Don't hate me... This isn't really "bread". This is straight up cake, complete with a mouthwatering glaze. Why do I call it bread? Good question and there are 2 answers; 1) Because I can and 2) because I made this delight in a bread pan.
This recipe came about as an accident. It's based on a lemon poppy seed bread that would make a church lady swoon at a potluck. I went to make it and realized I had neither lemons, nor did I have poppy seeds. I did, however, have a bag of cranberries in the freezer and a bowl full of oranges and, thus, the bread was born! It's a favorite, here, especially during the holidays. You can, pretty much, chuck everything in a bowl and get perfect results, every.single.time.
So, here's my method:
For the bread:
3 cups all purpose flour
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup coconut oil, melted
1 TBS melted unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped cranberries
Zest of 1 orange
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour 2 bread pans. Mix the baking soda and salt with the flour and then mix in everything else, except the zest and the cranberries until it's fairly smooth and well incorporated. Gently fold in the zest and the cranberries and divide the batter between the pans. Bake for about 50-55 minutes, or until set in the middle. Remove from pans and remove to a cooling rack,
For the glaze:
1/4 cup orange juice
3/4 cup sugar
1 tbs butter, salted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
Chuck all but the vanilla and almond extracts into a sauce pan and stir, over medium-low heat and the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and add extracts and then spoon over the warms loaves of bread and spread it until it covers the top of each loaf.
