Cranberry-Nut Tea Bread
Writing last September about quick breads, I didn't know my autumn would be so full of them. A bumper crop of pumpkin butter led to an oven full of pumpkin bread to spread it on. A craving during a scary movie led to a slab of date nut bread spread with honeyed cream cheese. And an error in my Thanksgiving shopping list meant that I found myself with twice my usual amount of fresh cranberries. After making extra cranberry sauce - enough to last through long-weekend turkey breasts straight through the winter -- I remembered that my grandmother used to make cranberry nut bread.
Like many of her generation, my grandmother baked for the neighborhood. In this community effort, each kitchen dispatched its own speciality while everyone helped each other with supplies and ingredients (though, curiously, not with helping hands, for in that era before lifestyle blogs bakers were extraordinarily protective of recipe and technique). A bumper crop of zucchini would circulate to the kitchen that dispensed zucchini bread, or an extra dozen eggs would be "set out" on a custard-baker's porch. Everyone knew that my grandmother hoarded metal coffee cans all year, so paper bags full of them often manifested, along with a note that no one would mind receiving one or two loaves of the dense, nut-brown bread my grandmother baked in the cans. Aside from my grandmother's cranberry nut bread, Mrs. Eden (whose dachshunds were so overfed they often developed a a malady specific to their species called, in Western vernacular, "dew pizen") dispensed cardboard boxes of the most perfectly soft and flavorful chocolate chip cookies, and Mrs. Cross (that's right: Cross and Eden), a transplanted yankee, sent out mincemeat bars that I was the only person who liked.
In developing this recipe for cranberry-nut tea bread, I tried to remain true to the memory of my grandmother's kitchen while remaining practical for today's cook. Most tea bread recipes make multiple loaves (my grandmother baked a half-dozen at a time in those coffee cans), but this recipe is honed down to one. It is a wonderful respite from and compliment to the season's cookies and sideboard desserts. Just as the lemon pound cake recipe from last spring evokes that season's welcome sunshine, this cranberry bread is the perfect recipe for holiday baking. Let it fill the house with the wonderful blooming fragrance of orange and spice as it bakes, and then set slices out for nibbling as you decorate. And if you're looking for something to bring to the office holiday pot-luck, this tea bread is the perfect treat.
CRANBERRY-NUT TEA BREAD
After you zest the orange, you may want to juice it, and use that juice in the recipe.
2 cups flour
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus extra for the pan
1 egg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 orange
1-1/2 cups fresh cranberries
3/4 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or pistachios
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 x 5 loaf pan; set aside.
2. Use a commercial vegetable cleaner to wash the orange. Place on a paper towel to dry.
3. Measure flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice into a small bowl. Use a whisk to combine the dry ingredients.
4. Use a food processor or blender to coarsely chop the cranberries. Transfer the chopped cranberries to a bowl.
5. Use the food processor or blender or a nut chopper to finely chop the nuts. Measure out and reserve 1/4 cup chopped nuts. Add 1 tablespoon sugar and the nutmeg. Toss to combine and set aside.
6. Use a small paring knife to remove the brown cap from the stem ends, and any scratches from the surfaces of, the orange. Working over the bowl containing the chopped cranberries, use a zester to remove just the orange skin (the "zest") from the orange, avoiding the white pith beneath. Add the remaining 1/2 cup chopped nuts to the cranberry-zest mixture; toss to combine.
7. Melt the butter and set aside to cool briefly. Working in a bowl large enough to hold the batter, break the egg into the bowl. Whisk the egg until foamy. Add the orange juice; whisk to combine. Add the butter in a thin stream, whisking constantly to build volume and to avoid shocking the eggs.
8. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet mixture just until combined. Fold the cranberry-nut mixture into the batter just until combined.
9. Use a silicon spatula to scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the top of the loaf with the reserved sugar-nut mixture.
10. Place bread in oven and bake until knife or cake tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, approximately 50 minutes.
11. Remove tea bread from oven. Allow to cool, approximately 10 minutes, before turning out of pan and serving.
Like many of her generation, my grandmother baked for the neighborhood. In this community effort, each kitchen dispatched its own speciality while everyone helped each other with supplies and ingredients (though, curiously, not with helping hands, for in that era before lifestyle blogs bakers were extraordinarily protective of recipe and technique). A bumper crop of zucchini would circulate to the kitchen that dispensed zucchini bread, or an extra dozen eggs would be "set out" on a custard-baker's porch. Everyone knew that my grandmother hoarded metal coffee cans all year, so paper bags full of them often manifested, along with a note that no one would mind receiving one or two loaves of the dense, nut-brown bread my grandmother baked in the cans. Aside from my grandmother's cranberry nut bread, Mrs. Eden (whose dachshunds were so overfed they often developed a a malady specific to their species called, in Western vernacular, "dew pizen") dispensed cardboard boxes of the most perfectly soft and flavorful chocolate chip cookies, and Mrs. Cross (that's right: Cross and Eden), a transplanted yankee, sent out mincemeat bars that I was the only person who liked.
In developing this recipe for cranberry-nut tea bread, I tried to remain true to the memory of my grandmother's kitchen while remaining practical for today's cook. Most tea bread recipes make multiple loaves (my grandmother baked a half-dozen at a time in those coffee cans), but this recipe is honed down to one. It is a wonderful respite from and compliment to the season's cookies and sideboard desserts. Just as the lemon pound cake recipe from last spring evokes that season's welcome sunshine, this cranberry bread is the perfect recipe for holiday baking. Let it fill the house with the wonderful blooming fragrance of orange and spice as it bakes, and then set slices out for nibbling as you decorate. And if you're looking for something to bring to the office holiday pot-luck, this tea bread is the perfect treat.
CRANBERRY-NUT TEA BREAD
After you zest the orange, you may want to juice it, and use that juice in the recipe.
2 cups flour
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus extra for the pan
1 egg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 orange
1-1/2 cups fresh cranberries
3/4 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or pistachios
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 x 5 loaf pan; set aside.
2. Use a commercial vegetable cleaner to wash the orange. Place on a paper towel to dry.
3. Measure flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice into a small bowl. Use a whisk to combine the dry ingredients.
4. Use a food processor or blender to coarsely chop the cranberries. Transfer the chopped cranberries to a bowl.
5. Use the food processor or blender or a nut chopper to finely chop the nuts. Measure out and reserve 1/4 cup chopped nuts. Add 1 tablespoon sugar and the nutmeg. Toss to combine and set aside.
6. Use a small paring knife to remove the brown cap from the stem ends, and any scratches from the surfaces of, the orange. Working over the bowl containing the chopped cranberries, use a zester to remove just the orange skin (the "zest") from the orange, avoiding the white pith beneath. Add the remaining 1/2 cup chopped nuts to the cranberry-zest mixture; toss to combine.
7. Melt the butter and set aside to cool briefly. Working in a bowl large enough to hold the batter, break the egg into the bowl. Whisk the egg until foamy. Add the orange juice; whisk to combine. Add the butter in a thin stream, whisking constantly to build volume and to avoid shocking the eggs.
8. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet mixture just until combined. Fold the cranberry-nut mixture into the batter just until combined.
9. Use a silicon spatula to scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the top of the loaf with the reserved sugar-nut mixture.
10. Place bread in oven and bake until knife or cake tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean, approximately 50 minutes.
11. Remove tea bread from oven. Allow to cool, approximately 10 minutes, before turning out of pan and serving.
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