In short, a perfect addition to football, Thanksgiving, Christmas parties, gathering or meal. This pull apart bread is going to be a smashing success.
If you ask me what inspired me to prepare this bread and serve as a side, I have an answer. The chain of restaurants I visit always serves plain bread as a welcome treat or some flavored bread as a side with lunch or dinner. I always love that over salad or salsa, and so do all my family members and friends. Bread always makes an ideal accompaniment for a range of dishes. The flavor of bread makes your meal more satisfying and really compliments most dishes.
Building on this idea, I decided to make a savory bread using cranberries, cheese, and some flavorful spices. Now, if you ask me how did the bread turn out? To be honest, it couldn’t be any better. The combination cannot go wrong at all 🙂 It is insanely delicious. You will skip all other bread recipes and prepare this for your next gathering. Just see how this will be a show-stopper. Scroll down to the recipe directly and start baking! OH YES YUMMY!! In short, that is how good this bread is. I had already prepared this bread twice in less than a week, and it disappeared as soon as they were out of the oven. And this was the third time I baked with double the amount of quantities listed in the recipe below. We served it as a side, along with pasta, during a get-together at my colleague’s house, and everyone just loved it. They were so happy and surprised at how the bread tasted.
Cranberries always develop flavor of the feast for my family 🙂 The addition of cranberries to the bread gives it the perfect amount of tartness that compliments and balances very well with the cheese, spiciness from the jalapenos and with the flavor of herbs & spices (garlic powder, onion powder and basil leaves). In the past I have tried garlic bread with cheese and garlic jalapeno bread with cheese, and they both taste great. But the addition of cranberries to the bread is definitely a winner in my opinion.
Here are my reasons 🙂 The preparation time is less than 30 minutes. The only hardest part is waiting for the dough to rise and bake. The easy tear apart and bite-size feature of the bread makes it easy while serve a big group of people. The dough is soft and super easy to work with. The recipe ingredients list might look long but it’s all repetitive - as similar spices go into both the dough as well as filling. When it comes to flavor, it is beyond amazing with cranberries, cheese, and spices. It pairs very well with almost anything from soup to entrees. And if you want to impress kids and adults, there is no easier way than these 🙂 You can also make kids take part in helping you to make bite-size dough balls if required.
My family’s favorite recipe for Cranberry Pesto Pasta was awarded 1st place in the entree category at the 2016 Holiday Food Blogger Recipe Challenge. It really makes me feel proud 🙂 As you all know by now from some of my recent posts on the blog, I am participating in the “Summer Breeze” blogger recipe challenge by Cape Cod Select using their premium frozen cranberries. I love challenges and preparing interesting recipes in my test kitchen. I never knew of the endless recipes I could prepare using these cranberries. I have prepared so many recipes with cranberries over last few weeks and now I feel and wish there were more categories to submit or multiple entries per category 🙂 Add cranberries to rice, pasta, salad, salsa, chicken, prepare sauces, jams, pesto, chutney, pies, tarts, drinks, bread, pizza I can go on. I am so addicted to it that I can’t get enough of it 🙂  Apart from my entry for this contest, I will be sharing many more interesting recipes that uses these cranberries so that you can prepare those during next Thanksgiving or Christmas. Stay tuned.
A dip, salsa or side recipe that uses cranberries was one of the categories for this year’s contest and I am submitting this pull apart bread recipe for the same. You can also check out my entry for the beverage category and appetizer category and don’t forget to share your opinion – Sparkling Cranberry Panak,  Mini Pizzas With Cranberry Crust. I am glad that I was selected to participate in this challenge. The folks at Cape Cod were so prompt in sending me their products and following up with me during the process. It has been a pleasure. Thank you guys!Â
If you have been following my blog, you would know my favorite brand when it comes to cranberries. Cape Cod Select Premium Frozen Cranberries makes it possible to use best quality produce all through the year. They are so easy to use and are versatile as they can be used to prepare delicious desserts, as well as savory treats. Cape Cod Select is a small women-owned family business. Cheers to women power! They are now in its fourth generation. The Rhodes family has been growing cranberries for more than 75 years on their 800 acre cranberry farm. The cranberries are grown to some of the industries highest standards and are NON-GMO verified and also hold GLOBAL G.A.P Certification. They also focus on sustainability – powering their facilities primarily with solar power and using better growing practices on their farm. Do not forget to follow Cape Cod Select on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest as they provide regular updates on products, contests, recipes and more. Also check nearby stores for this great product or you can order these frozen cranberries online.
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Cranberry Pesto Pasta  – Readers’ favorite (award-winning) Savory Cranberry Pull-Apart Bread – Readers’ favorite Sparkling Cranberry Panak Cranberry Chicken Mini Pizzas With Cranberry Crust Chocolate Cranberry Barks Cranberry jam Cranberry Frangipane tart Cranberry Lemonade Cranberry Pickle Pumpkin Cranberry Cashewnut Bread Cranberry Beer Traditional Monkey Bread
Recipe card
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Preparation time: 20 minutes Rest time: 1 hour 30 minutes Serves : 8 to 10 or 1 bundt pan For the dough Warm water - 1 cup Active dry yeast - 1 packet ( 2 ¼ tsp) Sugar - 1 tsp Salt - 1 tsp All purpose flour - 2 ½ cups to 2 ¾ cups Cape Cod Select premium Frozen Cranberries chopped - ⅓ cup Garlic powder - ¼ tsp Onion powder - ¼ tsp Dried basil leaves - ¼ tsp Vegetable shortening / Olive oil - 1 tbsp For the filling Cape Cod Select premium Frozen Cranberries - 1 ¼ cup Jalapeno chopped - 2 Cilantro chopped - ½ cup Mozzarella grated - 4 oz Sharp cheddar grated - 4 oz Melted butter - 3 tbsp Olive oil - 3 tbsp Garlic powder - 2 tsp Onion powder - 1 tsp Basil leaves - 1 tsp Cayenne powder / Red chile powder - ½ teaspoon (optional) Salt - 1 tsp Step I
In a large bowl, add warm water and sugar. Sprinkle yeast and leave it undisturbed for 5 to 10 minutes. Let the yeast activate. Once the yeast has activated, add salt, flour, cranberries, garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil leaves, and olive oil, and mix. Knead this for 5 to 7 minutes to form a soft dough. Cover till and let it rise for at least 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Step II
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, add cranberries, jalapenos, cilantro, mozzarella, cheddar, butter, olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, cayenne, and salt, and mix well. Keep this aside. Once the dough has doubled in size, take small pieces of dough and roll them into lemon-sized balls. You can even roll the entire dough into a rectangle, cut them into small 1-inch squares, and using your palms, roll them into balls. Use any method that is easy for you to make these bite-size dough balls. Grease your bundt pan or cast-iron pan. Simply toss the dough balls in the cranberry-spice mixture and dump everything into the greased pan. Bake it for 20 to 25 minutes or until it is golden brown in color. Let it cool down for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then run a knife round the bundt pan and turn it on to serving plate or serve as is if prepared in a cast-iron pan Savory Cranberry Pull Apart Bread is ready. Let your guests pull these apart as they have their lunch/dinner and enjoy.
