Kitchen Concoctions





You might have to save this one for later…

I can’t believe the month is almost over. Seriously. I have been so busy I almost forgot about the magazine of the month series. Almost.

So here in the last few days of February I will be featuring the magazine Bon Appetite.

The first recipe I decided to make was this pumpkin cranberry bread. I know what you are thinking it is February not November. Can you even find pumpkin or cranberries this time of year? Pumpkin maybe. Cranberries probably not.

I choose this recipes because well, I had fresh cranberries in my freezer needing to be used and so I went looking for a recipe I could use them in and these muffins sounded great.

I love pretty much anything pumpkin. So I knew these were a sure fit for me. The true test were the pumpkin haters of my family. Did they like them? They sure did! They all said the same… The tart cranberries mellowed the pumpkin flavor. My mom even asked if she could keep some to eat for breakfast for the next day. Whahoo!
Notes: Because of the pumpkin these are moist muffins and only keep fresh for a few days but they do freeze well and can be warmed in the microwave. The original recipe called for pumpkin pie spice and buttermilk but I did not have any on hand, so I had to modify this. Oh and cranberries maybe hard to find this time of year so you may have to bookmark this recipe for later or I guess you could use dried cranberries, but I don’t think they would be as good!

Cranberry Pumpkin Bread
Printable Version
Prep Time: 15 minutes Bake time: 40 minutes Makes 1 large loaf, 4 mini loafs, and 12 muffins

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon all spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup frozen cranberries, chopped

Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter 4 (5 3/4 x 3 x 2) inch mini loaf pans.

Add the lemon juice to the milk and let sit for 5 minutes. Whisk 2 cups flour, spices, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add 1 cup sugar, beating until blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in pumpkin, then vanilla. Beat in dry ingredients alternately with milk/lemon mixture in 2 additions each. Toss chopped cranberries with remaining 2 tablespoons of flour. Fold in cranberries into batter. Transfer batter to pans. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar.

Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool bread in pan on rack 15 minutes. Cut around bread at short ends to loosen from pan. Turn bread out onto rack. Cool bread completely.

DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Wrap and store at room temperature.

adapted from Bon Appetite, October 2003

Comments

  1. Hi-I found your blog through Mel's Kitchen Cafe, and when it opened up I immediately started laughing! My name is also Heather, and I have a food blog whose design is so similar to yours it's scary. Great 'Heathers' think alike, I guess! 🙂

  2. I love pumpkin too and cranberries with it sound so good. I will definitely put these flavors together sometime, unfortunately in a gluten-free way. 🙂