Do you love to share sweet quick breads with friends or neighbors during the holidays? It only takes 10 minutes to whip up a full size loaf or 3 mini loaves of this poppy seed bread speckled with tart cranberries and topped with a sweet crumbly topping!
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Why choose this recipe.
- Easy enough for the beginning baker!
- This recipe can be made into one regular size loaf or into 3 mini loaves.
- Perfect balance of sweet and tart flavors.
- The bright color of the cranberries in contrast with the light colored bread is eye catching and perfect for holiday treats!
Ingredient Notes
- Butter- either unsalted or salted butter works.
- Cranberries - never use canned cranberries for this recipe.
- Sour Cream - full fat sour cream works best, but low fat sour cream may be used.
Step by Step Instructions
- Adjust your oven rack to be a little lower than the center of the oven. The top of your bread loaf should at the center of the oven. This helps it bake evenly all the way through.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with non stick cooking spray. I like to line mine with parchment paper before spraying so I can lift the entire loaf out easily. I also use office clips to hold the parchment paper in place.
- Halve the cranberries and set them aside.
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the almond extract and eggs.
- Beat in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Whisk together the sour cream and milk in a measuring cup.
- Add ⅓ of the flour to the muffin batter.
- Add ½ the sour cream/milk mixture.
- Add another ⅓ of the flour.
- Add the last of the sour cream/milk mixture.
- Sprinkle the remaining flour on the top of the batter. Dump the cranberries and poppy seeds onto top of the flour.
- Fold the cranberries into the batter with the last bit of flour and the poppy seeds. This absorbs any cranberry juice without turning your batter pink. Mix just until combined.
- Spread the batter into the prepared bread loaf pan.
- Prepare the crumb topping by stirring the flour and sugar together with a fork and then cut in the butter until it is crumbly. OR put the flour, sugar and butter in a processor and pulse until it is crumbly.
- Sprinkle the crumb topping on the bread batter.
- Bake at 350 for 60 minutes tenting with foil for the last 15 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean.
- Cool for at least 30 minutes before removing the bread from the pan to finishing cooling.
Recipe FAQs and Expert Tips
You can but it's not necessary. Keeping it in the fridge will keep it fresh longer but you won't become ill from it being kept at room temperature on the countertop.
Be sure to fold the cranberries in with the last bit of flour and the poppy seeds. The flour will absorb any extra juice and stop it from coloring the batter. If you're using berries that have previously been frozen you're more likely to have the batter discolor from extra juice. This technique also works for other berry quick breads like Blueberry Muffins or Raspberry Muffins.
If you opt to make 3 mini loaves of bread instead of one big loaf then you will bake them for 18-20 minutes. Check with a toothpick. Cook for an additional 5 minutes if they are not quite done.
Related Recipes
- Banana Zucchini Bread
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
- Death by Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- One Bowl Banana Bread
- Or check out my Quick Bread and Muffins Page!
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PrintCranberry Poppy Seed Bread
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 Loaf or 3 Mini Loaves 1x
- Category: Quick Breads
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Do you love to share sweet quick breads with friends or neighbors during the holidays? It only takes 10 minutes to whip up a full size loaf or 3 mini loaves of this poppy seed bread speckled with tart cranberries and topped with a sweet crumbly topping!
Ingredients
- 10 Tbs. Butter (Softened)
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 2 Large Eggs
- 2 tsp Almond Extract
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Baking Soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 2 Cups Halved Raw Cranberries
- 1 Tbs. Poppy Seeds
- ½ Cup Sour Cream
- ½ Cup Milk
- 2 Cups Flour
Crumb Topping
- ¼ Cup+ 1 Tbs. Flour
- 3 Tbs. Sugar
- 2 Tbs Butter (softened)
Instructions
- Adjust your oven rack to be a little lower than the center of the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with non stick cooking spray.
- Halve the cranberries and set them aside.
- In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar.
- Add the almond extract and eggs.
- Beat in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Whisk together the sour cream and milk in a measuring cup.
- Add ⅓ of the flour to the muffin batter.
- Add ½ the sour cream/milk mixture.
- Add another ⅓ of the flour.
- Add the last of the sour cream/milk mixture.
- Sprinkle the remaining flour on the top of the batter. Dump the cranberries and poppy seeds onto top of the flour.
- Fold the cranberries into the batter and mix just until combined.
- Spread the batter into the prepared bread loaf pan.
- Sprinkle the crumb topping on the bread batter.
- Bake at 350 for 60 minutes tenting with foil for the last 15 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean.
- If baking mini loaves bake for 18-20 minutes.
CRUMB TOPPING
- Stir the flour and sugar together with a fork and then cut in the butter until it is crumbly. OR put the flour, sugar and butter in a processor and pulse until it is crumbly.
Notes
- To be able to lift the loaf out of the bread pans easily you can line it with parchment paper before spraying the pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- To get the parchment paper to stay in place clip the parchment paper to the edges of the bread pan with office clips.
Keywords: cranberry bread, poppy seed bread, cranberry poppy seed bread
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