I love Thanksgiving leftovers and I love repurposing them in new ways, from turning turkey in salads and sandwiches to making cranberry cornbread with remaining cranberries.
Since I was in first grade, I’ve made cranberry bread for Thanksgiving.
For years, it was Pillsbury quick bread.
Sometimes it was Thanksgiving breakfast, other times it was a side dish to the main meal, but it was a fixture on the fourth Thursday of November.
To this day, cranberries signify the holiday season.
For me, holiday spirit doesn’t come from the holly-decked aisles at CVS (on October 15) or even from the holiday candy displays at Target (in September).
It’s cranberries.
This crimson-topped cornbread is a new-to-me cranberry bread recipe.
The cornbread is sweet enough to complement the tart cranberries without being sweet enough to quite count as a dessert.
- 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1¼ cups (4½ ounces) fresh cranberries
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup fine yellow cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped candied ginger
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons sugar, stirring until dissolved. Add cranberries, and stir to coat. Cook until cranberries begin to pop, about 1 minute. Pour into a 5-by-9-inch loaf pan, distributing cranberries evenly to cover bottom. Let cool.
- Whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat remaining 1½ sticks butter and ½ cup sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With machine running, add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low, and slowly add flour mixture, mixing until combined. Fold in ginger. Pour mixture into pan over cranberries. Gently smooth top using an offset spatula.
- Place pan on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until a tester inserted into center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cool for 15 minutes. Invert pan to remove bread. Let cool completely on wire rack, cranberry side up. (Bread can be stored, wrapped, at room temperature overnight or refrigerated for up to 5 days.)
9 Comments
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Aggie
December 6, 2009 at 9:58 amI saw this recipe on her site and it sounded good! Yours looks delicious! I love cranberries! I just posted a cran orange quickbread that you might like too!
Melissa
November 30, 2009 at 9:15 pmCongrats on making it through the moth long post-a-thon! Great job!
mandy
November 30, 2009 at 6:26 pmLooks great. We dont have a lot of cranberry staples but thanks to a few other recipes I do have a new found appreciation for cranberries.
Sarah Caron
November 30, 2009 at 10:25 amYum! That looks great. Last year, I made a cranberry coffee cake that I just loved. I bet this would be awesome too. Unfortunately, there were no leftovers of cranberry sauce this year.
kat
November 30, 2009 at 10:05 amOh, what a great use for cranberries!
Lori @ RecipeGirl
November 30, 2009 at 9:56 amGreat idea for leftovers!
Alice
November 29, 2009 at 10:51 pmThis looks fantastic! Can’t wait to make some because I have lots of leftover cranberry sauce.