Cranberry Nut Bread with Citrus

There are a handful of sweetbreads that I regularly make for my friends--banana bread, pumpkin spice bread, and this one, cranberry nut bread.  When scrolling through Elise Bauer's "Bakery" section on Simply Recipes, I was thrilled to see this variation--a cranberry nut bread that calls for citrus and juice.  The first time I saw this recipe, I was lying in bed, thinking about what I wanted to bake that morning (yes, baking urges often come first thing in the morning) and I thought, "My...with a little bit of spice and vanilla extract, that would be clearly delicious!" Below is the resulting hybrid recipe from Simply Recipes & Clearly Delicious.  See Elise's for a basic recipe, and mine for a spice and apple sauce infused item that really is clearly delicious.



Cranberry Nut Bread with Citrus
The original of this recipe comes from Elise Bauer over at Simply Recipes and you can find it here.  However, the below recipe calls for multiple changes--instead of using orange juice (which works FANTASTICALLY), I use a combination of apple sauce and apple juice, whole wheat flour instead of all purpose, and a handful of spices to give it a little oomph.

Ingredients
* 2 cups whole wheat flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 1 tablespoon cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon almond extract
* 1 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon orange peel, freshly grated, or preserved
* 1 cup chopped cranberries
* 3/4 cup chopped walnuts, or pecans
* 1/2 cup apple sauce
* 1/4 cup apple juice
* 4 tablespoons butter, melted
* 1 egg, beaten

1.) Preheat oven at 350F.  Begin by combining dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and mix to integrate.  Add chopped cranberries and nuts and stir to coat thoroughly with the flour mixture.  Set aside. 
2.) Hookup your Kitchenaid mixer (or other electronic mixture) and add the following ingredients into the metal basin: melted butter, beaten egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange peel, sugar, apple sauce, apple juice, and extracts.  Mix on low until fully integrated.
3.) Add dry mixture to wet mixture SLOWLY. Remember Alton Brown's anthem: "Speed Kills" both in baking and other arenas (as I have been told).
4.) Coat a bunt pan with butter and flour and pour batter into pan.  Smooth out thoroughly (as this version yields a rather thick batter) and bake for 30-45 minutes.
5.) Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.  Enjoy!


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