Honey Cranberry Cornmeal Quick Bread
Written by joythebaker on December 21, 2009 – 11:54 pm -
I just stepped into my kitchen, turned on the light and was greeted by a massive amount of dirty dishes… not to mention a random stick of butter I left out this morning.
I walked across the way to the dining room table to find all of the half addressed holiday cards I have yet to send.
I shouldn’t even mention the atrocious pile of laundry that I’ve managed to ignore for weeks.
But all is well. All is juuuuust fine. Why? Because I’ve got my little nativity scene up. My Christmas lights are twinkling. I’ve hung silver snowflakes from my windows with scotch tape, and there are cranberry smells coming out of my kitchen. At this rate, I can ignore the household atrocities well into the new year.
Tart, fresh cranberries meet honey sweetened cornbread. Throw in some walnuts, throw in a loaf pan or two… you’ve got one lovely, dense, lightly crunchy quick bread. Great for breakfast. Super for gift giving. Wrap it up. Freeze it up. Butter it up. This bread is simple and comfortable.
Thank you Anna for the gorgeous Wisconsin honey! You’re a dream!
Honey Cranberry Cornmeal Quick Bread
recipe adapted from Epucurious.com
makes one large 9×5x3 loaf or two smaller loaves
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour (if you don’t have whole wheat flour, just use all-purpose flour)
1 cup medium or fine ground cornmeal (I used white cornmeal)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup honey (or pure maple syrup if you have it on hand)
1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (reserving a few whole walnut halves for decorating the top)
1 heaping cup to 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour one 9×5x3-inch loaf pan, or two slightly smaller loaf pans. I think mine are 8×4x3-inches and I made two smaller loaves. Set aside the greased and floured loaf pans.
In a large bowl, whisk together both flours, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder.
In a smaller bowl whisk together honey, eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract.
Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until blended.
Fold in the cranberries and walnuts.
Divide batter between two smaller loaf pans or into one large loaf pan. Spread evenly. Add the whole walnut halves and place in preheated oven. For smaller loaves bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the loaf comes of clean. For the larger loaf, bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
Cool loaves in pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Invert onto a plate or board. Serve warm with butter or wrap and freeze for future you.
Tags: Bread, Breakfast, cornmeal, cranberry, Holiday, recipe
Posted in Bread, Breakfast, Fruit, Holiday, In the Kitchen, Recipes, Sweets | 66 Comments »
Looks great! Joy, you should totally publish your blog onto Kindle!
I just made this bread and it is delicious as a long as your serve it with a little butter and honey. I think the fresh cranberries are wonderful, but they are definitely tart, next time I will probably add 1/2 cup brown sugar to the recipe, I feel like that would give it a little more sweetness and help make it more moist. Otherwise it’s a great recipe! Oh and be sure and set your kitchen timer to the earliest cooking time and check it frequently because if cornbread is overcooked it is not moist and is rather crumbly.
As per my moniker, I made this tonight for church tomorrow. I was glad for the excuse to finally try this recipe. Instead of adding more sugar, I pulsed the cranberries in the food processor first so there’s a more even balance between the sweet and tart.
i made this last night in 4 of the small,well mini loaf pans. this cake is absolutely fabulous.it is rich and buttery and rounded out by the wholesome taste of the walnuts and cornmeal.oh and the cranberries are a really nice tart surprise when you happen upon one! thanks so much for this fantastic recipe!
Sounds great, though in the Caribbean its pretty hard to come across Cranberrys, any suggestions on substitutes?
mmmm..yum. And I second the publishing on the Kindle comment, that would be AWESOME!
I ate a slice broiled with butter, along with bacon and eggs over easy………..oh my, what a super new fave. And none of my family will eat it, so it is all mine!!
[...] catching up on my blog reading I came across this wonderful recipe by Joy the Baker. It reminded me that I had a huge bag of frozen cranberries to use as well as a bunch of Georgia [...]
Made this, gifted this, loved this.
[...] Honey Cranberry Cornmeal Quick Bread by Joy the Baker – This bread is quick, easy, and delish! Cranberries and walnuts are both in season, and this bread is the go to that you need to keep you full while you are busy opening those presents. I suggest switching out the honey for the maple syrup, but I am biased. (Canadian!) [...]
[...] Honey Cranberry Cornmeal Quickbread [...]
[...] Honey Cranberry Cornmeal Quick Bread. Have any leftover cranberries in your fridge? Me too. [...]
Hi Joy,
I bookmarked this recipe in December and finally got around to making it this week. Thank you so much for posting it because it is so delicious!
~Amy
Joy, this recipe is amazing! I made muffins out of them instead because I find them easier to eat, and they were delicious! The boy took one bite and was like oh, yeah, keep this recipe. I used up the last of my holiday cranberry stash, though
Thanks for posting!!!
[...] this is what i’m going to do with that bag of cranberries in the [...]
[...] out the original recipe at Joy the Baker. My modifications are printed [...]