This lightened-up bread combines fresh cranberries and orange juice to make a treat that is both light and delicious! It is a great healthier option for a fall or holiday brunch, and tastes as wonderful as it looks!
I love when the seasons change and new foods show up in the grocery store! In the fall, I always look forward to apples, pears, cranberries, and in the late fall, citrus. I did NOT like cranberries much growing up, probably because I only had them in the form of canned cranberry sauce, and that just wasn’t my cup of tea. Now that I’ve discovered different ways to cook with them, I’ve found that they are wonderful!
One thing that really reminds me of the holidays are homemade quick breads. My mom always makes pumpkin bread and almond poppyseed bread for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year, and the smell of those breads baking in the oven remind me of holidays growing up. I like to spice things up a bit, so instead of making my mom’s poppyseed bread this year for Thanksgiving, I decided to take her recipe and lighten it up a bit, and throw in some cranberries and orange. I LOVE the combination of cranberry and orange, if you haven’t tried them together yet, you must!
When The Recipe ReDux theme for this month was announced, I was so excited it was quick breads! I’ve been trying for the last couple years to create a healthier quick bread that tasted just as good as the regular stuff, and I can say I’ve finally done it! Hooray! 🙂 To lighten this bread up, I added in some whole wheat flour, replaced 1/2 the oil with yogurt, and reduced the sugar by 1/3. The best part is, you will not be able to tell the difference! And as an added bonus, the glaze is out of this world!!! I hope you get a chance to try it! Look below for more quick bread recipes from other ReDuxers. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
PrintCranberry Orange Bread
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
- Yield: 2 loaves 1x
Ingredients
- Bread
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 cup lowfat milk
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
- 1/4 cup orange juice concentrate (thawed)
- 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- Zest of 1 small orange
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 2 cups cranberries
- Glaze:
- 1/2 cup orange juice concentrate (thawed)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking powder. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, milk, oil, yogurt, OJ, orange zest, vanilla and almond. Beat until it is mixed well with no lumps. Then stir in flour mixture until it is well incorporated, being careful not to overmix. Fold in cranberries. Pour mixture into 2 9×5 greased loaf pans. Bake for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. While the bread is baking, make the glaze. Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, and then remove from the heat. Once the loaves are done, pull them out of the oven and immediately pour the glaze over them. Allow them to cool, and then store in the fridge. Enjoy!
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Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop says
This is one of my favorite types of quick breads. I love how you’ve lightened it up….makes it even better!
Julie @ RDelicious Kitchen says
great minds think alike for this recipe redux 🙂 Looks great!