Cranberry Banana Bread

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This Cranberry Banana Bread is a twist on a classic banana bread recipe. The addition of tart cranberries and sparkling sugar is a delicious recipe your family will love! 

This Cranberry Banana Bread is a twist on a classic banana bread recipe. The addition of tart cranberries and sparkling sugar is a delicious recipe your family will love! 

Cranberry Banana Bread

I love banana breads, some of our favorites are our cinnamon swirl banana bread, and our blueberry banana zucchini bread but during the holidays and winter months when fresh cranberries are abundant, I love making this cranberry banana bread. It’s soft, sweet, and full of flavor. This loaf of cranberry banana bread is a “quick bread”. That means there’s no waiting for it to rise or double in size. You just mix it together, bake it, and then enjoy its sweet goodness. 

Ways to Serve Cranberry Banana Bread

  • Add a Glaze: If you would like the bread to be a little sweeter, serve it with a sweet vanilla icing on top.
  • White Chocolate Chips: If you’d like to try something a bit different, add white chocolate chips to the recipe. 

cranberry banana bread slices

Tips for Making the Perfect Cranberry Banana Bread

  • If you don’t have enough ripe bananas on hand to make this recipe you can ripen them up quickly. Do not peel the bananas. Put them with the peeling on, on a baking sheet. Set the oven for 300 degrees and bake the bananas for 30 minutes or until the skin turns dark. Allow to cool completely and peel. 
  • The toothpick method will help you test for doneness. If it starts to get too brown before it has thoroughly cooked, cover it with a piece of foil. This prevents the loaf from browning too much while allowing the center to continue to cook.
  • Be sure to not over mix the ingredients. We often make this with just a large bowl and a wooden spoon. 
  • Let the bread cool in the pan for about 15 minutes before taking it out to cool more thoroughly. 

ingredients for cranberry banana bread

Does it matter what type of yogurt is used?

I prefer plain vanilla yogurt. You can use Greek yogurt if you prefer. And if it suits your taste, you can use sour cream in place of the yogurt called for in the recipe.

Can I use frozen cranberries?

Fresh cranberries is my preferred ingredient because we like to cut out berries in half, which is optional, just something we prefer.  But they do go out of season and become hard to find. Frozen cranberries can be used, when using frozen berries, skip cutting in half and add while still frozen. Thawing the berries before hand will lend to too much moisture.

process to make cranberry bread with bananas

How to Make Cranberry Banana Bread

  1. Mash the ripe bananas in a small bowl. Set it aside.
  2. Using a large mixing bowl, mix the softened butter and both of the sugars together. Stir until they are just blended. Add the eggs and vanilla flavoring, then stir in the mashed bananas.
  3. In another bowl, whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt together.
  4. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet mixture.
  5. Once the dry and wet ingredients are mixed well, add the vanilla yogurt.
  6. Fold in the chopped fresh cranberries.
  7. Pour into a greased loaf pan and top with coarse sparkling sugar.
  8. Bake in a 350-degree oven for about an hour. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center. If it comes out clean, the bread is done.

coarse sugar on top of cranberry banana bread

Cranberry Banana Bread

Author Katie
Course Snack
Cuisine American
This Cranberry Banana Bread is a twist on a classic banana bread recipe. The addition of tart cranberries and sparkling sugar is a delicious recipe your family will love! 
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 11 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 cup mashed banana about 3 bananas
  • 1/2 cup butter softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup yogurt, we love to use vanilla plain yogurt, greek yogurt and sour cream can all be used
  • 1 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen we usually cut our fresh cranberries in half, but that is optional!
  • 1/4 cup coarse/sparkling sugar

Instructions

  • Mash bananas in a small bowl and set aside. 
  • In a large bowl, Mix together butter and both sugars just until blended.  Add eggs and vanilla. Stir in bananas.
  • In a separate bowl whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.  Mix your dry ingredients with your wet ingredients. Stir in vanilla yogurt and cranberries Pour into a greased loaf pan. Top with coarse sugar.
  • Bake at 350 degrees in a greased loaf pan for about 1 hour or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.  Towards the end of baking you may need to add a piece of foil on top so the top doesn't get overly browned.
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