Cranberry Orange Bread
Published 12/7/2020 • Updated 8/30/2022
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This seriously moist Cranberry Orange Bread is flavor-packed with fresh cranberries and orange zest, and finished with a delicious cream cheese glaze.
Cranberry + Orange = Flavor Perfection
We have SO many delicious bread and muffin recipes here on Fit Foodie Finds, and while it’s hard to choose favorites, this cranberry orange bread is absolute flavor perfection.
Cranberry Orange Bread Ingredients
This cranberry orange bread comes together in 6 wet and 6 dry ingredients. Easy peasy, people! Oh, and don’t skip the 4 ingredient glaze — we’re serious!
Wet ingredients
- Large eggs
- Maple syrup
- Unsweetened almond milk
- Unsweetened applesauce
- Orange extract
- Melted coconut oil
Dry Ingredients
- White whole wheat flour
- Coconut sugar
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Orange zest
- Fresh cranberries (frozen works too!)
Don’t Skip the Glaze (we’re serious!)
- Cream cheese
- Orange juice
- Orange zest
- Honey
Healthy Swaps
There are a few healthy ingredient swaps that we love to use in muffins and breads here on Fit Foodie Finds. And this delicious cranberry orange bread is no exception!
Flour: This recipe uses white whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour. But don’t worry, it’s still fluffy!
Oil: Because we used an entire cup of applesauce, we were able to bring the oil content down to just 2 tablespoons. We also opted to use coconut oil, which is our favorite for baking. You can try and use another fruit puree such as pear sauce or even pumpkin if you prefer!
Milk: We use unsweetened almond milk in most of our breads and muffins (including this one!) instead of a dairy milk like 2% or whole milk.
Sugar: When it comes to muffins and loaves, we love opting for coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. However, we are confident that brown sugar will work just the same.
How to Make Cranberry Orange Bread
While this cranberry orange bread may look oh so fancy, it’s VERY easy to make. Follow these 4 simple steps, party people:
Preheat & Prep ingredients
First, preheat your oven to 350ºF, and spray a bread pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Next, place dry ingredients into a medium bowl and mix together.
Then, in a large bowl crack eggs and whisk. Then add maple syrup, almond milk, applesauce, and orange extract, and mix.
Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and then mix it all together. Finally, add in melted coconut oil and mix again. You have your batter!
Pour Batter & Bake
Pour the batter into the greased bread pan, and place it in the oven at 350ºF. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the center is fully cooked.
Pro tip: If your bread starts to get too browned around the edges and is still raw in the middle, simply tent a piece of tin foil over the bread to promote even cooking. We didn’t need to do this, but every oven is different!
Prepare Glaze
While the bread is baking, it’s time to prepare the glaze! Place the cream cheese into a small bowl and then heat the cream cheese in the microwave for 20 seconds on high or until cream cheese begins to soften. Once soft, remove the cream cheese from the microwave and mix until smooth.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the cream cheese until the mixture is runny. Feel free to taste test your delicious glaze at this point 🙂
Let Cool & Drizzle
Remove the bread from the oven, and let the bread cool for 10 minutes and then remove from the bread pan to continue cooling. Let cool for at least an hour before drizzling the glaze over the bread.
How to Store Cranberry Orange Bread
Let your bread cool completely before transferring it into an airtight container such as a gallon-size plastic bag.
We recommend storing this cranberry orange bread on the counter for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Looking to freeze? Read on!
Can You Freeze Cranberry Orange Bread?
This loaf is extremely easy to freeze. We do recommend, however, that if you are going to freeze it to refrain from adding the glaze.
How to freeze cranberry orange bread: remove bread from the pan and let it cool completely. Once cooled, tightly wrap it with a piece of tin foil, removing as much air as possible. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Pro tip: you can also freeze slices of this bread instead of the entire loaf. Just cut the loaf Into slices and continue freezing as directed.
Can This Recipe Make Muffins?
Heck YES! We’ve already perfected this cranberry orange bread as muffins HERE. Feel free to add this delicious glaze to the top, and don’t skip the orange zest!
CHeck it out!
6 Healthy Muffin Recipes – 1 Base Batter
Are you a muffin queen just like us? Here’s our favorite base recipe for healthy muffins + 6 different healthy muffin recipes you can make with it! Get all 6 healthy muffin recipes HERE!
Cranberry Orange Bread
Ingredients
Dry
- 1.5 cups white whole wheat flour
- ½ cup coconut sugar, or light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 cup fresh cranberries, frozen works too
Wet
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
- 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
Glaze
- 2 oz. softened cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon orange juice, or more to make it thinner
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1/2 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- First, preheat the oven to 350ºF and spray a bread pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- Next, place dry ingredients into a medium bowl and mix.
- Then, in a large bowl crack 2 eggs and whisk. Add maple syrup, almond milk, applesauce, and orange extract, and mix.
- Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and then mix. Then, add in melted coconut oil and mix again.
- Pour the batter into the greased bread pan and place it in the oven at 350ºF and bake for 45-50 minutes or until the center is fully cooked.
- While the bread is baking prepare the glaze.
- Place the cream cheese into a small bowl and then heat the cream cheese in the microwave for 20 seconds on high or until cream cheese begins to soften.
- Remove from the microwave and mix until smooth.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the cream cheese until the mixture is runny. Set aside.
- Remove the bread from the oven.
- Let the bread cool for 10 minutes and then remove from the bread pan to continue cooling. Let cool for at least an hour before drizzlin the glaze over the bread.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Photography: photos taken in this post are by Erin from The Wooden Skillet.
Yum! So easy and so delicious
Happy to hear it!
This loooks really yummy, I will try to make it myself. Thanks for sharing such an amazing recipe.
This recipe is amazing! I love cranberry orange and had high expectations. Used vanilla extract and added some orange juice since I didn’t have orange extract. I also had to pull it out of the oven immediately because I realized I forgot to add the coconut oil. Mixed it into the batter in the container and it still came out amazing!!
So good! I wanted to make it ASAP when I saw it since I had fresh cranberries, but I had to make substitutions — mashed banana instead of applesauce, sunflower oil instead of coconut — but it was still so good! I would recommend a smaller loaf pan than a big sandwich-size bread, just because I don’t think I’d have enough batter for my 10-inch pan. I usually skip glazes but am very glad I did not here!