My great-grandmother was as famous for her baked goods as she was for her dry Oklahoma wit. Our family’s cookbooks are full of her recipes, but none are quite as beloved as her cranberry bread. It’s been our traditional Christmas breakfast for years. Since we usually have a few extra loaves tucked away in the freezer after the holidays, however, it’s more of a winter treat than a true Christmas delicacy. Tart cranberries, sweet orange, and mellow pecans give this bread a bright but comforting flavor—and you’ll be amazed at how good it smells when it first comes out of the oven!
Yields: 1 large loaf or 6 mini-loaves // Prep Time: 15 minutes // Cooking Time: 1 hour
Basic Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons baking powder
2 cups flour
¼ cup shortening
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
¾ cup orange juice
1 well-beaten egg
1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
½ cup chopped pecans
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease one standard size loaf pan or six mini-loaf pans.
Combine sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and flour in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening until fine.
Add orange peel, orange juice, and the beaten egg to the flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Fold in chopped cranberries and nuts. Pour into the prepared loaf pan(s). If using one standard size loaf pan, bake for one hour or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. If using 6 mini-loaf pans, bake for 30 minutes.
The featured image is courtesy of Maribeth Barber and used with her kind permission for Cultivating and The Cultivating Project.
As someone who loves creating cosmos from chaos, Maribeth Barber Albritton is a storyteller at heart. Even in seasons requiring a fierce stubborn courage, she will be finding ways to tell herself and others a good, true, beautiful story. As part of that broader storytelling bent, Maribeth serves as Director of Media and Communications for Cultivating Oaks Press, contributes to the production of Cultivating Magazine’s online and print editions, and writes the Cultivating Motherhood column. She was privileged to serve as Executive Assistant at The C.S. Lewis Foundation from 2022-2024.
Her self-published science-fiction novel, Operation Lionhearted, was a double-finalist in the 2022 Realm Awards (Debut & Science Fiction Categories). These days, she writes “Letters from Crickhollow,” a Substack for those who want to cultivate beauty, grace, and courage in their busy lives.
Maribeth, her pastor-husband Casey, and their daughter Molly live in Louisiana, where they love taking long walks through state parks and adding theological volumes, novels, and board books to their family library.
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