• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Joy the Baker
Joy the Baker
  • Cookies
  • Bread
  • Cakes
  • Pies
  • Recipes
    • All Recipes
    • Cookies
    • Birthday Cake Recipes
    • Biscuits
    • Muffins
    • Cupcakes
    • Drinks
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Fruit
    • Nuts
    • Buttermilk
    • Chocolate
    • Vanilla
    • Holiday
    • Healthy
    • Gluten-Free
    • Vegan
  • Blog
    • Baking 101
    • Tips
    • Beyond the Kitchen
    • Let It Be Sunday!
    • New Orleans
  • Shop

Banana Cranberry Bread

November 10, 2008 by Joy the Baker 98 Comments

It should come as no surprise that I relate to the world through food. Sure, I’m fairly well adjusted, I can carry on a warm conversation and function in life, but in the secret world that is my brain, I’m always trying to understand the world around me by relating it to something I’ve eaten.

Crazy? Maybe. Confusing? Let me explain.

Say I walk into my parents’ house and am greeted with a hug and kiss from my father. That’s just like eating a bowl of vanilla bean ice cream smothered with warm dulce de leche sauce. The hug from my dad and the ice cream create the same feeling in my brain. Get it?

The smell of fresh rain on concrete is just like eating a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.

Having a heart to heart with my mom is just like sipping Earl Grey tea with extra sugar and milk.

Getting a paper cut is just like taking a shot of cheap tequila with salt and dry limes.

Falling absolutely, head over heals, silly in love with someone is just like smooth bourbon and cigarettes at midnight.

Sitting next to Grandmother at the dinner table and feeling her almost thoughtlessly stroke my hand as if it were her own… that’s just like this perfectly spiced Banana Cranberry Bread. Yes, there’s that much comfort in the bread. It’s the real deal.

Is this making any sense? My head has been in the clouds lately. Chalk it up to lots of bourbon and cigarettes at midnight.

Wherever my head is these days, I do know amazing banana bread when it crosses my path- thank goodness for that.

Banana Cranberry Bread

thank you to SmittenKitchen who thanks SimplyRecipes

Print this Recipe!

3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted salted butter
3/4-1 cup light brown sugar, depending on the level of sweetness you prefer
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon bourbon
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 cup of flour

1 cup fresh cranberries

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla and bourbon, then the spices. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour, mix. Add the cranberries, and stir until just incorporated. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Previous PostNext Post

Filed Under: Bread, Breakfast, Fruit, Holiday, Recipes

Previous Post: « Sugar Crusted Ginger Chewies
Next Post: Hungarian Paprika Chicken »

Reader Interactions

All Comments
I Made This
Questions
  1. Karen F

    February 4, 2023 at 2:55 pm

    Great recipe. I prefer to leave the cranberries whole and add walnuts or pecans.

    Reply
  2. KimiW

    August 28, 2018 at 4:26 pm

    Heyyyy, thank YOU! :)))
    After a winter injury, my dominant hand is not as functional as it always was. Sooo, baking had to take a back seat for the last year or so, until I found this 1-bowl/wooden-spoon-cranberry-banana-loaf!!! It’s terrific in that it’s a short stint in the kitchen, very few dishes – okay>>>giving credit where it’s due>>>almost none! yay.
    There’s no lugging out the appliances and extra bowls and such, and there’s no sacrificing flavour and eye-appeal. Yes, big hugs and ummm, did I say thank YOU?! :)))

    Reply
« Older Comments

Trackbacks

  1. Cranberry Bannana Bread | Cranberries Westland Limited says:
    June 4, 2016 at 6:31 pm

    […] Print this Recipe! […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

RELATED POSTS IN Bread

jambalaya buttermilk biscuits in a row
Smoked Sausage Jambalaya Buttermilk Biscuits

These mile-high jambalaya buttermilk biscuits are stacked with all the savory flavors of New Orleans’ most comforting rice dish.  These tender biscuits are absolutely stacked with Zatarain’s Cajun-Style Smoked Sausage, onions, peppers, and roasted tomatoes. We’re taking big bites of Mardi Gras this year – here’s how! Friends, we have a bonafide tradition in the…

Read More

inside of warm cinnamon roll on plate
How To Make The Best Single Serve Cinnamon Roll

Micro batch baking – the invitation is to get all the way into it with me!  This is all very Kristin Wiig  making herself a single, sad cupcake in the movie Bridesmaids, save for the fact that there is absolutely zero sadness in me eating a single cinnamon roll over the kitchen sink in my…

Read More

Orange roll on a plate with a fork.
Christmas Morning Orange Rolls

Think of tender breakfast rolls and cinnamon rolls without the cinnamon, scented with heavenly orange and just the right amount of warming nutmeg and ginger. Honestly if cinnamon rolls disappeared from the world, we’d all be just fine – these orange rolls hit the spot. I’m headed back to Los Angeles for the Christmas weekend…

Read More

Primary Sidebar

Fresh baked emails, delivered to your inbox

Jump to Recipe

Receive recipes from Joy the Baker and updates on events at The Bakehouse.

HI! I’M JOY!

Jump to Recipe

Welcome! This has been my little corner of the internet since 2008!

I’m a baker, photographer, cookbook author and teacher.  I live laugh love in New Orleans. 

MORE ABOUT JOY AND THE TEAM

BOOKS + Magazines

Jump to Recipe

JOY THE BAKER 2022 SUMMER MAGAZINE

JOY THE BAKER 2021 HOLIDAY MAGAZINE

JOY THE BAKER 2020 HOLIDAY MAGAZINE

HOMEMADE DECADENCE

OVER EASY: SWEET AND SAVORY RECIPES FOR LEISURELY DAYS COOKBOOK

JOY THE BAKER COOKBOOK

Jump to Recipe
joy the baker on facebook joy the baker on twitter pinterest-social instagram-socialbloglovin-social

JOY @ WILLIAMS SONOMA

Jump to Recipe

SHOP THE CAKE LINE OF CAKE MIXES!

DRAKE ON CAKE

Jump to Recipe

Passionate from miles away since 2015.

Check it out on Instagram

Drake on cake instagram.

 

BREADS YOU’LL LOVE

jambalaya buttermilk biscuits in a row

Smoked Sausage Jambalaya Buttermilk Biscuits

inside of warm cinnamon roll on plate

How To Make The Best Single Serve Cinnamon Roll

Orange roll on a plate with a fork.

Christmas Morning Orange Rolls

LET’S MAKE COOKIES!

wider shot of lemon bars stacked on a plate with a bite taken out of one lemon bar

My Favorite Classic Lemon Bars Recipe

completed recipe close up shot of a blondie so the toasted almonds, chocolate chips, and sea salt can be seen

My Best Classic Blondie Recipe

cowboy cookies close up showing texture.

Cowboy Cookies with salted cereal brittle

Footer

Instagram

joythebaker

📚Baker and author of books and magazines
🎂Creator @drakeoncake
💁🏻‍♀️Classes with me @thebakehousenola
🍰 Products with @williamssonoma

joythebaker
Life Skill No. 458: How to Make 1️⃣2️⃣ Cup Life Skill No. 458: How to Make 1️⃣2️⃣ Cupcakes with just 1️⃣ Stick of Butter⁣
⁣
Full recipe linked in my bio! xo
Someone call @foodnetwork because Dad and I need a Someone call @foodnetwork because Dad and I need a baking show stat. Here’s our very best chocolate chip cookies and all the little tips that make them perfection. ✨🍪 Find the full recipe linked in the profile!
We’re baking the classics on Joy the Baker this We’re baking the classics on Joy the Baker this month and up next, my very favorite Lemon Bar recipe with fresh lemon juice and the tiniest hint of coriander. ⁣🍋🌼✨
⁣
Find the full recipe linked in the profile and bust out the white chocolate and macadamia nuts for next week’s bake! ⁣
⁣
#lemonbars #easybaking #bakedfromscratch #joythebaker
Day in the Life: out in the woods writing a little Day in the Life: out in the woods writing a little cookbook about camp food. 💖🏕️🙋🏻‍♀️
Homesick Banana Bread. Recipe linked in the profil Homesick Banana Bread. Recipe linked in the profile (and you don’t have to be homesick to make it). #bananabread #sundaybaking
Let’s make one single GIANT PANCAKE which is the Let’s make one single GIANT PANCAKE which is the perfect Breakfast Dessert or Spiral Bake - whatever you need it to be. ⁣
⁣
Pro Tips: Smell you buttermilk and decide it’s probably fine. Flip the pancake with reckless confidence. You can sit to eat - you don’t have to eat like you work in a restaurant anymore. ⁣
⁣
Find a version of the full recipe linked in the profile. Xo.
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2023 · Joy the Baker
All rights reserved. Violators will be whupped and sent to bed with no dessert · Privacy Policy

Scroll Up