Friendship Bread

    This recipe comes from grouprecipes.com.  I have never been on this site before but when I googled the ingredients I was hoping to use to make a bread, I was pleasantly surprised.  On the site, this recipe is called Cranberry Oatmeal Bread.  I am going to rename it Friendship Bread.  The recipe called for walnuts and grated orange peel.  I did not have either.  I used sliced almonds instead and forgot about the orange.

Friendship Bread

Ingredients

• 1 cup old fashioned oatmeal 
• 1-1/4 cup hot water 
• 3/4 cup softened butter 
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1-1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp grated orange peel
• 1 egg
• 2-1/2 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1-1/4 cup chopped cranberries (I used dried)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I used 1 cup of slivered almonds)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Grease and flour 2 (8" x 4") loaf pans and set aside
3. In medium bowl, combine oats and hot water
4. Stir and let stand for 5 minutes
5. In large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy
6.Add oat mixture, sour cream, orange peel and egg, blend well
7.  Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, mix gently
8. Fold in cranberries and walnuts
9. Spoon batter evenly into prepared pans and smooth to level
10. Combine 1/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg together and sprinkle over batter I skipped this.
11. Bake for 55-65 minutes until bread is golden brown and pulls away from the sides of pan
12.Cool 5 minutes in pan. Carefully run a knife around the edges of the bread and remove to wire rack to cool. Wrap in plastic wrap to store.

Update: So my friend Heather has demanded more feedback on how my recipes turn out.  I often blog while things are cooking/baking.  I do this to kill time and also to avoid cleaning the kitchen!  My blog is usually posted before I have even had a chance for a taste test. In an effort to please my best pal, who is too far away to enjoy any of my endeavors, I will try to add a bit more about how my recipes turn out.  Here it goes...


The Taste Test
    This friendship bread smelled SO good baking in the oven.  Fortunately this recipe made two loaves because as soon as I flipped the bread onto the cooking rack, I hacked off a chunk...just to make sure it was edible.  This was a sweet treat that wasn't too dry.  Because of the almonds and cranberries, it had a nice mix of chewiness and crunch.  Unfortunately I was in such a rush to taste it that my cut came out uneven so I just had to cut off and eat a bit more to even things out.    It took a few cuts to get it just right but now I'm happy to report that everything is in order and I still have one loaf of bread to share with a friend.