Cranberry Orange Raisin Loaf

Truth be told, I do not care for cranberries.
And if I see a "craisin" in my food, or dried shriveled up cranberry on my salad, I will send it back.

I am not sure why this aversion to these little red things, perhaps their tartness?
I like cranberry juice in my vodka, and I like my cranberry relish at Thanksgiving.....who knows. I am weird.

I decided to make a festive fall cranberry orange bread to test for Thanksgiving, and added raisins to balance out the tart cranberries.....if you don't like raisins, then omit them, but I think they made this loaf even better.

Yogurt or sour cream makes a nice rich moist crumb, and icing always makes any cake better!

This is a delicious loaf.

Cranberry Orange Raisin Loaf:

1/4 cup butter (4 tbsp), at room temperature
1 cup sugar
zest of a large orange (or 2 small oranges)
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup fresh orange juice (I used the juice of 2 large oranges)
1/3 cup of yogurt or sour cream (I used half a container of Fage yogurt, about 3 oz.)
1 cup fresh cranberries
1/3 cup golden raisins

Butter a 9" loaf pan or line w/ parchment paper.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix the zest and sugar together until it is fragrant and turns a light orange color.

Cream in the butter and the egg.

Add in 1 cup of flour and the baking soda and powder.
Mix in the orange juice and sour cream or yogurt.

Now add in the last cup of flour w/ the cranberries and raisins so they don't sink when baking.

Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake 50 minutes until cracked in the middle and golden. You might need an extra 5 minutes, but my oven runs hot.

Let cool 15 minutes in the pan and then remove to a cooling rack.

For the glaze: Mix 1 cup of confectioners sugar with 1 tbsp of milk.
Drizzle over the top of the loaf with a fork and let the icing harden.

This loaf is delicious warm, but even better 2 days later!

Enjoy.