Apple Cranberry Bread with Orange Zest
Posted by Monica Puri Bangia | Under Appetizers/Snacks, Dessert, Holiday Ideas, breakfast, kid friendly Tuesday Oct 20, 2009
It’s apple season. They are all over the place. We all love apples in our family and usually just eat them raw. I never really cook with them or make apple sauce- well maybe some apple pie- once in a while.
This year since I am doing this blog I felt I should come up with a cake or a bread recipe that will can use any kind of apples.
While I was mulling it over in my mind, my neighbor dropped off a bunch of apples from a farm they visited over the weekend. I felt even more pressure to come up with a recipe. I finally got time to work on it after a week or so..
While I was looking online for ideas, I came across many apple cakes with a sweet crumble topping. They were all good but I wanted to make something different. I then came across a cranberry apple bread. It reminded me of a cranberry orange bread I used to buy a few years ago. I decided to combine all the flavors and came up with this bread.
I made it on Friday right before my cousins were coming over for the weekend. Well, it was gone on Sunday! Everyone loved it including my daughter. The texture was soft due to the grated apples. The cranberries and orange zest are a match made in heaven- absolutely delicious. The nuttiness from the whole wheat flour came through loud and clear and complemented the apple flavor really well.
The bread has very little sugar and only half a cup of extra light olive oil- so very healthy. Overall, I am thrilled with this recipe, especially because any kind of apples can be used. So, please try this one- it is truly delicious!
- 1½ cups white whole-wheat flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup extra light olive oil
- ¾ cup turbinado sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups grated apples
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 2 teaspoons fresh orange zest
Heat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan and keep aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Keep aside. In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the oil and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add one egg at a time mixing in between. Add the grated apples, cranberries and orange zest and mix well. With a rubber spatula mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated.
Transfer the batter into the loaf pan and bake for about 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan for 5 minutes before taking it out. Cool completely before serving.
[...] Apple Cranberry Bread with Orange Zest [...]
Cranberries have also been called “bounceberries,” because ripe ones bounce, and “craneberries,” a poetic allusion to the fact that their pale pink blossoms look a bit like the heads of the cranes that frequent cranberry bogs.