There’s Susan Stamberg’s infamous Cranberry Relish recipe for Thanksgiving, and then there’s Aunt Jamie’s Cranberry Bread.

Legacy Profiles Series
From the O’Reilly Family Cookbook
Edited by Katrina O’Reilly Loundy
Aunt Jamie’s Thanksgiving Cranberry Bread

Last fall, my niece Katrina invited our family to submit a recipe to the cookbook she was compiling. My treasured family recipe is this simple fruit and nut bread I made for my daughters to bring with them on the plane to California when they were there for Thanksgiving. And it is the early morning bake for after the O’Reilly family walk in Sterne’s Woods in Crystal Lake, Illinois, where I grew up. Over time, we started to refer to this after the walk morning snack-feast as “the tailgate,” seeing that many of us split off after the walk, and/or had rushed to get there and were hungry after the hike.

We gather around the trunk of the car and have the bread with coffee (bought on the way from Chicago), and serve it on paper plates with Thanksgiving designs, eating in the crisp fall air, while catching up with each other’s holiday plans. Aunt Jamie’s Cranberry Bread is a 36 year Thanksgiving morning tradition.

This recipe is usually tripled. I always make a large bundt cake, several loaves and baby bundts.
I started making the mini-pans because I baked ahead, and I wanted my girls to get a taste of what was filling the kitchen with a delicious smell. The first baby pan, shaped like a heart, was from their Great Grandma Debbie Amandes, who was Greek and lived very close to where I live now! We still have the pan and her wooden spoon.

My recipe changes depending on if I want to add milk or juice to the recipe. Some versions ask for butter, others for vegetable oil. Go with oil. It’s faster. I add raisins, and sometimes apple pieces with the cranberries. Sometimes I use some honey or brown sugar with the white sugar.

Here’s the adaptation of the basic recipe from Better Homes and Gardens (New Cookbook), and The Great Breads cookbooks, with the amount tripled.

Happy Thanksgiving everyday
Love, Aunt Jamie

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Aunt Jamie’s Thanksgiving Cranberry Bread

6c flour (unbleached white, I use King Arthur)
3 c white sugar* (or less if using juice instead of milk as your liquid)
3 t baking powder
2 t cinnamon
1 t ginger (if desired)
1 t salt
1 1/2 t baking soda
3 beaten eggs (large)
2 1/4 c milk* or apple cider (or a combo)
3/4 c vegetable oil

2 bags of chopped cranberries, or 6 cups.
Handful of raisins (if desired)
2 c chopped, toasted nuts
(*if using milk, you can add a little orange juice or peel)

Preheat the oven to 350.

Grease just the bottom of the pans. (I use a butter wrapper, like my Mom did.) Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Make a well for the liquids.

In another mixing bowl combine the eggs, oil and milk/juice. (*If using honey this is where you’d add it.) Add liquids to the dry mixture, stir just until moistened. Batter will be lumpy.

Fold in cranberries, raisins, and nuts.

Spoon the batter in prepared pans. Start with the biggest (the Bundt pan), shake the pan to get even distribution. Then fill the smaller pans. Avoid overfilling.

Put the larger pan in the middle of the middle rack in the oven. The small ones around it.

Set the timer for 30 min. Check the small cakes at 30 minutes (with a fork or toothpick.) If done, remove them. Turn the large pan, for even baking.

Reset the timer for another 30 minutes.

When done, cool completely. Remove gently. (The bundt is a pain to clean, so accept it will need to soak in soapy water for a long time.)

Sample your bread. Then save the rest for the big day!

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Listen to Jamie and Katrina sing this carol with the O’Reilly Women & Girls Chorus

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See Jamie O’Reilly’s Holiday Schedule
here: https://www.jamieoreilly.com/jamie-oreilly-holidays-preview-nov-dec-jan/