Vegan Cranberry Orange Bread

Combine tart cranberries and sweet orange juice to make this vegan cranberry orange bread, this holiday season! This is one of my favorite holiday bakes. It always turns out well and always gets rave reviews. 

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This is one of my favorite holiday bakes. It always turns out well and always gets rave reviews. Combine tart cranberries and sweet orange juice to make this vegan cranberry orange bread, this holiday season!

This flavor combination somehow screams Christmas to me. It is an easy quick bread recipe, perfect for breakfast or brunch, to have with morning coffee. You can even have it for dessert!

You can make this recipe as traditional loaves, muffins, and mini loaves as well.

• TRADITIONAL LOAVES : Follow the recipe given below, as it is.
• CRANBERRY ORANGE MUFFINS: Adjust the baking length to 10-15 minute ot until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• MINI LOAVES: Reduce baking time to half or about 30 minutes or bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Fresh vs Frozen Cranberries

Fresh juicy cranberries are usually pretty easy to find at any grocery store throughout November and December, ie during Christmas season. 

You can also use frozen cranberries for this recipe. Thankfully, there is not much difference between frozen and fresh cranberries. Cranberries freeze really well. 

If you use fresh cranberries, wash them, toss them with flour, then add them to the batter and fold them in gently. If using frozen cranberries, do not thaw them.

Ingredient List and Alternatives

• All Purpose Flour – All-purpose flour is the base of this quick bread recipe.
• Baking Powder and Baking Soda – Make sure your baking powder and soda are not expired.
• Cut or whole cranberries – I recommend using frozen or fresh cranberries, though dried cranberries will also work.

• Orange zest – I prefer using zest from fresh oranges. Make sure you zest just the orange peel, and not the white part under the orange
• Orange juice – Again, fresh orange juice would work best to give that orange flavor. t’s easiest if you zest the orange before you squeeze the juice from it. You can also use store brought orange juice.
• Almond Milk – You can use normal milk instead if you don’t need this to be vegan. Alternatively, you can use any other plant based milk as well.
• Others – Sugar, Oil, Vanilla extract, Salt

How to make the Best Cranberry Orange Bread

Below are the detailed instructions for making the perfect cranberry orange loaf. I would highly suggest reading through the following steps for minute details and tips and follow it up with the video. 

The recipe at the end is more of a quick reference guide for you to use.

Bread

1. Pre-heat oven to 355 F / 180C and grease a 9 X 5-inch loaf pan*. Also line with parchment paper* so there is a over-hang (check video)
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and half teaspoon salt. 
3. Next, whisk together almond milk, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, orange juice and fresh orange zest.
4. Pour the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to combine.
5. Then, fold in cranberries.
6. Pour batter into the prepared pan and add some leftover cranberries on top of the batter.
7. Tap pans gently on work surface to remove bubbles.
8. Baking time : 45-60 min or until a wooden skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.
9. Cool for 10-15min in the pan and then transfer it to a wire rack* to cool completely.

Sweet Orange Glaze

1. In a small bowl*, mix powdered sugar and orange juice to form the glaze.
2. Drizzle it on top of the bread once it has cooled.
3. Slice and enjoy!

What to serve with vegan cranberry orange bread

I love serving this bread with a bunch of other yummy goodies for Christmas brunch. Here are a few suggestions to try:

• Eggless Pancakes
• Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
• Cheddar & Chives Scones

LOVE HOLIDAY BAKING??

Here are some of my favorite ones, that I am sure you would love –

• Vegan Star Bread
• Hot Chocolate Cookie Cups
• Vegan Rum Cake

Did you find this recipe helpful ?? Leave me a star rating & comment about it or any recipe idea you would love to see. Don’t forget to share with family and friends!

Tips to Perfect Cranberry Orange Bread

• If you are using frozen cranberries, toss them in some flour before adding into the batter. This helps form a light layer of flour around the berries which in turn will absorb some of the berries’ moisture and reduce the chance of them from sinking in the batter. Without this, you end up with a layer of cranberries at the bottom of the bread.

• If you have noticed that your oven doesn’t bake evenly, you can loosely cover the loaf with a piece of aluminum foil. This will allow your orange cranberry bread to bake evenly on all sides and prevent the top from getting too brown before the center bakes through.

• Another pro tip – let the cranberry bread cool before cutting. If you try to cut it while it’s still hot, it’ll likely crumble when you’re cutting the bread. 

Commonly Asked Questions

1. What is a quick bread?

It’s one where there is no yeast in the recipe and doesn’t rise. It has no rise time, therefore making it a ‘quick’ bread. The texture is quite similar to cakes, and people often call it a loaf cake as well. This bread is also a no knead bread, making it easy to whip together quickly and easy for any beginner baker.

2. Do you eat this sweet bread cool from the fridge, room temperature or warm from the toaster?  

This is a personal preference. Some people like it cool – straight out of the fridge or at room temperature.Others like to lightly toast a slice of cranberry bread and smear butter or cream cheese on it before eating. This is a perfect treat however you eat it!

3. How to store cranberry orange bread?

The best way to store cranberry bread is wrapped in foil on the counter for a few days or in the fridge for up to week. 

4. Can I use dried cranberries in this recipe?

Yes, you can. While I have not tried it, but you can use dried cranberries instead of fresh or frozen ones. Use 3/4 to 1 cup as mentioned this recipe.

5. How do you freeze cranberry orange bread?

This cranberry orange bread freezes really well. Allow it to cool completely before wrapping it in plastic wrap. Then store it in a large ziploc bag, removing as much air as possible. You can freeze this bread up to 3 months. Defrost on the counter before eating. 

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