Recipe: Quick Cranberry Bread (or jumbo muffins)

Quick Cranberry Bread (or jumbo muffins)
rec.food.cooking/B. Keith Ryder (1995)
(1 large loaf or 9 Texas-size muffins)

This is from BEARD ON BREAD. It's a recipe for a quick bread, but I just bake it in muffin pans, and it works great. Enjoy!

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder*
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup melted butter**
1 1/4 cups milk mixed with 1 tsp rosewater***
1 1/4 cups raw cranberries, cut in half or roughly chopped****
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Soft the flour with the soda, baking powder and salt. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until well blended. Stir in the melted butter and the milk mixed with rosewater. Stir in the flour until just moistened and then fold in the cranberries and nuts. (Do not overwork or beat the dough). Butter a loaf tin about 10 inches long and 4-5 inches wide and spread the dough in the tin. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 55 to 60 minutes*****, or until the center of the bread springs back when touched lightly or a cake tester comes out clean. (The top will often crack which is typical of soda and baking powder breads). Let stand in the tin for a few minutes before turning out on a rack to cool. When thoroughly cooled, wrap in plastic or foil and let sit overnight or at least a day before cutting. Store in the refrigerator.

BKeith's modifications and notes:

*This recipe makes a relatively dense bread, so last time I made it I doubled the baking powder to 2 tsp and was much happier with the result.

**Instead of melted butter, I use vegetable oil -- I think it gives a better texture to the finished product. Then I slather on butter when I eat them.

***I don't keep rosewater around, so I used 1 tsp of vinegar in the milk to simulate sour milk and to give the baking soda something to work with.

****Obviously for blueberry muffins, substitute 1 1/4 cups raw blueberries for the cranberries (I've used frozen ones, and they work fine). I also leave out the nuts.

*****When making my jumbo muffins, a cooking time of 23-25 minutes seemed to work nicely. Let muffins rest in the pan 5 minutes out of the oven before trying to remove them. You'll thank yourself.