Famous Cranberry Bread & Muffins (Family)

This recipe comes from a children's story book,
"Cranberry Thanksgiving", that I read to my oldest
son, Sean, in 1986, when he was just 5 years old. 
Every year, since then, he has helped by baking
the cranberry muffins for Thanksgiving Day.

Ingredients:
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup orange juice
1 cup currants (or raisins**)
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, chopped and seeds rinsed off
1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350*. Sift first five ingredients into a large bowl. Cut in butter with two knives, until mixture is crumbly. Use fingers to continue mixing until mixture resembles cornmeal. Add egg and orange juice all at once; stir just until mixture is evenly moistened. Fold in cranberries, currants and pecans.

Bake:
For 1 large loaf: Spoon batter into a greased 9x5x3 inch loaf pan and bake for 70 minutes or until top is browned and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Makes one loaf.
For muffins: Spoon batter into a greased muffin pan and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until browned and toothpick comes out clean. Makes 1 1/2 dozen muffins.
For mini loaves: Spoon batter into 3 greased 6 inch mini loaf pans and bake for 40 minutes or until browned and toothpick comes out clean. Makes 3 mini loaves.
Cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes or longer, before removing from pan. Serve or store in refrigerator. May be eaten cold, sliced and lightly toasted in toaster oven or under broiler, or heated, wrapped in foil, in a 350* oven.

**I plump the raisins, by soaking them in enough hot water to cover, for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside in a paper towel lined bowl until ready to add to the batter.

Notes:

This recipe may be doubled. I like muffins for home and mini loaves to give as gifts. You can use dried cranberries instead of fresh, but our family greatly prefers the fresh. (Dried cranberries produce a much sweeter bread.) You can use paper muffin liners, but we prefer the nice crust you get when you don't.