Cranberry Orange muffins/bread

Another potluck, another opportunity to bake something sweet and healthy. It's one of the easiest ways to make sure that I don't completely fill myself on all the other yummy food. But, of course, that did not really work. I did get a plateful of desserts and this cranberry orange bread was not on my plate. It was yummy, but I had already tasted it :)

I remember making this muffin a couple of years ago. A friend had come by and I had asked her if she wanted a muffin and she was interested in trying. When I gave her the muffin, she said she liked it, but it was a little denser than she had expected for a muffin - more like a bread. So, this time, I decided I would make bread and muffins. We still have some of the muffins and the bread went to the potluck :)

I made the following changes to the original recipe - First, I increased it by 1 and a half times, so instead of doubling it, I increased it by half a serving for the bread. Second, I reduced the sugar to 1/3 cup instead of 1/2 cup. That was sweet enough for me :) Third, and most importantly, I had to add another 1/3 to 1/2 cup of orange juice (I could not measure it exactly - I kept adding a little at a time till it was completely mixed in). The amount of juice/liquid called for in the recipe was not adequate to mix in all the flour. Fourth, I added a 1/2 tsp of Orange flavoring in the mix. Fifth, I added a crumb topping to the top of the bread by mixing brown sugar, flour and oil. Sixth, the bread took a little over double the time to bake - we just kept checking on the bread till it was done.

It was moist and both the bread and muffins were yummy!!