Cooking Done Light

Cranberries aren’t just for Thanksgiving anymore!! After having discovered their numerous health benefits, they have become a wonderful and welcome addition to yummy sweets like pumpkin bread, lemon cake, fruit cobblers, and apple pies; and they have joined our favorite breakfasts like muffins, pancakes, and cereals. People snack on them dried in trail mixes, energy bars, or all by themselves! Cranberry sauce is great on both sweet and savory breads, on toast, and even spread on chicken or turkey sandwiches instead of the traditional fatty mayo. Don’t let the thought of sour, tart cranberries keep you from trying them in your baked goods – as you’ll see with this delicious breakfast bread, they have a wonderful sweet taste after they have cooked or baked. If you really don’t want to go through the trouble of hunting down and chopping fresh cranberries, you can use frozen – or even dried (but if you use dried, reduce the amount of sugar called for in the recipe by 1/3).

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh cranberries

1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 tablespoons canola oil

1 large egg, slightly beaten

1/3 cup orange juice

zest of one orange, grated

2/3 cup skim milk with 1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar mixed in (or 2/3 cup store bought low-fat buttermilk)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and generously spray a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.

In a small bowl stir together the orange juice, orange zest, milk (or buttermilk), oil, applesauce and egg. In a separate, larger bowl, mix together the flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Using a sturdy wooden spoon or rubber spatula stir the wet ingredients into the dry until everything is just moistened. Add the chopped cranberries and pecans and fold in until just combined (do not overmix, or your bread will be “tough”).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes; then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 35 – 40 minutes more (until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean).

Cool the loaf in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and allow to finish cooling.

Makes 10 servings (10 slices). Per slice: 187 calories, 4 g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 27 g carbohydrates, 5 g fiber, 7 g added sugar (mostly naturally occurring), 8 g protein, 118 mg sodium, 16 mg cholesterol.