First up on blognog today we have lovely Leslie of the inspirational blog, A Room Somewhere. She’s sharing this delicious family recipe for Orange Cranberry Pecan bread. Yum! Welcome, Leslie!

I’m so pleased to be participating in Liz’s BlogNog series, I’ve had so much fun reading all of the other posts! I’m always on the lookout for new holiday recipes, so I decided to share one of my favorites with you today! My mother-in-law, who passed away almost eight years ago, shared this bread with her family each and every year. It wasn’t part of any particular meal or day, but there were always several loaves of it for the offering, and they always were consumed in short order.

My husband’s family comes from Central Louisiana, a place overflowing with history and Southern tradition. I love to visit that part of the world. My husband is in his element, and the generations that came before him seem to whisper in our ears. I try to incorporate all of the Southern food I can into our holiday celebrations. And so I make this bread every year, now, too. It’s important for those things to continue, don’t you think?

Orange Cranberry Pecan Bread

This recipe makes 1 small and 3 medium loaves. (Halving the recipe results in 2 medium loaves. That’s what I usually do.) Trying to make one regular sized loaf (standard loaf pan) with half of the recipe is not a great idea, as I recently learned. 🙂


6 c. flour
3 c. sugar
3 whole eggs
4 1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. baking soda
3 cups chopped, fresh cranberries (I chop them in my food processor.)
1 T. salt
3/4 c. shortening (or butter)
3 T. orange rind
2 1/4 c. orange juice
1 1/2 c. chopped pecans


Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sift dry ingredients. Cut in shortening. Combine orange juice, rind and eggs. Pour over all at once, into dry ingredients. Mix enough to dampen. Do not over mix or it will be dry. Carefully fold in nuts and cranberries. Bake in greased pans for 1 hour. (Do not bake in convection oven.) Serve with butter!

And, just because cranberries are pretty . . .