Need another breakfast idea? Then try this cranberry orange bread… it’s oil- and butter-free and even has a splash of almond extract for a flavor boost!
Addie’s been back at school for over a month now. We’ve been allowing her to sleep in as much as possible so that she’s not cranky in the mornings. Her bus situation continues to be abysmal because they don’t have enough bus drivers for the county. Although we live 5 minutes from school, it takes the bus about 45 minutes to get to school in the morning. Their route is only in our neighborhood (not a very big one), and the kids often miss their homeroom. In fact, school starts at 8:35am but the bus usually arrives after 9am.
Because the bus situation is less than ideal, my husband and I have been driving Addie to school. Since it seems like everybody is driving their kids to school, the school traffic can get pretty bad. We’ve resorted to being one of the earlier ones for drop-off so we can avoid the chaos. As a result, Addie doesn’t have a lot of time to eat breakfast.
One of the things I’ve been doing is baking some quick bread for the mornings. I’ve made several types, and this orange cranberry one is my latest concoction. I made some substitutions with the original recipe – swapping out the butter for applesauce, substituting white sugar with some brown sugar, and I also added some almond extract for an extra flavor dimension.
The bread did not dry out after several days, and it maintained its flavor as well. The next time, I might add in some chocolate chips, because why not?
Husband’s rating: N/A (he did not have any)
Addie’s rating: 4 out of 5
My rating: 3.5 out of 5
Cranberry orange bread
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup orange juice
- zest of 1 large orange I omitted
- ⅔ cup buttermilk I made my own by adding 1 teaspoon of white vinegar into ⅔ of 1% milk (I allowed it to sit for a few minutes to curdle)
- ⅓ to ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 cups flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sweetened dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375°F. Generously grease or line a standard 9"x5" baking pan and set aside (I used a silicone pan and did not line or grease it).
- In a large bowl, mix together the orange juice, orange zest and buttermilk. Then add the applesauce, egg, almond extract and mix well (I started with about ⅓ cup of applesauce and added a little more to ensure my bread did not dry out).
- In a separate large sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add the wet ingredients and mix until a few dry streaks remain. Fold in the cranberries and mix until everything just comes together. Do not over mix.
- Transfer the batter to your prepared baking pan and smooth out the top. Sprinkle additional cranberries on top if desired.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 25 minutes. Then turn down the oven to 350°F and bake for an additional 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Allow the bread to cool before slicing and serving.
This one I might try! I’ll skip the almond extract–wife has nut allergies…
Author
Ah yes – you can substitute with vanilla extract then!
I think you should put some white chocolate chips, then drizzle a cream cheese glaze over it to make it like those Cranberry Bliss Bars. I would def try that!
Author
Oooooh I like how you think, June!!!