"cranberry Thanksgiving" news and stories

One of my favorite holiday recipes comes from the back of a children's book called "Cranberry Thanksgiving." It's about Maggie, a young girl who lives with her grandmother on the edge of a lonely cranberry bog. She befriends Mr. Whiskers and invites him home for Thanksgiving dinner. Her grandmother's secret cranberry bread recipe goes missing that night and she suspects Mr. Whiskers. It all works out in the end, and Grandmother feels so generous, that she shares the recipe with the readers of the book.

My copy of the book lives in my mom's kitchen cabinet next to her edition of the Joy of Cooking (although the next time I'm in Portland I think I'm going to reclaim it). It is splattered and has the changes I've made over the years written lightly in pencil. I don't believe that as year has gone by in the last 20 that I haven't made this bread, either for Thanksgiving or Christmas. In recent years I've given it as a gift around the holiday time. I just bought some really gorgeous red and white cranberries today, which I'm planning to using to make my next batch. I think the multi-hued skin will make for lovely bread.

This bread is excellent sliced and toasted and makes for a quick and delicious breakfast on Thanksgiving morning, after you've gotten your bird in the oven and have a moment to sit down with a cup of coffee and the newspaper.