Cranberry Orange Quickbread

Let's just say I am sick of hot weather.  Yes, we still have hot weather here.  I read all sorts of blogs with posts about fall weather happening and I am just green with envy.  We are still running our air conditioner, are still hot and sweaty outside, and are still swatting at those d*** mosquitos outside.  Ugh.  So I am trying to bake some coldness into my world.  I know, it sounds crazy since baking means using an oven which means hot temperature but I am thinking less literally than that.  Coldness as in the ambiance of flavors, the overall feeling that different flavors give you.  Like a cranberry orange quickbread.  Cranberry/orange makes me think of winter.  Coldness, see?  Winter = cold (well, in most places anyway).  Thus came the cranberry orange bread to my kitchen.

The recipe is from Anne Burrell.  That crazy haired woman can cook.  And this recipe works.  The flavors are spot on.  And, important in my world, it is super fast to make.  Seriously, I decided to start the recipe one evening when I had literally 30 minutes before a guest was coming over.  I had this bread in the oven AND the dishes washed before she got to our house!  Yes!  The bread wasn't actually for the guest, it was for a function the next day, but we could have served it while she was there!  Do you see the word "quickbread" in the title of this recipe?  Take that to it's true meaning - QUICK BREAD.  You got it!

Cranberry Orange Quickbread
adapted from Anne Burrell, Food Network
makes 1 loaf

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra to flour loaf pan
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick cold butter, cut into pea size pieces, plus extra for buttering loaf pan
1 orange, zested (I recommend a large naval orange)
3/4 cups fresh orange juice (approx. 2 naval oranges)
1 orange, peeled, sections removed and diced
1 egg
1 cup dried cranberries

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350F.  Butter and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

In a food processor, combine the flour, sugars, salt, baking soda and butter.  Pulse until the mixture is like "finely grated cheese".  Add the orange zest, juice and egg.  Pulse some more until just combined.  Pour into a bowl and stir in the orange pieces and cranberries.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.  Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.  Rotate the pan halfway through the cooking time for even baking.

Cool for about 20 minutes and then remove the loaf from the pan.  Cool completely before cutting.
Printable Recipe

I would like to try this recipe with fresh cranberries.  I'll have to increase the sugar a bit to compensate but I think the fresh ones would really pop in the bread.  Something to work on....

Seriously, if you need a quickbread recipe, give this one a shot.  Fast and delicious.  What is better than that?