By Kara Kimbrough
I get it – Christmas is here (or perhaps already come and gone if you’re
reading this later in the week) and baking any more cakes, pies, cookies
or related sweet treats just isn’t in your plans.
However, if you have a few days off between now and New Year’s,
you’ll need something to snack on while leisurely drinking your
morning (or afternoon) coffee or when guests drop by unexpectedly.
There’s nothing easier to pull together than these two quick breads that
you literally cannot mess up.
One of my go-to quick breads that easily doubles as a dessert or as
mentioned, a late morning breakfast or afternoon snack, is cherry bread.
I’ve given loaves of the fragrant bread as presents and dropped them off
when a friend was sick or in need of an extra dessert.
I added a new quick bread to the lineup this year after I purchased a bag
of fresh cranberries for a Christmas recipe and began searching for ways
to use the remaining berries. Just like the cherry bread, this one is
impossible to mess up. Ingredients can simply be dumped in a bowl,
mixed together and poured into a loaf pan.
Try one – or both – recipes to enjoy with your coffee as the last
remaining days of 2024 fade into the sunset.
Happy New Year!

Super Moist Cranberry Orange Loaf
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 ¾ cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup mandarin oranges, drained
¾ cup milk
¾ cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 tablespoon white sugar
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a large loaf pan. Whisk
flour, 1 3/4 cups sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in
a large bowl. Add melted butter; stir until mixture is crumbly. Reserve
1/4 cup each cranberries and mandarin oranges; stir remaining into flour
mixture.

Beat milk, sour cream, eggs, and extracts in a separate bowl until
smooth; gradually stir into flour mixture until batter is thoroughly
incorporated. Pour into prepared loaf pan. Scatter reserved 1/4 cup each
cranberries and mandarin oranges on top of batter; sprinkle with
remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes; reduce heat to 350
degrees and continue baking until center of bread springs back when
touched, 35 to 40 minutes more.
Fail-Proof Cherry Bread
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup of buttermilk
¼ cup juice from 10-ounce jar of maraschino cherries (reserve the
cherries for the end)
1/2 cup each white and brown sugar
¼ cup softened butter
2 eggs
3 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon each – salt and baking soda
Cup of chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
Add everything except cherries to mixing bowl. Beat well, scrape
sides of bowl and beat again. Add chopped cherries and mix well. Bake
in a greased and floured bread pan in a 350-degree oven for 60-70
minutes. Cool on rack, then invert onto a serving dish.

Glaze: mix a cup of powdered sugar with a teaspoon or two of
milk and a teaspoon of almond extract. Beat and add milk until you get
the consistency you like. Drizzle over warm bread.
Kara Kimbrough is a food and travel writer from Mississippi. Email her
at kkprco@yahoo.com.