Cranberry Pumpkin Bread

There is no one in my house who will eat this bread besides myself and I love it! I got the recipe from the Nestle verybestbaking.com website. It has unanimous rave reviews. I was looking for something to do with my extra cans of pumpkin and I'm sick of making pumpkin cake and I didn't feel like making pumpkin pie and then I came across this recipe. I happen to have a bag of fresh cranberries in the fridge but I couldn't decide between the fresh cranberries or my huge Costco size bag of Ocean Spray dried cranberries - so I used both. The recipe calls for either one. My one single change for this recipe is I added a big splash of vanilla. I'm not sure why, I just love vanilla and I feel like it enhances everything. I ate some of this bread while warm and then tried it again after it cooled, and for once, the cooled product was much tastier than the warm. It just needed to sit for awhile. It would be really good with nuts if you are into nuts. At first I wasn't sure about the addition of orange juice. I figured orange & cranberry are a good match but I like my pumpkin bread or cake to NOT have any orange flavor. But in the end, the orange juice taste was so subtle. It was delicious. I made my bread into mini loaves and I sprayed only the bottom of my nonstick pans, then lined the very bottom with a strip of parchment. I no longer spray the sides of my pans because I find that I get a nicer domed top on my loaves when the sides are left bare - but then again, my pans are nonstick.

And this recipe is sooo quick and easy to put together. It would be fun to make with kids. Oh, and the house smells heavenly while baking!!

I chopped my fresh cranberries. I thought biting into a whole cranberry would be too much.

Very moist and very fragrant. Using oil always makes for a nice moist cake.

Libby's Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 can (15 ounces) pure pumpkin
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup orange juice or water
• 1 cup sweetened dried, fresh or frozen cranberries

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease and flour two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans.

COMBINE flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil and juice in large mixer bowl; beat until just blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in cranberries. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans.

BAKE for 60 to 65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Recipe makes two loaves.

FOR THREE 8 x 4-INCH LOAF PANS:
PREPARE as above. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes.

FOR FIVE OR SIX 5 x 3-INCH MINI-LOAF PANS:
PREPARE as above. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes.