Cranberry Orange Bread

During the holidays when we were growing up in Pittsburgh, our neighbors and family friends would bake various sweet treats and deliver them around the neighborhood. My mom spent Christmas Eve morning baking cinnamon rolls and my sister and I would run around the neighborhood delivering them that afternoon so that everyone would be able to have cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. Our next door neighbor made jars of candied walnuts, and the neighbor two doors down made gingerbread people. I had almost forgotten about the cranberry orange bread that one of our family friends used to make until my mom reminded me of it the other day. It’s been years since I’ve had it and I decided to make a vegan version. So, after scouring the Internet for recipes, which were all loaded with butter and eggs, I took the leap and veganized a combination of recipes!

The Recipe

Makes 1 9″ x 5″ loaf

2 cups flour (one all-purpose unbleached, one whole wheat pastry)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries

1/4 cup vegan shortening (I used Earth Balance)

1 cup vegan sugar

1/2 cup applesauce

3/4 cup orange juice

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease the loaf pan. Cream the shortening, sugar, and applesauce together. Add the orange juice and combine. In a separate bowl, mix the rest of the dry ingredients and the whole cranberries. Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and combine. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. When removed from the oven, let sit for 10 minutes before you turn the loaf out onto a cooling rack.

I found this bread to be delicious just as it is–sweet, but not too sweet with bursts of tart cranberry. If you want to make this loaf sweeter, you can top with a sugar glaze. For the glaze, you will need 1 cup of vegan powdered sugar and 2 Tbls or more of orange juice. In a bowl, stir to combine, adding orange juice a little at a time until you’ve achieved a glaze-like pourable consistency. Carefully pour over the loaf.

Variation: This version has a very subtle citrus flavor. If you want a more pronounced orange flavor, add 1-2 Tbls of orange zest when you mix together the wet ingredients.