Mohamed Shili Pioneer Woman cranberry nut bread is a sour cream quick bread loaded with fresh cranberries and topped with a buttery pecan-cinnamon streusel and powdered sugar glaze, ready in about 1 hour and 40 minutes.
This recipe comes straight from Ree Drummond’s site at thepioneerwoman.com, where she designed it as a holiday baking staple. Ree uses ground ginger instead of the usual cinnamon in the batter itself, saving the cinnamon for the pecan streusel on top so the two layers taste different from each other.
The move that matters is tossing the cranberries in a tablespoon of flour before folding them into the batter. Without that coating, the berries release juice as they bake and sink straight to the bottom of the loaf, leaving you with a soggy layer underneath and dry bread on top.
Pioneer Woman Cranberry Nut Bread
Description
A ginger-spiced loaf packed with chopped and whole cranberries, finished with a crunchy pecan streusel and a simple powdered sugar drizzle. The sour cream in the batter keeps every slice tender long after it cools.
Ingredients
For the Streusel:
For the Loaf:
For the Glaze:
Instructions
- Make the streusel. Stir together the flour, pecans, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add the cold butter cubes and work them in with your fingers until the mixture clumps together. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
- Prep the pan. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan with vegetable oil. Line the two long sides with parchment paper, leaving a 2 inch overhang on each side.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and 1/2 cup vegetable oil until smooth.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the baking powder, ginger, salt, baking soda, and 2 cups of the flour.
- Prep the cranberries. Coarsely chop 1 cup of the cranberries and leave the other cup whole. Toss all the cranberries with the remaining 1 tablespoon of flour in a medium bowl.
- Combine the batter. Fold the flour mixture into the wet mixture until just combined. Fold in the flour-coated cranberries.
- Top and bake. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Crumble the chilled streusel evenly over the surface. Bake 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then lift it out using the parchment overhang. Cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 hour.
- Glaze. Whisk the powdered sugar with 2 teaspoons of water in a medium bowl. Add more water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until the glaze is thin enough to drizzle. Drizzle over the cooled loaf and let set for 15 minutes before slicing.
Notes
- Storage: Wrap tightly in plastic wrap or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. To freeze, wrap the unglazed loaf in plastic wrap then aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before glazing.
FAQs
Why does Ree use ground ginger in the batter instead of cinnamon?
Ginger gives the crumb a warm, slightly spicy flavor that pairs with tart cranberries better than cinnamon does on its own. Cinnamon can overpower cranberries, but ginger works alongside them without competing.
The cinnamon shows up in the streusel instead, so you still get that familiar warmth when you bite through the topping. Splitting the spices between layers means each part of the bread tastes distinct.
Why chop half the cranberries and leave the other half whole?
The chopped berries break down during baking and spread their tart flavor throughout the crumb, so every bite tastes like cranberry. The whole berries hold their shape and give you pops of juice and color when you slice into the loaf.
If you chop them all, the bread turns pink and you lose those bursts of texture. If you leave them all whole, you get pockets of plain bread between the berries with no cranberry flavor at all.
Why toss the cranberries in flour before adding them to the batter?
That thin flour coating absorbs moisture from the berry skins, which keeps them from sliding through the wet batter as it bakes. Without it, gravity pulls the cranberries to the bottom during the long bake time and you end up with fruit in only the last inch of the loaf.
This trick works for any heavy mix-in like blueberries or chocolate chips. One tablespoon is enough for 2 cups of fruit without making the batter dry.
Can you use dried cranberries instead of fresh or frozen?
You can, but the bread will taste sweeter and lose the tart contrast that makes this recipe work. Dried cranberries are coated in sugar, so you would need to cut back the granulated sugar by 2 to 3 tablespoons to keep the balance right.
Soak dried cranberries in warm water for 10 minutes and drain them before folding into the batter. Skip the flour toss since dried berries are light enough that they will not sink.
Why does the streusel need to stay cold until the batter is ready?
Cold butter in the streusel melts slowly in the oven, which creates steam pockets that turn into crunchy, crumbly bits on top. If the butter softens before baking, the streusel melts flat into the surface and you lose that layered crunch.
Make the streusel first and refrigerate it while you mix everything else. Even 15 minutes in the fridge is enough to firm the butter back up if your kitchen runs warm.
