This was GREAT! Made it for our Mother's Day get together. I never use shortening and always sub it with sour cream, I also used a whole can of whole cranberry sauce. I also made one loaf with nuts, the other without. Otherwise, I followed the recipe. I will make this again!
EXCELLENT base recipe.
Thanks for the start!
bananas and cranberries -- what an awesome combination! The result is a kind of "spice bread." I think that the nutmeg is key!!
Here's my healthier version.
Note: bananas -- Using VERY RIPE ones, and more of them, gives the moisture AND sweetness.
Banana Cranberry Bread
2 1/2 c. sugar --> reduce to 3/4 c. sugar
1 c. shortening -- eliminate this entirely
3 eggs
3 mashed bananas --> increase to 10 VERY RIPE (brown) mashed bananas
1 c. cranberry sauce --> substitute 1 bag = 12 oz. whole cranberries instead
1 orange, peeled and mashed -- ADD this
1/2 cup milk
1 t. vanilla extract
4 c. all-purpose flour --> substitute 3 c. self-rising flour
1 1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg --> increase to 1 t. ground nutmeg
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
2 loaf pans (9x5") --> 3 loaf pans
350 for 50--60 m --> 40 m (less cooking time means more moistness)
I used a can of whole berry cranberry sauce, no shortening, 3 T of dry milk powder (in place of liquid milk), and only 1 cup of sugar. It is now my family's favorite banana bread recipe, even beating out the cocoa chocolate chip banana bread.
Absolutely delicious. I was looking for a recipe for moist Cranberry-Orange bread. This was it. The first time I make a new recipe I try to make the original recipe but this time after reading the reviews I used 1 cup of chopped fresh cranberries instead of the sauce and I used the zest of one orange. This recipe made 6 mini loaves. I used a toothpick to make sure it was done. This will go into my Hall of Fame.
This is a great recipe! I always have mashed ripe bananas in my freezer and often cranberries so it's a dandy. I, too, might add a handful of whole cranberries to my next batch and would perhaps add a few more walnuts. For extra flavour, I toasted the walnuts lightly in a non-stick pan first - no oil, just medium heat and remove before they burn! Lesley, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
I used my leftover candied sweet potatoes instead of banana and WOW. Very moist, very delicious and very happy to use my leftovers in such a creative way.
I thought this recipe was just okay. I made it into muffins and it worked well, I just didn't find them particularly flavorful. Adding some dried or fresh cranberries might add some needed zing.
My husband (who hates cranberries!) loved this recipe. I used homemade cranberry sauce (recipe on this site Cranberry Sauce I submitted by Toni) and while the actual cranberry sauce was excellent I have to agree with other reviewers that there didn't seem to be enough cranberries. Should consider adding some whole cranberries next time. I substituted margarine for the shortening and made them into muffins instead of loaves. Worked out well.
I cut the recipe in half to make just one loaf (but kept the 3 bananas (very ripe) and 1 cup cranberry sauce). I also made some changes to make it healthier. I used only 1/2 cup brown sugar and substituted apple sauce for the shortening. It turned out moist and delicious.
