Cranberry-Walnut Tea Bread

Some readers asked if I would share this tea bread recipe that I used in my January tea party, so here you go...

This is one of my favorite tea breads! I love the tartness of the fresh cranberries. I found this recipe in the local newspaper a few years ago. A note on the phrase "tea bread"...in general, it means any nut bread/quick bread that one serves at tea time. It often contains fruit and some folks soak dried fruit in tea before serving.

Cranberry-Walnut Tea Bread
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup chopped fresh cranberries (I buy several bags at Thanksgiving and freeze them)
1/2 cup water (plus 2 Tbsp extra, if mix is very dry)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (I always leave this out)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (pecans work well, too)

Preheat oven to 350 for loaf and 325 for mini-bundts. Grease and flour a loaf pan or mini-bundt pans.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs with electric mixer. Stir in cranberries, water, vanilla.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir into butter mixture. Add nuts.

Loaf: Pour into pan and bake for ~50-55 min.

Mini bundts: Spoon into bundt pans (2/3 full) and bake for ~30-35 minutes. Let cool completely and run a knife around edge before turning out.