I have to eat within 30 minutes of waking up or my blood sugar goes all wonky and it shows in my complete lack of patience with the world.
Enter muffins, waffles, pancakes and sweet breads. Where would I be without you?
With the addition of protein (gluten-free sausages or scrambled eggs), a glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee I'm set to start the day.
Perhaps the best part of this recipe is that there's no waiting to make it. If you have the ingredients, you're ready to go. No waiting on pesky butter to come up to room temperature.
Gluten-Free Orange Cranberry Bread
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 eggs
1/2 cup yogurt, sour cream or milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons xantham gum
2 cups gluten-free flour
1 cup (or more!) fresh or frozen cranberries
Preheat oven to 350 and lightly butter a loaf pan (preferably with the leftover butter wrapper). In a large bowl, combine melted butter and sugar; one-by-one add orange juice, eggs, yogurt (or sour cream or milk, whatever you have on hand - it's called cooking, not quantum mechanics) and vanilla. Slowly add salt, baking soda, baking powder and xantham gum; mix until well combined. In smallish scoops (1/3 cup to 1/2 cups at a time) add gluten-free flour slowly and combine thoroughly. Pour cranberries in and let them mash up a bit (if you have ocd you can always chop them first but I think that requires a special kind of crazy).
Pour batter into prepared loaf pan, smooth out the top and bake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes, depending on size of loaf pan and whether the cranberries are fresh or frozen, until cake is done.
Let bread cool in the pan for about an hour - the domed top will likely fall but not collapse. If you like, you can whisk up a sweet orange glaze with about a cup of powdered sugar and a tablespoon or so of orange juice.
If you family is anything like mine, it may last 24 hours. It's delicious.
Make it dairy free -- replace butter with canola oil; replace yogurt with soy-yogurt, soy milk or rice milk
Make it egg-free -- replace eggs with 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
