Orange Cranberry Pumpkin Quick Bread is ultra moist and delicious!
I bought several pie pumpkins just before my local farm stand closed for the year. They just looked so pretty, I couldn’t resist! Since I can’t eat traditional pumpkin pie because of the lactose and my boys don’t really like pumpkin pie, I thought I would come up with some other recipes that had merit. I scored with this quick bread!
So you know when you’re trying to clean out the little bits of this and that out of the refrigerator and freezer and stumble on cast of characters that should be really great together? As it was with this bread. There was the 1 orange in the fruit drawer for too long and had started to look less than perfect but when cut was perfectly juicy, not dried out. Then there were the 2 partial bags of cranberries in the freezer. I have made a great Cranberry Bread for years that everyone loves, I thought about going with that and then saw the 4 beautiful little pumpkins sitting on the counter and thought, wow that sounds really good!
I used an adaptation of several different breads to come with this super easy, incredibly moist Orange Cranberry Pumpkin Quick Bread.
If using raw pumpkin, remove stem and cut pumpkin in half. Scoop seeds out with a tablespoon. Canned pumpkin will work just as well.
Coat the edges that will touch the roasting pan with a bit of oil so they won’t stick. Place flesh side down in roasting pan and roast at 350° F / 177°C about an hour, until soft. Let cool thoroughly.
Measure flour, soda, salt and spices in a bowl and set aside.
Once pumpkin has cooled scoop pumpkin meat out and measure about 2 cups.
I saw this technique on Allrecipes.com in a recipe posted by Carol. Usually, I zest the orange, being careful not getting any of the white pith and then juicing it. I did a bunch of research and discovered the pith is very high in fiber and is loaded with antioxidants. What the heck, I’ll try anything once. In addition to the added health benefits, it takes a hell of lot less time!
So…Quarter the whole orange and remove seeds.
Place the quartered orange in the food processor and pulse until most pieces are fine with a few left larger for extra texture in the bread.
Beat eggs.Add orange and mix.
Add pumpkin to egg/ orange mixture. Mix Pumpkin into egg mixture.
Sort any bad cranberries out. Pulse frozen berries until fairly fine. Put them in a bowl
Next pulse nuts and add to bowl with cranberries.
Mix a heaping tablespoon of flour with cranberries to prevent them from floating to the top of the batter in the pan.
Add sugar to wet ingredients. Mix well.
Incorporate flour about 1 cup at a time, just until wet.
Don’t over beat. My 6 qt. Kitchen aid Mixer is my favorite tool!
Incorporate cranberries and nuts by hand, just until mixed or your dough will turn pink from the juice of the cranberries.
Spray loaf pans with no stick spray. Fill approximately 2/3 full.
Bake for 45 minutes to an hour (large loaves may take longer). Test for doneness with a cake tester or pick inserted in the middle of the bread should come out clean. These are really moist so they have to cool for at least an hour on a cooling rack in the pans or they will fall apart! Slide a knife along the edges and turn upside down to remove from pan. Then thoroughly cool before storing. Notice the large chunks of orange and cranberry. This Orange Cranberry Pineapple Quick Bread are so moist and fruity, they are irresistible! If you like this try my Orange Pineapple Coconut Quick Bread!
Less than 15 minutes to get this ultra moist bread in the oven!
- 3 1/2 cups flour
- 2 tsp . baking soda
- 1 tsp . salt
- 1 tsp . cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp . nutmeg
- pinch of ginger
- pinch of cloves
- 3 cups sugar
- 1 orange
- 2 cups pumpkin puree
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans
- 1 heaping Tbsp. flour
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Preheat oven to 350°F / 177°C.
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If using raw pumpkin, halve and remove seeds. Place in roasting dish pulp side down for about 1 hour. Let cool thoroughly. Remove meat and measure about 2 cups.
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Mix flour with baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg. ginger and cloves. Set aside.
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Quarter orange and remove seeds. Place pieces in food processor and pulse a few times. Rind pieces should not be too large, but I like some of them about pea size or slightly larger.
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Beat eggs in mixing bowl.
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Add pumpkin and orange and combine.
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Incorporate sugar into wet ingredients.
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Add dry ingredients about 1 cup at a time, just until mixed.
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Process cranberry in food processor, again, leave a few of the pieces pea sized or so. Place in a bowl.
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Process nuts in food processor. Add nuts to cranberries in the bowl and toss together with the tablespoon of flour. This helps to stop the fruit from floating to the top of the batter.
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Incorporate Cranberries and nuts to the batter by hand.
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Spray loaf pans with no stick spray.
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Fill loaf pans 2/3 full.
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Bake 45 minutes - 1 hour, depending on size of loaves, or until pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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Allow loaves to cool on cooling rack in the pans for at least 1 hour. Then slide knife down the edges to loosen. If they are cool enough, they literally fall right out when turned upside down. Let loaves cool fully on rack.
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These freeze very well. after they are fully cool, wrap in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil.
Originally Published 11/18/2014
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The orange pumpkin bread was too die for-indeed one of my favorites.
totally kick-ass!
Thank you, Jay! Glad you enjoyed it!
I love orange and cranberry together. But the addition of pumpkin . . . brilliant!! Love it!
Thanks Elaine! I almost forgot about this bread! I have to make it again! Yum!
Wow adding pumpkin in a bread recipe is a fine idea,must try it this weekend, thanks
I love pumpkin quick bread, especially in the fall! Thank you Jagruti!