put together have pages upon pages of recipes with the lovely little red berries being showcased, both of my grandmothers fill their books with recipes requiring them.

So for simplicity sake of keeping track of the volumes of Cranberry recipes, I've added Cranberries to my sortable list (on the right side of the blog) and because there are so many Cranberry Bread (and also Cranberry sauces, etc) I am going to number them so not to confuse myself or hopefully you. Many of them do not differ by much, although I am hoping in those small subtle differences, I will find what truely makes one better than the other.

This one comes from a recipe card from my Grandma Melusine's small cardex box. I found it the same day I found the beef bourguigon and made it the following.

3 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon soda

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

3 tablespoons melted butter

juice of 1 lemon , juice of 1 orange plus water for 1 cup total liquid

1 1/2 cups cranberries cut in half

nuts

bake one hour at 325.

Ok - my first kevetch of this recipe... I do not like standing there slicing cranberries in half. Especially for a fruit that when exposed to heat pop on their own.. but I did it (patiently). It's for that reason, the recipe got a Moderate rating rather than easy. It takes a lot of time to cut those suckers. Not that it's necessarily "hard" work.

I also kinda felt like I was wasting the lemon and the orange by not grating the rind into the recipe.. but maybe that is just me.

First off, the bread came out looking beautiful. It had a very nice light color to it, it smelled amazing. The dough consistance had good flavor of oranges, and cranberries, but the texture was a little moist. Cheif commentator wondered if maybe we should have cooked it longer (although the tester came out clean) to make the texture a little firmer. Or perhaps that is just how it was supposed to be?

All in all a good recipe. Little more work than most, but tasty.

Cranberry Nut Bread

For once, I didn’t “health it up” when I made my bread, and the Chief commentator’s first words were, this maybe the best bread you have ever made! Which leads me to wonder.. none the less, it is pretty damn amazing.

Cranberry - Nut Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons butter
¾ cup orange juice
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1 ½ cups coarsely chopped cranberries or 2 cups dried cranberries
¾ cup chopped nuts. (I used walnuts)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pan. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Cut in butter a pastry blender, two knives, or your hands (I used my hands) stir in orange juice, egg and orange rid. Fold in cranberries and nuts. Spoon into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Makes 1 loaf.

Technical stuff: Makes 1 loaf.

Difficulty: moderate – if you aren’t used to cutting in butter, it could be tricky.

Time : about 60 minutes

Served with: honey butter & hot coffee

Reheat Well?: it’s delicious!

Comments: it’s really really good. really really good.

Things I'd do differently next time: I would add just a touch more orange peel.

Honey butter:
Put 1 stick of butter in microwave safe dish, and heat til soft (about 25 seconds) add in 3-4 tablespoons of honey, stir well. Place dish in freezer for 5 minutes to set.