Cranberry Raisin Almond Banana Bread
Here’s another banana bread recipe. Like the one I posted the other day, this banana bread kicks things up a notch with some great mix-ins. I hadn’t planned on using raisins and crans, but I didn’t have enough crans for the recipe, so I went with a combination of the two. It added great color and flavor to use both.
I really enjoyed the almond and banana combination. By using almond extract, there was a great almond scent to the bread, and of course the chopped almonds helped to enhance the almond flavor while also adding texture to the bread.
This bread came out pretty dense, I think due to all the add ins and the fact that I used white whole wheat flour in the bread. This bread made a great breakfast for me and Hubby for quite a few days. And, of course, it also freezes really well.
I always toast nuts that I use in any recipe. Toasting them really brings out their nutty flavor. I usually toast them in a skillet on medium heat for just a few minutes until they become fragrant.
Two Years Ago: Spicey Orange Shrimp
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Cranberry Raisin Almond Banana Bread
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup mashed banana (2 medium bananas)
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup almonds, toasted and chopped
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
Directions:
Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 -inch loaf pan.
Mix sugar and butter together in a medium mixing bowl until completely blended.
Add banana, milk, eggs, and almond extract, mixing well.
Add dry ingredients, mixing just until moist.
Stir in almonds, dried cranberries, and raisins. Spread batter evenly in a loaf pan.
Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool.
Recipe adapted from Ocean Spray, as seen on Sweet and Savory Tooth
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I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
How yummy, and the color is so beautiful!
beantownbaker — March 18th, 2013 @ 10:59 am
Yes, I absolutely love the color of this curd!
I love fruit curds. This combination sounds wonderful. I’ve been wanting to make passionfruit curd for a long time. Hopefully I will get to that soon.
beantownbaker — March 18th, 2013 @ 11:00 am
The passionfruit curd is definitely my favorite of all time. It’s just such a unique flavor.
I love lemon curd on a good fruit quickbread. I once made lemon loaf with lemon curd and it was to DIE for. How long to curds typically keep in the fridge?
beantownbaker — March 18th, 2013 @ 3:21 pm
Oohhh… double lemon – sounds delicious. They never stay around very long when I make them, but I think they’d be fine in the fridge for a week or two.
this sounds delicious! I’ve got some key lime curd in my fridge, not sure what I’ll do with the last bit of it…
beantownbaker — March 19th, 2013 @ 12:48 pm
Key lime curd – YUM! Did you juice them yourself? They’re so tiny.
I love the idea of a blackberry lime curd… two of my favorite flavors married into curd! I love meyer lemon curd, too 🙂
beantownbaker — March 19th, 2013 @ 12:47 pm
I still haven’t been able to find meyer lemons at my store. Of course, I haven’t looked too hard either…
This looks delicious! And I love anything that gives me a use for egg yolks, since I use whites so often.
beantownbaker — March 25th, 2013 @ 1:18 pm
I’m the same way. I hoard recipes that take divided eggs. Now that I started making ice cream, I need more that use whites…
If you make a cake or something with the curd in it or on it does it need to be refrigerated?
beantownbaker — April 4th, 2013 @ 7:15 am
I used this curd in a cake: http://www.beantownbaker.com/2013/03/coconut-almond-cake-with-blackberry-lime-curd-filling.html and the leftovers were stored in the fridge.
This looks amazing, but I was wondering how much it made, I have picked enough blackberries to make 3 times this. Xx
beantownbaker — October 23rd, 2013 @ 12:26 am
It made probably 2.5-3 cups of curd. Hope you enjoy it!