Cranberry Walnut Bread with a Crumble Topping

Growing up we always had cranberry sauce at our Thanksgiving table.  I am not talking homemade lumpy cranberry sauce, I am talking straight up from a can cranberry sauce.  I thought the indents on the cranberry blob/sauce were pretty cool and  that it allowed you to see how it looked from the inside of the can.  Why did it need those indentations on the can anyway?  This, I will never know (well, unless I hit up google, but I am not too concerned about it anymore).  Can or not, I always loved cranberry sauce.  My favorite thing to do was use it the day after and pile it on top of my left over turkey sandwiches.  There is just something really special about turkey and cranberry sauce.  It’s no coincidence that this is a combination served in restaurants now.

Flash forward years and years later and now I don’t eat those left over sandwiches. Now we are a house of vegetarians, but I still like to enjoy delicious homemade cranberry sauce.  It’s really such an easy thing to whip up with fresh cranberries!  Even though Thanksgiving has already passed by us, I love to incorporate cranberries into December/holiday recipes too.  They are so festive and delicious!   I decided that a Cranberry Walnut bread would be a divine dessert or even breakfast on or around Christmas.  I love bread, it’s a fact.

I played around with making it, using a pretty basic sweet bread recipe, and then adding the little extras.  I thought this bread was amazing, and then I added the crumble topping and was blown away.  It adds a little extra sugary, crunchy goodness that accompanies the cranberries so well. It takes the bread from really good, to really great!

When I made this, I ended up making 4 mini loaves and one regular loaf. I have given the loaves to family and friends, and everyone is loving it.  I can’t wait to make this again around Christmas!

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Cranberry Walnut Bread with a Crumble Topping

Ingredients

For Bread

• ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 egg lightly beaten
• ½ cup orange juice
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 ½ cups fresh cranberries roughly chopped or pulsed in a food processor
• ¾ cup walnuts toasted and chopped (this is optional, but it a great addition)

For Crumble Topping

• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ TBS light brown sugar
• 1 TBS granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• pinch salt
• 3 TBS unsalted butter melted

Instructions

1. For the Bread (use bread ingredients)
2. 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x5 loaf pan or 4 mini-loaf pans.
3. 2. In a large mixing bowl (I used a stand mixer), cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg and orange juice and mix until combined. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and beat slowly, a little at a time, into the butter mixture. Gently fold in the cranberries and walnuts until just mixed.
4. 3. Spoon the batter into the 9x5 loaf pan or 4 mini-loaf pans. Set to the side.
5. For the Crumble Topping (use topping ingredients)
6. 1. Combine the flour with the brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in melted butter, and mix together with a fork, pressing and turning until little clumps form and all the butter is mixed well.
7. 2, Using your hands, sprinkle the topping over the loaf/loaves until it is covered. There is no such thing as too much topping!
8. 3. Place in center of the oven, and bake until golden and a tester has just a few moist crumbs on it (about 30 minutes for mini-loaves, 50-55 minutes for a big loaf). Make sure you use a toothpick to test them as cooking times may vary. Let cool for a few minutes and then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Recipe Notes

(makes 1 9x5 inch loaf or 4 mini-loaves)

I hope y’all love this recipe as much as my family, and it earns a spot in your Thanksgiving or Christmas rotation! 

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- Allyson from Domestic Superhero