Orange Cranberry Quickbread

It may officially be spring on the calendar, but it's still COLD where we live.  There's still snow on the ground and the forecast is a high of 29 degrees today. Yuck!

My kids keep asking me why it's not warm already.  They know yesterday was the first day of spring, so where's the spring weather?  Where's the flowers and warm sunshine?  They've been looking forward to spending more time outside.

I'm also looking forward to them spending more time outside. :)  I want to know where the spring weather is, too!  I've had more than enough of winter and when I've had enough of winter, I think about moving somewhere like Florida---the Sunshine State.

I can't change the weather (sorry kids) and moving to Florida isn't going to happen, so I guess I'll turn on the oven instead and bake something that reminds me of the Sunshine State.  Something with juicy, sweet oranges baked inside like this Orange Cranberry Quickbread.

Ingredients (printable recipe)
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for loaf pan
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick cold butter, cut into pea size pieces, plus extra for loaf pan
1 orange, zested (I used 2 mandarin oranges)
3/4 cup fresh orange juice (I used orange juice that we had in the fridge)
1 orange, peeled, sections removed and diced (I used 2 mandarin oranges)
1 egg
1 cup dried cranberries
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. In a food processor combine the flour, sugars, salt, baking soda and butter. Pulse, pulse, pulse until the mixture resembles finely grated cheese. Add the orange zest, juice and the egg. Pulse, pulse, pulse until the mixture is just combined. Remove to a bowl and stir in the diced oranges and cranberries.
3. Grease and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan and add the batter. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through the cooking time to insure even cooking.
4. When done let cool for about 20 minutes and remove from loaf pan. Let cool completely before cutting.

Adapted from FoodNetwork/Anne Burrell

I only had a bag of mandarin oranges on hand. I adjusted the recipe and used 2 mandarin oranges in place of 1 regular orange (since mandarin oranges are smaller). I zested the oranges, peeled them, separated the sections and peeled each section, too---like  you see in this photo. Once the oranges are peeled and diced, this quickbread comes together.......... quickly! :)

The food processor made a quick and easy dough. I have a 7 cup food processor and it was just big enough to hold all these ingredients

Love the colors!

It had a yummy, crunchy outside.......

And lots of delicious goodies on the inside!

The Results...

A little bit of sunshine for our tastebuds.  Orange and Cranberry are one of my favorite flavor combinations.  This bread was crunchy on the outside, moist inside, sweet and full of flavor.  Everyone enjoyed it.  Orange Cranberry Quickbread was quick to make and quick to disappear!

You might also like these Orange Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

I share recipes at these linky parties.