Cranberries are totally awesome, totally versatile and totally in season! I am in love with how tart they are, they pair so well with sweet and savory dishes, but of course, I love my sweets. I have been checking the store every week to see if they had stocked the fresh cranberries yet, and finally, last week, they had them! Fresh cranberries are so completely different than dried cranberries, they are like a different fruit. Dried sweetened cranberries taste like nothing but sugar to me and are actually pretty high in calories. So, I love when I get the option to use fresh cranberries. I knew I needed to make them shine in a recipe for my Fall and Winter repertoire.
When I was 18, I had a pretty crappy boyfriend who had a super awesome mom! She taught me so many cooking and baking tricks, I think I only dated this guy for a long because I really liked his mom! She was the first person that I made fresh homemade cranberry sauce with. Until that time, I thought everyone just got it out of a can. When she showed me how easy it was, I knew I would never eat cranberry sauce out of a can again. She always added orange juice and orange zest to it. The perfect flavor combination, seriously, whoever paired cranberries and oranges together first was a genius
I knew I wanted to do some savory dishes with cranberries this year, but I also wanted to come up with an orange and cranberry combo that was not only really delicious, but really easy. This would be great to have ready for guests coming to stay with you for the holidays, or just for your self, because you may not want to share. This is perfect for breakfast. And lunch. And dinner.
This bread is so moist, yet crispy on the outside. Tart and sweet, but not too sweet, the perfect balance. I toasted some and put some vegan butter on it and holy crap, I feel like the holidays are here! My four year old daughter ate a slice and said “this is delish, may I have another piece?” I feel very proud of myself when my picky eater likes what I make.
I hope you enjoy, I bet this would be amazing with a Vegan Gingerbread Latte!
Tools I used:
Good Cook 9 Inch Ceramic Loaf Dish, Red
KitchenAid KHM512ER 5-Speed Ultra Power Hand Mixer, Empire Red
Wilton 2105-6813 Perfect Results Nonstick Cooling Grid, 16 by 10-Inch
Vegan Cranberry Orange Bread
- Prep Time: 15m
- Cook Time: 45m
- Total Time: 1h
Ingredients
- 1/4 c Vegan butter, I use Earth Balance
- 2/3 c Brown sugar
- 1/3 c White sugar
- 1 Flax egg (2 Tbsp. flax meal+3 Tbsp. water=1 egg)
- 2 tsp. Orange zest
- 1/4 c Orange juice
- 2 c All purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
- 1 tsp. Baking soda
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1/2 c Almond milk
- 1/2 tsp. Apple cider vinegar
- 1 c Cranberries, fresh
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Make your flax egg by mixing the flax meal with water set aside. Make your vegan buttermilk by mixing the almond milk and apple cider vinegar together and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the vegan butter and sugars. Add the flax egg and orange zest. Mix together until fully incorporated. Add the orange juice and combine.
- In a medium bowl, sift all the dry ingredients together. Begin adding the dry ingredients and almond milk mixture to the wet ingredients, alternating between the dry ingredients and the almond milk until it is all full combined.
- Cut the cranberries in half and then fold into the batter. Pour into a prepared bread pan. Bake at 375 for 40-50 minutes. Serve with vegan butter, jam or just plain!