Cranberry Nut Loaf

When I found out that Wendy from Simply Me was looking for guest bloggers, I thought it would be a great opportunity for me. Wendy is cooking her way through Simply in Season. In one year, she would be cooking her way through the first cookbook which focuses on local and produce in season. I thought this was a fantastic idea.

However with the upcoming fall season, she hit a roadblock. There were several recipes that used cranberries, but the poor girl is allergic! Well, we (fellow bloggers and I) came to the rescue!

I chose to make this cranberry nut loaf because it sounded pretty simple, and something I would eat as well. I looked at the ingredients, and it was definitely something I would normally make!

At first, the recipe didn’t mention what kind of cranberries to use (dried or fresh). I ended up using fresh because I guess that’s the point of the book…use fresh! I didn’t have any trouble making this except for some runaway cranberries while trying to chop them. Have you ever tried to coarsely chop cranberries? I ended up pulsing it a few times in my food processor. I also wasn’t too clear when the directions called for 2 TBSP grated orange peel. I assumed the zest of an orange…so that’s what I did.

Cranberry Nut Loaf
adapted from: Simply in Season
printable recipe

ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup ground flax seed meal
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1 egg
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup oil
zest of one orange
1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans (divided) (I used pecans)

directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

In a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients: flour through salt. Set aside

In another bowl, mix together wet ingredients: egg through vanilla, until combined. Add dry ingredients to wet.

Fold in cranberries and half the nuts. Pour batter in the prepared pan. Top with remaining nuts. Bake in preheated oven for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert and remove from pan, allow to cool completely before slicing.

Gary was upset when I mentioned I was going to bring this to work…so we ended up eating this ourselves. We ended up eating almost half the loaf ourselves. The flax meal made this very filling, and we ended up spoiling our dinners that way. Needless to say, this was a hit!

I think next time for portion control, I will try making this in muffin form.