Orange and cranberries are a match made in heaven, and this Cranberry Orange Amish Friendship Bread recipe is delicious any time of year. It works well as a gorgeous mini-Bundt cake so you can make a few to share. With the addition of chopped nuts, this recipe makes a hearty breakfast muffin. Use our guide for adapting different baking pans here.
Use dried, fresh, or frozen cranberries … whatever is easier for you. The flavors in this loaf will blow your mind (yes, I really just wrote that!), they are THAT good.
Using fresh orange peel elevates almost any baked good, and this recipe is no exception. Fresh is always best, but I always tend to grate or peel a little extra and freeze the excess to use in a pinch. Here’s a great primer on zesting oranges from my pal Kris at Attainable Sustainable.
Kitchen Friend Paula Altenbach gave this recipe a try and wanted to share this: “This Cranberry Orange Amish Friendship Bread is stand-alone tender, and the addition of Southern Comfort Orange Glaze took it the next level! The men in the house agreed to slather in on and I caught them nibbling the drips.Baked in Colorado Springs at 6,035’, I cut back to 1/4 baking soda and added 1/3 cup flour to the 2 loaf recipe [to account for high altitude baking]. Studding the top of the loaf with 1/8 cup of the called for cranberries baked in beautifully without burning or sinking in. After lightly greasing the pan, I find adding a strip of parchment paper to create a lift for friendship bread has made for fool-proof removal.”
Cranberry Orange Amish Friendship Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup Amish Friendship Bread Starter
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup oil
- ½ cup fresh or frozen reconstituted orange juice
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon grated orange peel
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups flour
- 1 small boxes vanilla instant pudding
- 1 cup cranberries fresh, frozen, or dried
- Southern Comfort Glaze optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325° F (165° C).
- In a large mixing bowl, add ingredients as listed.
- Grease two large loaf pans.
- Dust the greased pans with granulated sugar.
- Pour the batter evenly into loaf or cake pans.
- Bake for one hour or until the bread loosens evenly from the sides and a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.
- If desired, drizzle with Southern Comfort Glaze when cool.
- ENJOY!
Notes
>> Have you tried this? Give the recipe some stars and leave a comment below, letting us know how it worked for you!
Made this bread and it was awesome! Not sure how you got the glaze to turn out white tho, coz after adding the vanilla and southern comfort it wasn’t white at all. No matter, it added a nice touch to the flavor of the bread.
How can I make this delicious recipe without the starter?
i added about a 1/3 -1/2 cup of a seed mix called Omega mix to the batter and made muffins. i like the texture of the seeds. This recipe is a favorite of mine. I also found that substituting a 1/2 c of unsweetened applesauce in place of 1/2 c of oil works great in all of the AFB recipes i have tried. Saves a lot of calories and i can’t really tell a difference.
Can I use fresh squeezed orange juice in the place of the reconstituted juice?
Yes, you can definitely use fresh, Christi! Happy baking!
If you use frozen cranberries, should they be thawed before using?
Hi Deb! If you are using frozen cranberries, we’d recommend you let them thaw (you can also run them under cool water) and pat them dry before using. That way it helps minimize the extra liquid being adding in to you recipe. Enjoy!
This one is a family favorite! Usually make mini muffins out of all of the AFB recipes I bake. The sooner they get done, the sooner we get to eat them🙂
So true! So glad you (and your family) love this recipe! ❤️
I love this bread and applied the suggestion to make the muffins. Fantastic.
Thanks so very much.
So glad you enjoyed them, Ingrid! It’s always fun to try these recipes in different forms!
Hello, I live above 8,000 ft and made the cinnamon AFB and it sank in the middle. I’m wondering would there be modifications for high altitude baking? Thank you for any suggestions.
Hi Angel! Here’s a great resource for tips on baking in high altitudes: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking
Let us know if you have any other questions!
This is one of my all-time favorite recipe! I leave the glaze off for a lighter version.
Hi I live in Australia and have a starter mix which will be ready to cook with in a few days. I would like to make the orange and cranberry bread but am a bit confused by the Vanilla pudding. We have a Vanilla pudding powder which is mixed with milk would this be the same as your vanilla pudding mix? I can’t wait to get started.
Hope to hear from you very soon. Carol
Hi Carol! It sounds like it is the same (but I can’t be sure). If you do use it, add it as a powder (not with the additional milk). If you’re not sure, then leave the pudding out altogether. Good luck and keep us posted! 🙂
Where or how do you get the Amish friendship starter? That I’m so familiar with. Thank you
Here you go, Kathryn! And welcome to the Friendship Bread Kitchen! https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/amish-friendship-bread-starter/
This looks amazing. I’d try the recipe first and if it as yummy as it looks, I’d make some for L. Barnes and G. Wood.
This is the perfect cake to make for the holidays. I would make and serve this cranberry orange cake to my friends who I walk with every morning.
A dear friend sent this to me last year for Christmas..it was so so good.
I want to make one for all in my family for Christmas morning. Way more than two people.
But I’ll say DH and mom
I think this recipe would be darling in the mini bunt pans.
Oh goodness..I just had the best idea..make a bunch and use as place cards on each table serving for Christmas!!! YES..
I’ll be making this recipe to share with my Mom’s Hospice nurse,Erika and her home health aide,Tracey.
I bet this smells so good baking. I love the cranberry/Orange flavor combo. So appropriate for this season.
This looks beautiful, it will give me a good reason to use all of my frozen cranberries. Then
i can give them as Christmas gifts.
Cranberry-Orange is my latest favorite flavor combo … recently made a knock-off Panettone with these and it was wonderful … can hardly wait to make the actual CRANBERRY ORANGE AMISH FRIENDSHIP BREAD … will probably happen next week to liven up my Mun-day ((~;~))
LOVE the blog & FB postings … keep ’em coming …
Blessings from Chama, NM
I love Cranberry orange profile and want to make this for our family at Thansgiving
I love both Amish Friendship bread and Orange Cranberry Muffins.
The best of both worlds!!
I used organic applesauce for 1/2 oil, 1/2 coconut organic flour, 1/2 stevia instead of sugar, used food processor to ground cranberries and whole navel orange, used condensed frozen oj (no water added), and pecans. YUM!
Oh my heavens! I just pulled this out of the oven and it is to die for! I always have a bad craving for cranberries around this time of year and the orange complements the cranberry so well. I did cut the sugar to 3/4 cup and did not sugar the pans before baking the loaves. I did only use one pudding and I chopped up the cranberries to give it more cranberry flavor throughout the bread. This beats the tritional Amish bread 10 fold! So glad I found this site and that I now have 7 starters frozen thanks to you! I didn’t know you could freeze them? Can’t wait to try other recipes on here!
So far Cranberry Orange has been my favorite. I split the flour between all-purpose and wheat and they came out with a nice rustic flavor. They are great as muffins too!
I just put this recipe in the oven. I substituted chocolate chips for the cranberries for something different. Hopefully it will turn out great!
Cranberry and orange sounds good.I’d like to try it!
This is by far my husband’s favorite bread. The fresh cranberries are what make it. Much better than dried cranberries.