Specifically, quick breads.
If you’re anything like me, you have extra things lying around from Thanksgiving that could stand to be used. I’m not speaking of leftovers- those should be gone by now, either consumed or frozen for later use. And if they’re still lurking in the fridge- they should probably be tossed. But what I’m speaking of is that extra can of pumpkin you bought because there’s a supposed shortage. (I haven’t seen it, my store has mountains of pumpkin.) Or the extra bag of apples you picked up to make another pie, but didn’t. Maybe you have some cranberries that didn’t make it into the sauce. One thing these ingredients all have in common is that they can be used to make quick breads. This time of year, these are great to have around. Wrapped well in plastic and foil, they also freeze beautifully and can be pulled out of the freezer whenever you need them. They also make great hostess gifts for all the holiday gathering you’ll be doing in the weeks to come- who wouldn’t love an extra loaf of quick bread to have on hand for hungry guests?
So this week, I have a number of quick breads to share with you. And the first of these has a really unusual method. It also happens to be quite low in fat, so if that interests you at all, you’ll want to make this Orange-Cranberry Bread.
What’s most unusual about this quick bread is that you start with an orange, which you cut into chunks, but leave peeled. Then you throw these orange chunks into a blender with boiling water and blitz. You make a puree of whole orange, and add that to your bread. Honestly? I wasn’t sure I would like this one, but it really intrigued me, so I had to try it. My concern was that the whole bread would end up tasting like orange pith. I don’t know if the boiling water tamed that or what, but the bread simply smacked of bright orange flavor. My change to the recipe was to add a layer of cranberries. Hey, why not? I had homemade cranberry sauce on hand, plus a few cans of whole berry sauce, I might as well try to use them in something. When my batter was together, I poured about half of it into my sprayed loaf pan, and then added a layer of cranberry sauce. When added the sauce, I kept it to the interior of the loaf- leaving a 3/4-inch border around it. Then I very gently poured the rest of the batter in the pan and spread it around. I had hoped that I’d sealed in the cranberry sauce- I didn’t want it to burn while the loaf baked up.
It worked very well, and this bread was delicious, as well as interesting to look at. It really, really is loaded with orange flavor, so if you don’t like orange, you won’t like this bread. I did add the nuts to my bread- but left out the raisins since I was adding the cranberries. I suspect chopped dates would work great here as well.
Orange-Cranberry Bread
1 large orange, unpeeled 3/4 cup boiling water 1 egg 1/4 cup vegetable oil 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar 3/4 cup raisins (I omitted)1/2 cup chopped nuts 3/4 cup cranberry sauce
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Cut orange into pieces and remove seeds. Combine in a blender with boiling water and blend until smooth. Add the egg and oil and blend for a few more seconds.
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and brown sugar. Mix well, and then add the orange mixture. (I poured the orange mixture through a slotted spoon to catch any errant chunks. There were a few, so I definitely recommend doing that.) Stir just until blended, and then fold in the raisins and nuts if using.
Pour half the mixture into a loaf pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Level with a spreader or knife. Gently, dollop cranberry sauce onto the batter- leaving a 3/4-inch border around the sauce. Carefully, pour on the remaining batter and spread it to the edges of the pan.
Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 1o minutes on a rack before removing from the loaf pan. Allow to cool completely before slicing.