Recipe: Cranberry Orange Bread

I was inspired to make a loaf of orange bread when my roommate bought dried orange slices from Trader Joe's:

I thought I could put them on top of the bread for a pretty decoration. But I was afraid the dough underneath would not cook, so I thought I'd add them when the bread was half-way done. That did not work. At that point the top of the loaf was already quite baked, so the orange slices would have just sat on top as opposed to being actually baked into the bread. So now we still have the orange slices left. Oh well. 

I found this recipe on AllRecipes.com, and it looked pretty easy. I didn't have any cranberries or Craisins, so I strictly made orange bread. 

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1.5 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 cup butter, cut into small chunks
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tbl. grated orange juice
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup chopped cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a standard baking loaf pan.

2. Combine all dry ingredients. Stir butter into the flour mixture. Add wet ingredients and mix well. Fold in cranberries and walnuts. Spoon into prepared pan. 

3. Bake in the oven until toothpick inserted comes clean, about 60-75 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

As you can see, my bread is a little burnt and not very tall. It was only until I was typing the ingredient list did I realize I had forgotten the baking soda. Oops! But in the end, the bread did taste very good. It tastes like an orange muffin. It's only a bit dry, but it would go great with coffee or a large glass of milk. I would make it again!