Recipe Cranberry Banana Bread

Diane Lane

Diane Lane

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Texas, United States
'Tis the Season. Fall season, that is, and so it's time for cranberry recipes. I baked a loaf of this Cranberry Banana Bread yesterday, and it came out absolutely lovely, so I wanted to share with y'all. It's easy to make, and doesn't require unusual ingredients, other than dried cranberries and shortening, which some don't keep on hand these days. If you don't want to use the shortening, you can try these shortening substitutes.

Ingredients
  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium)
  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup cinnamon graham cracker crumbs (about 2 whole crackers)
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Directions
  1. In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in bananas. Combine the flour, cracker crumbs, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Fold in walnuts and cranberries. Pour into a greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pan.
  2. Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Yield: 1 loaf (12 slices).
 

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This is delicious. I love banana bread and have added chocolate chips, I never thought to add cranberries. That just takes it up a festive notch. Thanks for sharing. I've never used shortening in a banana bread before. Does it make the cake lighter or moister?
 
I like the cranberry twist to offset the sweetness of the bread. I'll be trying this as soon as cranberries appear in the shops. Cranberries tends to be a Christmas thing here (Cranberry sauce for the turkey) so they don't seem to appear until later in the year.
 
Dried cranberries are good all year around!
A few chocolate chips instead would give it the more unhealthy vibe:okay:
 
Berties said:
Dried cranberries are good all year around!
A few chocolate chips instead would give it the more unhealthy vibe:okay:
Click to expand...
Good point regarding cranberries. I'm looking for recipes to replace expensive bought 'bars' which everyone except me eats around here.
 
I love the 'craisins', they're delicious. They're popular where I'm from, although I don't know of anyone down here who eats or cooks with them. I love tucking little extra things in to boost the nutrition of what I'm cooking.

@purplepen88 I think it's more a matter of it probably being an older recipe. Back in the day, most recipes called for shortening. These days, many include butter or oil instead, and I think the consistency is about the same with all of them. I don't normally keep shortening here anymore, since most of the modern recipes don't use it, but I needed it for something else, and wanted to use it up, so I specifically looked for a recipe that used it.

@morning glory I want to make some sort of bars while I have these, with oatmeal, brown sugar, craisins, and ... something else. I'll have to look around for a recipe to adapt. Cranberries are a Fall thing here, everyone eats them on Thanksgiving and also at Christmas. I love them year round :).
 
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