Welcome to Day 14 of the Virtual Advent Tour. There are ten shopping days left after today, so I know how I’ll be spending part of this evening.

Do you have a few people you still need gifts for? If they eat eggs and flour (or if you have satisfactory substitutes for those ingredients in your own kitchen), may I recommend whipping up a few loaves of my grandmother’s cranberry quick bread? You can totally get them going prior to watching the Christmas specials on tv tonight. And if you bake a loaf for yourself, you can snack on that during The Great American Baking Show.

Technically, it’s cranberry nut bread, but since Mum is allergic to nuts, they were never included in the loaves Gramma made for us. I’ll include that option in case you like nuts in your baked goods.

Cranberry [Nut] Bread

Sift together:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup sugar

In a separate bowl or measuring cup, mix together:

• 1 beaten egg
• 1 Tbsp melted shortening
• 2 Tbsp hot water (I use hot tap water, probably about the same temperature as I wash dishes in.)
• 1/2 cup orange juice (You could juice an orange and I have on occasion, but if you’ve got a carton of juice in the fridge, go with that for ease and speed.)

Stir together but don’t beat (emphasis Gramma’s) the dry and wet ingredients.

Fold in:

• 1 cup (washed) cranberries

Add:

• 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional, but walnuts pair nicely if you decide to go that route)

Bake in greased bread pan at 325°F for 1 hour.

These instructions assume you will pop the bread out of the pan and present it that way. Allow it to cool and then wrap it first in plastic wrap (the orange juice makes the loaf a little sticky, and this helps keep things tidier) and then in tin foil for storage. Slap a label and a bow on it and you’re ready to gift. (I assume you could alternatively get a disposable aluminum loaf pan and hand it off in that if you so desire, but that feels like more work, rather than less.)

To serve, cut a generous slice (hunk, my grandfather would have said) of bread and slather it with butter. Pair it with a hot cup of tea.

I had forgotten how easy this recipe is. I’ll need to pick up some o.j., but I bought a bag of cranberries last weekend without realizing why I needed them.

See you back here tomorrow!