The original edition of this post appeared on Wild Yeast on November 19, 2007, and again in 2008. This year, our family is in transition, but we’re still family, and still thankful, and we have the cranberry bread to prove it. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving With (As Always) Cranberry Bread
This is the bread I will be serving at Thanksgiving dinner this year. It is the same bread I made last year, and just about every year since I learned how to turn on the oven. It is the same bread you will see here next year if this blog is still around. It’s cranberry-nut bread, the recipe clipped from the back of a long-ago Ocean Spray bag.
The rest of the menu will be similarly well-worn: roast turkey with chestnut stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, squash, creamed onions, apple pie, pumpkin pie.
I may vary the sweet potato treatment a bit from year to year. I add a brussels sprout or two if the urge strikes me. I like to try new pumpkin pie recipes from time to time. But by and large, the menu is eminently simple and predictable.
This is not because I’m not an adventurous cook (although I’m the first to admit I’m not). It is because Thanksgiving dinner is not about the Cuisine, it’s about the Food. It’s about the familiar, abundant dishes you know will always be on your plate, year after year, dishes that come together to create what Tim calls “the perfect mouthful.” These are things that would be sorely missed if they weren’t on the table. This is food that tastes good without having to fuss with it. It’s food you know you can count on.
Now that I think about it, Thanksgiving dinner is a feast that’s a lot like the family I’ll be sharing it (whether physically or in spirit) with.
So no recipes today. The bread recipe is still on the back of the cranberry bag if you need it, but I suspect you don’t. Just make what you made last year.
Have a beautiful Thanksgiving, everyone!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Susan! I’m grateful for all the joy and inspiration your blog gives me and all your fellow bakers. I return again and again and I’m NEVER disappointed. It’s a treasured gathering place.
Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Susan.
I am forever thankful for discovering your beautiful website and I am forever in awe of all that you accomplish. You’re such an inspiration!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family Susan.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. This is the bread I grew up with, too. The smell of the bread baking and cooling brings back childhood memories. My favorite quick bread I only have once a year. Keep on baking!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Susan! I have to say that this blog is equivalent of comfort food on the internet – it’s something I can always rely on to make my day. Thanks for all you do 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving to you too….
I look forward to your post about cranberry bread next year, and hope that whatever transition your family is going through will be for the better
Have a safe and happy holiday, see you soon! xoxo
Thanks for this recipe.
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday, Susan. You cranberry bread looks good enough to eat :-). I’ll be trying it really soon. Blessings…Mary
Traditions are wonderful…and something everyone looks forward to. Would hate to try a new recipe on such an important family gathering and have it not turn out~ you said it very well. Happy Thanksgiving!