Recently I saw on one of the bulletin boards I frequent a thread titled “Cranberry Chocolate Chip Bread.” I was drawn to it instantly. Cranberries and chocolate chips- how could that be bad on any planet!? The recipe posted required quite a few ingredients that I didn’t have on hand, and I decided I had to tweak a bread of my own. I had to make a quick bread with cranberries and chocolate chips, there was no way around it. I’ve been working on eating down what we have in the freezer from last fall to make room for spring, and one of the things in there is two packages of frozen cranberries.
I really just used a standard nut bread recipe as my muse. I swapped out some of the all-purpose flour for some more healthful white whole wheat, but you can certainly just use all-purpose if that’s what you have. I added some vanilla, because I was surprised that there wasn’t any in the first place. I’ve made quick breads without vanilla, and they just taste flat, that vanilla is important for rounding out the flavors and tying them all together. The nut bread recipe I was using also called for an alternative of adding 1 cup of chopped cranberries. That wasn’t nearly enough, nor did it use an entire package that I had in the freezer. So I upped it to two cups, utilizing the whole package. Let me warn you, chopping frozen cranberries in a food processor is very, very loud. They did chop…but I was scolded by both children for being so noisy. I added a good cup of Ghirardelli chocolate chips, and a few handfuls of chopped pecans, and I had a gorgeous looking Cranberry Chocolate Chip Bread.
It’s fantastic. There are so many cranberries, you get some in every bite, and the occasional bite of chocolate chip takes it completely over the top. This one is definitely a winner. And as always, if you can possibly stand it, wrap the baked bread well in plastic wrap and let it sit overnight before slicing into it. It will be totally worth it.
Cranberry Chocolate Chip Bread
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla1 beaten egg 1 2/3 cup milk 1/4 cup vegetable oil 3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
2 cups cranberries, coarsely chopped 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease two 9×5×3 loaf pans with cooking spray.
In a mixing bowl, stir together the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt, and soda. In a second bowl, combine the vanilla, egg, milk and oil. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and fold together, just until combined. Gently mix in the nuts, cranberries, and chocolate chips.
Divide mixture evenly between the two loaf pans. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until golden brown, and a tester inserted near the middle comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pans, and then carefully remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack. For best results, wrap the breads with plastic wrap once completely cool and store overnight before slicing and serving.