Tag Archives: baking

The first Saturday of autumn must mean this: chocolate chip pumpkin muffins

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Hello, hello! I realize my space here has been mighty quiet, but now that the first fall Saturday is here, I’m feeling all nostalgic and can’t resist popping by to share again my family’s tradition for fall Saturdays: chocolate chip pumpkin muffins. I’ve written about these numerous times over the years and have posted my boys’ favorite recipe multiple times, too, but I can’t resist sharing again. My boys are 13 years old now (13!! How?!), and they still insist that Saturdays in the fall must start with these muffins. The only difference is that now, one of my sons will sometimes make them himself. But the first Saturday of the season, it is my job and I treasure it.

It’s been three years since I wrote about these little gems, and I thought I’d share that original post again. This post includes not only the vegan version that my boys have loved for the past decade, but also a paleo version I sometimes make as well.

How about you? Do you have any favorite fall traditions?

from November 2014:

I inadvertently started a tradition in my household some years ago. I made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins one fall Saturday morning, and suddenly my kids declared it a thing to be done every Saturday of fall. When my kids love something I’ve done for them, it’s very hard for me to say “no” to doing it again. Maybe I’m a pushover, but I do it because I realize that a day will come when they are not asking me to make pumpkin muffins for them anymore, and I’m sure I’ll miss it. So for now, pumpkin muffins they shall have.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

I think I’ve probably posted about these before. It’s a recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock*. I’ve always loved this book. It no longer jibes with my paleo ways, but it’s my kids’ favorite pumpkin muffin recipe, so I oblige. I adapted it to exclude soy milk (which we do not drink), to lower the amount of sugar, and to include chocolate chips.

  • 1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
  • 1 C sugar
  • 1 T baking powder
  • 1/4 t salt
  • 1 t ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 t ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 t ground ginger
  • 1/4 t ground allspice
  • 1 C pureed pumpkin
  • 1/2 C unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/2 C canola oil
  • 2 T blackstrap molasses
  • 1 C ghiradelli semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease a 12-muffin tin. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, almond milk, oil, and molasses. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix. Fold in the chocolate chips. Fill the muffin cups 2/3-full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not try to bake bacon in the oven at the same time, or you risk burning the muffins. Trust me on this. Maybe you never try to bake bacon at the same time as anything else, but I do! Let cool for about 5 minutes. Enjoy!

I love pumpkin muffins, too, but my husband and I prefer not to eat all that flour (and sugar and canola oil). So I’ve begun making paleo pumpkin muffins from one of my favorite paleo cookbooks, Against All Grain: Delectable Paleo Recipes to Eat Well & Feel Great*. Here’s my adaptation of her recipe:

  • 2 C blanched almond flour
  • 3 T coconut flour
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 2 t cinnamon
  • 3/4 t ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 t ground ginger
  • 1/4 t ground cloves
  • 1/4 t sea salt
  • 3/4 C pumpkin puree
  • 1/3 C pure maple syrup
  • 2 large eggs at room temperature
  • 2 T coconut oil, melted
  • 1 t pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 C ghiradelli chocolate chips
  • 1/2 C chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with baking cups. Sift together almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, spice, and salt in a small bowl and mix to combine. Place the remaining wet ingredients in a large bowl and beat on high with a hand mixer. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix till smooth. Gently mix in the dark chocolate chips and chopped pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup 2/3-full. Bake for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Danielle Walker doesn’t mention anything about sifting the almond and coconut flour, but I have found it absolutely essential to creating a better muffin. Otherwise they seem to turn out a bit grainy. However, I’m getting ready to order a superfine almond flour (this one:Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour Super Fine Grind Gluten Free Cholesterol Free albs)* and I’ll see if it makes a sifter unnecessary.

Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

Paleo Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

These aren’t as pretty as non-paleo muffins, but they are moist and delicious. I serve them with a pat of grass-fed butter and a cup of hot spiced tea. Perfect for fall.

So, that’s our Saturday breakfast tradition. And it is our Sunday breakfast tradition, too – the recipes make enough that there are plenty of muffins to heat up before church on Sunday (and I put a tray of bacon into the oven to bake while we get ready, because baked bacon – that’s how I roll!). How about you? Do you have any favorite paleo muffin recipes? It will soon be winter, and when that happens, my boys will no longer expect pumpkin muffins every weekend. So I’m looking for some wintry ideas!

*affiliate links

For the Holidays :: Vegan Cranberry-Orange Muffins

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One of the most popular posts on my blog is my recipe for Vegan Cranberry-Orange bread, my own extra-orangey adaptation of a Vegan with a Vengeance recipe, which itself was an adaptation of an old Fannie Farmer recipe. In that post, I mention that the recipe can be made as muffins as well. But I’d never made it as muffins myself until this past weekend, and I have to admit, it will be mighty tempting to make it this way from now on – muffins bake up so much more quickly than bread, meaning these babies go from “Hey, let’s make muffins!” to “Hey, I have muffins in my belly!” in a flash.

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One of these days, I’m going to figure out what I need to do in order to make a recipe into a pdf that you can print off if you’d like. But for now, I’m just putting it here like this, old-school.

Vegan Cranberry-Orange Muffins

3/4 C orange juice
1/4 C canola oil
1 C sugar
1 t vanilla extract
2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/4 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground allspice
1 T grated orange zest
1 1/2 C fresh cranberries

  1. Preheat the oven to 400F. Lightly grease a muffin tin.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the orange juice, canola oil, sugar, and vanilla.
  3. Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and allspice. Mix until smooth – batter will be quite thick.
  4. Fold in orange zest and cranberries. (Also, if you’d like to add walnuts or another add-in, now would be the time to do that.)
  5. Scoop batter into muffin tin, filling the muffin cups 2/3-full. Bake for 16-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Let muffins cool in tin for about 5 minutes (that’s the hard part). Release onto cooling rack. Enjoy!

These are sooo good, and such a quick and easy way to use up leftover cranberries. Pretty soon, I’m going to try making a paleo version, and if those go well, I’ll be posting that recipe here too.

Cranberries are so festive and delicious, I like to use them as much as possible during this season. How about you? Do you have a favorite way of using cranberries, other than in cranberry sauce?

for summer :: Paleo Peach-Berry Crisp (it’s vegan, too)

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Last night I made this for dessert. Then I had it again for breakfast. I feel like a fruit crisp can swing both ways like that, and there was no one around to contradict me. It was delicious both times.

Paleo Peach-Berry Crisp

Paleo Peach-Berry Crisp

I did add a piece of bacon this morning to make it more breakfast-y.

I adapted this recipe from an Against All Grain recipe for Pear-Berry Crisp, a great dessert/breakfast for fall/winter. My summery adaptation was to sub different fruits, different nuts, lime juice for lemon juice, and omit one of the spices that didn’t really go with my fruit choices.

I’m frequently disappointed by desserts that get called paleo but have a high amount of sugar in them. Palm sugar, coconut sugar, maple syrup – it’s still sugar. Even honey is sugar, though I’m a little more open to having raw local honey in a dessert than, say, palm sugar. One thing I love about this particular dessert/breakfast is that its sweetness comes entirely from fruit.

It is SO good y’all. The crunch of the nuts combined with the sweetness of the fruit with that little bit of tanginess you get from the berries – YUM.

Paleo Peach-Berry Crisp with Coconut Cream

Paleo Peach-Berry Crisp with Coconut Cream

I always serve it with a big dollop of coconut cream. I don’t do anything fancy to get coconut cream. I don’t even whip it. I just open up a can of Thai coconut cream (full fat) and scoop off a chunk of the cream at the top. I’ll say it again: YUM.

Paleo Peach-Berry Crisp

Filling:

  • 3C peaches, fresh or frozen (thawed)
  • 2C blueberries, fresh or frozen
  • 1C raspberries, fresh or frozen
  • 1T lime juice
  • 2t coconut flour
  • 1/4t sea salt
  • 1/4t cinnamon

Topping:

  • 2T coconut oil
  • 1 1/3C raw nuts (I used an equal amount of pecans, almonds, and walnuts)
  • 4 Medjool dates, pitted
  • 2T stredded, unsweetened coconut
  • 1 1/2t cinnamon
  • 1/4t sea salt
  1. Preaheat oven to 375. Grease a 9×13 casserole dish however you prefer (coconut oil, grass-fed butter)
  2. Combine all filling ingredients in a bowl and stir.
  3. Place all the topping ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles oats.
  4. Pour the filling into the casserole and spread the topping over it.
  5. Bake for 30 minutes or until the juices are bubbling and the top is brown and crunchy.
  6. Open a can of coconut milk and scoop a dollop of cream off the top. Put cream on top of each serving of crisp. If serving for breakfast, add a side of bacon for maximum yumminess.

Saturday Morning Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins, Two Ways (vegan and paleo)

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I inadvertently started a tradition in my household some years ago. I made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins one fall Saturday morning, and suddenly my kids declared it a thing to be done every Saturday of fall. When my kids love something I’ve done for them, it’s very hard for me to say “no” to doing it again. Maybe I’m a pushover, but I do it because I realize that a day will come when they are not asking me to make pumpkin muffins for them anymore, and I’m sure I’ll miss it. So for now, pumpkin muffins they shall have.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

Vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

I think I’ve probably posted about these before. It’s a recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock*. I’ve always loved this book. It no longer jibes with my paleo ways, but it’s my kids’ favorite pumpkin muffin recipe, so I oblige. I adapted it to exclude soy milk (which we do not drink), to lower the amount of sugar, and to include chocolate chips.

1 3/4 C all-purpose flour

1 C sugar

1 T baking powder

1/4 t salt

1 t ground cinnamon

1/2 t ground nutmeg

1/2 t ground ginger

1/4 t ground allspice

1 C pureed pumpkin

1/2 C unsweetened almond milk

1/2 C canola oil

2 T blackstrap molasses

1 C ghiradelli semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease a 12-muffin tin. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, almond milk, oil, and molasses. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix. Fold in the chocolate chips. Fill the muffin cups 2/3-full. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not try to bake bacon in the oven at the same time, or you risk burning the muffins. Trust me on this. Maybe you never try to bake bacon at the same time as anything else, but I do! Let cool for about 5 minutes. Enjoy!

I love pumpkin muffins, too, but my husband and I prefer not to eat all that flour (and sugar and canola oil). So I’ve begun making paleo pumpkin muffins from one of my favorite paleo cookbooks, Against All Grain: Delectable Paleo Recipes to Eat Well & Feel Great*. Here’s my adaptation of her recipe:

2 C blanched almond flour

3 T coconut flour

1 t baking soda

2 t cinnamon

3/4 t ground nutmeg

1/4 t ground ginger

1/4 t ground cloves

1/4 t sea salt

3/4 C pumpkin puree

1/3 C pure maple syrup

2 large eggs at room temperature

2 T coconut oil, melted

1 t pure vanilla extract

1/2 C ghiradelli chocolate chips

1/2 C chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with baking cups. Sift together almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, spice, and salt in a small bowl and mix to combine. Place the remaining wet ingredients in a large bowl and beat on high with a hand mixer. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix till smooth. Gently mix in the dark chocolate chips and chopped pecans. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup 2/3-full. Bake for 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Danielle Walker doesn’t mention anything about sifting the almond and coconut flour, but I have found it absolutely essential to creating a better muffin. Otherwise they seem to turn out a bit grainy. However, I’m getting ready to order a superfine almond flour (this one:Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour Super Fine Grind Gluten Free Cholesterol Free albs)* and I’ll see if it makes a sifter unnecessary.

Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

Paleo Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

These aren’t as pretty as non-paleo muffins, but they are moist and delicious. I serve them with a pat of grass-fed butter and a cup of hot spiced tea. Perfect for fall.

So, that’s our Saturday breakfast tradition. And it is our Sunday breakfast tradition, too – the recipes make enough that there are plenty of muffins to heat up before church on Sunday (and I put a tray of bacon into the oven to bake while we get ready, because baked bacon – that’s how I roll!). How about you? Do you have any favorite paleo muffin recipes? It will soon be winter, and when that happens, my boys will no longer expect pumpkin muffins every weekend. So I’m looking for some wintry ideas!

*affiliate links

Paleo Banana Bread and Other Late Night Shenanigans

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Late night shenanigan #1: I did in fact finish knitting my Autumn Reis last night. And y’all, IT FITS. Like, perfectly. I’d been a little concerned that it might not, because I altered the yoke in a somewhat intuitive way. I had a hunch it was going well, but I couldn’t be totally sure until I was done. I was repaired to rip it back if need be, but I was so thrilled to discover that that won’t be necessary. I still have to weave in the ends, graft the underarms, and block it. I can’t wait to show it to you!

Late night shenanigan #2: I looked out the window just now and there is snow on the ground. While others have been complaining about the sudden cold, I’ve apparently been in a state of denial. I simply refused to believe that winter weather was already here. Alas, with tonight’s snow, which is actually sticking, I can no longer deny the truth.

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Late night shenanigan #3: I was cleaning up the kitchen tonight and noticed three bananas were past their prime. That was all the nudge I needed to do a little quick baking.

Paleo Banana Bread

Paleo Banana Bread

(Not a great photo, but trust me, it’s delicious). I love this paleo Banana Bread recipe from Against All Grain. I subbed maple syrup for the honey (I was out of honey) and added pecans and dark chocolate chips.

It’s cooling now – so excuse me while I go have a bit and get back to my knitting.

Baked :: Paleo Blueberry-Espresso Brownies

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Paleo Blueberry-Espresso Muffins

Paleo Blueberry-Espresso Muffins

I made these for a potluck last night, and I thought they turned out outrageously good. I’m sort of obsessed with them now. They aren’t Whole30-compliant (thanks to 1/2 cup raw honey in the batch), but if you aren’t doing Whole30 and you are able to eat both eggs and nuts then you need to make these right now!

Get the recipe.

(note: the “coconut cream concentrate” the recipe calls for is also known as coconut butter; if you can’t find it in the store, you can very easily make your own)

baked :: Paleo Vegan Pear-Berry Crisp

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I’m also thrilled to find a recipe that is both paleo and vegan, so I can serve it to my whole family (my stepson has been vegan for over a decade). Last weekend, when I was hosting extended family, I was looking for a dessert that I could serve to all ten of us, and I pulled out a recipe I’d been salivating over for awhile, from Against All Grain: Delectable Paleo Recipes to Eat Well & Feel Great:

Pear-Berry Crisp

Pear-Berry Crisp

I didn’t manage to get a great picture of it because I was too busy shoveling it into my mouth. I LOVE this recipe, y’all! I served it for dessert, along with homemade vanilla ice cream (neither vegan nor paleo!), but it would also be great with whipped coconut cream. I also had it plain for breakfast a couple of times, along with some sausage. I’m super-sad it’s all gone now, because I would love to have some this morning. Fortunately for me, I’ve got some paleo Banana Bread (also from Against All Grain: Delectable Paleo Recipes to Eat Well & Feel Great) in the oven right now!

Pear-Berry Crisp
adapted from Against All Grain: Delectable Paleo Recipes to Eat Well & Feel Great
(serves 8)
ingredients:
3 lbs. red pears, cored, peeled, sliced
3 C berries (whichever you like – I used blackberries and blueberries, as per the original recipe)
1 T lemon juice
2 t coconut flour
1/2 t sea salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t allspice
for topping:
2 T coconut oil
1 1/3 C raw nuts (whichever you like – I used almonds and pecans, as per the original recipe)
4 medjool dates, pitted
2 T shredded, unsweetened coconut
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t sea salt

directions:
1 – Preheat the oven to 375. Grease a 9×13 casserole
2 – In a large bowl, stir together pears, berries, lemon juice, coconut flour, salt, cinnamon, and allspice.
3 – Put all topping ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it resembles oats.
4 – Pour fruit into casserole and spread topping evenly over it.
5 – Bake for 35 minutes.

Oh mercy, y’all, this was SO good. I bought more pears last night so I can make it again very, very soon. I love that it requires no added sweetener and yet tastes perfectly delicious. I’m mulling over how to make a similar crisp but filled with strawberries and rhubarb, for spring – but that seems like it would be too tart not to require some sort of sweetener in the filling, doesn’t it?

At any rate, I continue to highly recommend this book. I got it for Christmas and have loved every recipe I’ve tried in it. There are lots of things in it that you can’t make if you’re on Whole30 (paleofied baked goods), but there are plenty of Whole30-approved yummies in there, too. (This particular recipe only includes Whole30 approved ingredients, but I waited till after Whole30 to try it since it does seem to be a paleofied baked good). Do you have the book? If so, what are your favorite dishes?
Against All Grain: Delectable Paleo Recipes to Eat Well & Feel Great (affiliate link)

If You Give a Girl a Cookie…

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… she just might also eat cake, pie, and possibly pizza.

darn good chocolate chip toffee chip cookies

really good chocolate chip-toffee chip cookies

As I mentioned in my Whole 30 wrap-up post last month, I anticipated making and eating some baked non-paleo goodies when extended family visited me at the end of the month. I did pretty well continuing to eat paleo for actual meals – I put together a taco bar one night, a pasta bar one night, burgers one night – all highly customizable meals, easy to make vegan, paleo, or whatever you’d like. But I also made some favorite desserts, and, just as I’d planned, I did indulge.

Perhaps too much. With each indulgence, I slid a little more off the paleo path, until by the end of the family visit, I was eating my first piece of pizza since the beginning of the year. And for the last couple of days, I have continued to indulge in a variety of grain-based, sugar-laden foods. And even though some of it has been delicious, I can also tell a HUGE difference in my mood, my energy, and how my body feels. The weirdest part is my eyes – they always feel tired.

Tomorrow I’ll be back on my track, but for tonight I want to share my recipe for Darn Good Chocolate Chip-Toffee-Chip Cookies. I mean, it is Fat Tuesday after all.

I learned so much from this article a couple of months ago – the author explored how a variety of ingredients and techniques affect a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe. It was very enlightening to think about what I was looking for in a chocolate chip cookie and how to get it. During the four days my family was visiting, I made three different batches of cookies (for a total of 12 dozen cookies), so I had plenty of opportunity to tweak my recipe. Without further ado, here is our favorite. Fair warning: it is neither paleo nor vegan, it is just delicious – and a bit addictive.

Really Good Chocolate Chip-Toffee Chip Cookies

makes 48 cookies

  • 2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda*
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder*
  • 1teaspoon salt
  • 2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies
  • 1 cup toffee bits
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
  3. In  a large bowl, combine butter, both sugars, and vanilla. Mix with electric hand mixer, on medium, about 2 minutes, until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  4. Gradually beat in the flour mixture.
  5. Stir in the chocolate chips and toffee chips.
  6. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto parchment-lined baking sheets.
  7. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 2 minutes on pans before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

*I actually accidentally doubled both the baking powder and baking soda when I made the third batch of these. I was afraid I had ruined them, but they turned out to be our favorite batch – of course, they were also the only batch I added toffee chips to, and those were a big hit. I’m not sure how much of a difference the doubling of these two leavening agents made. All three batches of cookies were delicious, so either way – 1/2 t of both baking soda and baking powder, or 1 t of both baking soda and baking powder – seemed to work. The main thing is that I used both powder and soda, in equal proportions.

Okay, y’all, Fat Tuesday is almost over and I won’t be making these again for a long while. But perhaps you will make them, and if you do, I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Advent Calendar Activity :: Day 9

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We’ve reached the point in the season where I am barely holding all the details of the day together, but I do want to remember these Advent Activities (not to mention keeping my December NaBloPoMo streak going), so here we go. This was Day 9:
Bake cookies for students (keep a few to eat).

My church baked cookies to give to students in our neighborhood, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to try something new(ish). I was so intrigued by this article a friend posted on Facebook recently, and I decided try one of the variations that sounded best to me. So the boys and I got to work, using the 1/2 baking soda, 1/2 baking powder option.

mixer in motion, captured by Little Buddha

mixer in motion, captured by Little Buddha

Monday night was just filled with various frustrations and aggravations, with multiple meltdowns and dramas happening throughout the evening, so that by the time we were ready to bake cookies, I really wasn’t sure we could manage it. But the thing about baking cookies is, eventually, everything gets better.

group selfie by Little Buddha

group selfie by Little Buddha

I mean really, how long can you stay frazzled when you’re dealing with the simple magic of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs? Not long. Because the next thing you know, there is this:

chocolate chip, butterscotch chip cookies

chocolate chip-butterscotch chip cookies

This activity is part of this year’s Advent Activity Calendar. You can find more Advent activities by searching the category “Advent Activity Calendar,” or by referring to the page “Advent Activity Calendar,” where I have tried to catalogue all the activities from 2009 until now.

baked :: Vegan Cranberry-Orange Bread

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If you’re looking for a way to use up cranberries left over from Thanksgiving, I can’t recommend this quick bread highly enough. I made a loaf for company on Thanksgiving morning and it was gone in a flash. I still had enough cranberries in the fridge to make another loaf this morning.

This is my adaptation of a recipe from Veganomicon, which was most likely adapted from an old Fannie Farmer recipe. I used to make muffins quite similar to this, and this recipe could easily be made as muffins (with a much shorter baking time at a higher temp – 18-20 minutes at 400; I always dusted mine with powdered sugar once they were cool). I replaced the soy milk from the Veganomicon recipe with more orange juice, primarily because we had a guest with a nut allergy who also stays away from soy products (often made on equipment also used for nuts). I don’t eat soy either, except occasionally in tempeh form. Ordinarily I substitute almond milk for soy in all recipes, but this time I didn’t because of the nut allergy. I liked the extra orange-y flavor of using more oj instead, so I am going to make it this way from now on.

Vegan Cranberry-Orange Bread
3/4 C orange juice
1/4 C canola oil
1 C sugar
1 t vanilla extract
2 C all-purpose flour
1 1/4 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/4 t ground allspice
1 T grated orange zest
1 1/2 C fresh cranberries

Preheat the oven to 325. Lightly grease a 9×5″ loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the orange juice, canola oil, sugar, and vanilla.

Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and allspice. Mix until smooth – batter will be quite thick.

Fold in orange zest and cranberries, and pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Let bread cool in loaf pan for about 15 minutes. Release onto cooling rack, turn right side up, let cool a bit more, then slice and eat.

(The original recipe calls for 1/2 C chopped walnuts, which I omitted because of the nut allergy. My kids also don’t care for nuts, but on today’s batch I added a few to one half of the loaf after I had poured the batter in.)

This is such an easy and delicious recipe – the only hard part is waiting for it to bake and cool!