Cranberry Orange bread with Sweet Orange Juice Glaze

I love cranberries and I especially love them combined with orange. The two flavors are so complimentary. This bread combines the two and then brings out even more flavor with a delicious glaze. It's dense, but still moist and tender and looks so festive with the dried cranberries. It would be a perfect gift for neighbors. It would also make a cute hostess gift in a basket with hot cocoa and some nice lemon curd or jam. This recipes makes 2 large loaves or if you prefer, 6 mini loaves.

Cranberry Orange Bread with Sweet Orange Juice Glaze

adapted from My Recipes

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened, plus more for buttering pan
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup orange juice
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons freshly grated orange zest
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
2 cups powdered sugar
7 to 8 tbsp. Orange Juice

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 330°. Butter two 6-cup-capacity loaf pans (or, if making the mini loaves, butter six 2-cup-capacity pans).
2. With an electric or standing mixer on medium speed, cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add orange juice, sour cream, orange zest, and vanilla; mix until blended.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture and cranberries to wet ingredients and mix just until dry ingredients are absorbed; do not over mix.
4. Pour batter into prepared loaf pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers of breads comes out clean, 70 to 75 minutes for large loaves and 60 minutes for mini loaves.
5. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and 7 tbsp. Orange Juice. Glaze should have consistency of thick maple syrup or corn syrup. If it is too thick, thin with an additional tbsp. of juice.
6. Let loaves cool in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and transfer to a cooling rack set over a large baking sheet. With a thin skewer or long toothpick, poke deep holes in tops of loaves. Drizzle with Orange Juice glaze so that it coats the top, runs down the sides, and seeps through the holes.
7. Let loaves cool completely, then slice and serve, or wrap and freeze (see Note).

Note: Loaves can be made up to 1 month ahead and frozen. Bake and glaze loaves and allow them to cool completely. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap, put in zip-lock plastic bags, and freeze. When ready to serve, remove from freezer and defrost at room temperature.

Posted by: Sallie