Time for Cranberry Bread

There’s bite and chill to the air as I wander in the local farmer’s market, probing like a squirrel for my winter provisions: squash, apples, potatoes, pecans, green beans, garlic. Anything capable of being frozen or canned for future use (friends have told me they’d like to be stuck at my house should a zombie apocalypse occur). I round a corner, peeking between people at booths overflowing with the autumn harvest, and see them: fresh cranberries. Those of you who have read my website’s archives know how excited I get about fresh cranberries. These aren’t the Ocean Spray variety that pops up in grocery stores, unripe and suspiciously large. Grown in a local bog by a family with 7 acres, they’re harvested when ripe and sold here practically at my doorstep!

I’m teaching myself new lessons in time and recipes this year. Usually, I journey north to buy apples by the box, cart them home, and spend weeks making pies, crisps, sauces, and butter. Usually, I pull on my wellies and make an expedition to a bog to pick my own cranberries; however, a new husband and a full-time job have made these treks regrettably unrealistic. So I make time for what I can do: buy excellent cranberries from a local farmer, support them in their own endeavors, and celebrate with Cranberry Bread, Carcassonne, and friends when I get home. Food tastes better in community. That’s why my kitchen looks out on the rest of our apartment, and why you can always pop over for a game and end up with a piece of cranberry bread, hot from the oven.

Cranberry Pecan Bread (gluten-free & dairy-free)

Cranberry Pecan Bread

Makes 1 loaf

1/3 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup sweet rice flour

1/4 cup tapioca flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup toasted pecan pieces (lightly chopped)

1/2 tsp nutmeg

dash allspice

1/2 cup oil

1/3 cup soymilk or orange juice

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp orange zest

1 cup fresh cranberries, washed well

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and sweet rice flour loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients. In a separate measuring cup or bowl, mix together oil, soymilk, vinegar, lemon juice and orange zest. Beat eggs in well.

Add fresh cranberries to dry ingredients, stirring to coat with flour. Add wet ingredients and mix together quickly but very well so no pockets of flour remain. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake about 30-45 minutes, or until top of loaf is browned and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Recipe was created by Adrienne Kerrigan. Please give credit if reposted or copied.