Cranberry Bread in the Manner of John Kerry @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: When we visited my sister and brother in law in November, they were both talking about how much they enjoyed a slice of cranberry bread brought to their home by a friend. It was supposed to be a recipe that Senator John Kerry baked from Massachusetts cranberries. Of course I searched for it online. Mr. Kerry's bread looked a little dry so I tweaked the recipe a bit, substituting orange juice for buttermilk and upping the butter. I left out the zest because I didn't have an orange. We call this "in the manner of John Kerry only better!"

Ingredients

1/2 cup of butter

Three large eggs

Three-quarter cup orange juice

2 1/2 cups flour.

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh cranberries, halved

Three-quarter cups chopped pecans

Cream the butter together with the sugar. Beat in the eggs one by one. Beat in the vanilla. 

In another bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat the dry ingredients into the butter mixture alternating with orange juice. Fold in the cranberries and pecans. Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar.

Bake the loaf at 350 in a well buttered Loaf pan for 45 to 55 minutes, checking for doneness with a skewer. (Mine took 55.)

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including USA Today bestselling A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. You can order that wherever books are sold. If you’re all caught up, try Lucy’s first women’s fiction title, THE INGREDIENTS OF HAPPINESS.

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