These Cranberry Orange Mini Loaves Breads are a cross between super moist quick bread and tender, orange infused, full of cranberry mini breads.
Glazed with orange and sugar and baked into individual serving-size mini loaves, which are gluten-free and perfect to give as a gift during festive celebrations like Christmas or any other special holidays.

I think the secret for a perfect loaf bread is the size of it. And these Cranberry orange MINI loaves breads are sure becoming a thing lately. I think it is a great size for portion serving without being overly sweet or huge.
And what I also love doing, is cutting these mini loaves into small bite size slices, it really makes the whole thing taste better. What do you think? Call me crazy, but I even love to cut snickers into tiny pieces!
We love festive baking, from our Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies to Gluten Free Apple Cobbler. We love how easy they are and these are the kind of recipes that you can make any time of the year.
Table Of Contents
A perfect Gift
Bring these mini loaves to your family gatherings, special occassion celebrations or bring them to work, a meeting, your kids’ soccer game, or for picnic. Wrap them in plastic wrap, or parchment paper, and tie them with a pretty ribbon if you want to make them extra special and gifty.
Why you'll love these mini loaves:
- Easy to make
- A delicious combination of cranberry and orange covered in orange sugar glaze
- Wrap in parchment paper and ribbon and give it as a gift
- Perfect for the festive season for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas
How to make Cranberry Orange Mini Loaves
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray your mini loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray or use liners. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, cooled butter, orange zest, orange juice, egg, and vanilla.
- In another mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, soda, cinnamon. Stir thoroughly until all the ingredients are combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir in the cranberries.
- Pour the batter into mini loaves tins, filling each until full.
- Bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and the inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the loaves cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Then move loaves a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the glaze, stir together the orange juice and powdered sugar until reaches the desired consistency. Makes about 11 loaves.
Tips making the best mini loaves
- For better blending, all ingredients should be at room temp.
- Gluten-free flour - the best option is to use a GF flour mix for bread baking with xanthan gum included.
- Cranberries - if you have larger ones, cut them in half as I did. A good tip for fresh berries is to add 1 teaspoon of flour to them and mix to combine. This will ensure your cranberries won’t fall to the bottom of the bread and will spread evenly across the bread.
- When mixing the batter, don’t over mix it.
How to adjust the baking time for a regular loaf pan?
If you don’t have mini loaf pans, you can make one large Cranberry orange loaf bread!
Simply adjust the time to 1 h - 1 ½ h.
Keep checking on the bread in small increments of time, if it gets too brown, cover it foil before the end of the required baking time.
I hope you enjoy these Cranberry orange mini loaves breads and make sure to share your pictures in Instagram by tagging @theyummy_bowl, I’d love to see your awesome creations!
More Cranberry Recipes
- Cranberry Sauce With Mandarin Oranges
- Millionaire Cranberry Salad
- Roasted Butternut Squash With Cranberries
- Almond Cranberry Tart
More Christmas Recipes You'll Like:
- Gluten Free Christmas Tree Shortbread Cookies
- Pork Tenderloin With Lingonberry Sauce
- Homemade Lingonberry Sauce
- Gluten Free Red Velvet Cookies In Air Fryer
For more festive recipes be sure to take a look at our Christmas recipes.
I would appreciate it so much if you left a comment about this recipe below! Subscribe to join the TYB newsletter and receive free recipes straight to your inbox! Let's connect via Facebook, IG & Pinterest!
Recipe inspired from Mama Gourmand.
Recipe
Cranberry Orange Mini Loaves Breads (Gluten-Free)
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅔ cup buttermilk
- 6 tablespoon butter (melted and cooled)
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- ⅓ cup orange juice
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cup flour gluten-free (for bread baking)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder (gluten-free)
- ¼ teaspoon soda
- 1 ½ cup fresh cranberries cut into half (large)
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Orange Glaze
- 1 cup sugar powder
- 2 tablespoon orange juice
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray your mini loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray or use liners. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, cooled butter, orange zest, orange juice, egg, and vanilla.
- In another mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, soda, cinnamon. Stir thoroughly until all the ingredients are combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Stir in the cranberries.
- Pour the batter into mini loaves tins, filling each until full.
- Bake for about 35-40 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and the inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the loaves cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Then move loaves a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the glaze, stir together the orange juice and powdered sugar until reaches the desired consistency. Makes about 11 loaves.
NOTES
- For better blending, all ingredients should be at room temp.
- Gluten-free flour - the best option is to use a GF flour mix for bread baking with xanthan gum included.
- Cranberries - if you have larger ones, cut them in half as I did. A good tip for fresh berries is to add 1 teaspoon of flour to them and mix to combine. This will ensure your cranberries won’t fall to the bottom of the bread and will spread evenly across the bread.
- When mixing the batter, don’t over mix it.
PRIVATE NOTES
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)
Barb
I would love to try these, but your ingredient list has 6 tablespoons of butter and cranberries listed, but your instructions do not include either. Also, what is the purpose of melting and chilling the butter?
Julia
Hi Barb! Thanks for pointing out this!
I have adjusted the recipe, forgot to add that we need to include cooled butter while mixing the wet ingredients. The purpose is that you need to use liquid form of butter in the recipe but you obviously can't use it while it's piping hot 🙂
Toni
These mini loaves are delicious AND adorable! I love the idea of making them mini. Perfect for cookie platters too. Great recipe and so easy to follow.
Julia
Thank you so much Toni!
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry
These mini loaves are super cute and sound so delicious! What a lovely treat for the festive season.
Julia
Thank you Bintu!
Jenn
As soon as I saw this recipe, I had to try it. Delish! My daughter is GF and she raved about this flavorful mini bread!
Julia
thank you Jenn, I hope she loved it!
Tara
Such cute little loaves! I love that color from the cranberries and the flavors sound amazing.
Julia
This is the perfect combination: cranberry and orange! Thank you Tara!
Andrea Metlika
Love this flavor combination and love the mini loaves. Perfect for sharing!
Julia
Thank you so much Andrea, glad you like it