Cranberry-Pumpkin Bread

This has been a Thanksgiving staple in my family for years. I can remember toting it to South Dakota for the holiday festivities with Jim's family each time we celebrated there. I still have the magazine clipping of the original recipe (now faded and sporting food splotches), which apparently came from Wesson Oil as it's the only brand name noted in the ingredients. I've altered the original a tad, leaving out the chopped pecans, for one.

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 2/3 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 16-ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce

1 16-ounce can solid-pack pumpkin

2/3 cup oil

4 eggs

Large-crystal cane sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat three 9X5 loaf pans or one Bundt pan and one 9X5 pan with cooking spray. (I like to do the Bundt pan and one loaf pan as it provides a decorative cake for the table and an extra loaf for giving as a hostess or holiday gift.)

In large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking powder. In second bowl, stir together cranberry sauce, pumpkin, oil and eggs. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture and stir until all ingredients are well moistened. Pour batter into pans (if using Bundt pan, fill loaf pan half full then pour remainder—two loaves worth—into Bundt pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes or til bread tests done with toothpick. Immediately remove from pans, place on wire rack, and sprinkle top with sugar crystals, if desired. Cool completely before cutting.

Makes 3 loaves (or one Bundt-style bread and one loaf).