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½ teaspoon salt

½ cup wheat germ

½ cup lightly toasted chopped walnuts

Seasonal, of course, and all the more special because of it, this tangy-sweet bread is unique, pretty, and delicious.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease an 8″ 4″ loaf pan. Combine in a saucepan cranberries, raisins, orange peel, juice, and honey. Bring to a boil, stir in the butter or oil, and remove from heat. Allow to cool while measuring and combining the other ingredients.

Sift the flours, leavenings, and salt, and stir in the wheat germ. When the liquid mixture has cooled to lukewarm, stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the nuts, reserving 3 tablespoons for the topping.

Spread the batter in a loaf pan. Sprinkle the nuts on top and press them down lightly with your hand or the back of a spoon.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until done. Test with a clean knife or toothpick, but if you should pierce a cranberry, the testing device will come out wet, so try in more than one spot to be sure.

Let the loaf rest in its pan on a wire rack for ten minutes, and then turn it out on the rack to set for at least half an hour more before cutting. If you can wait longer—it really is worth it—the slices will be less likely to crumble.

Old-Fashioned Scones

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon baking soda*

1 teaspoon cream of tartar*

½ teaspoon salt

1 or 2 tablespoons brown sugar or honey

2 tablespoons cold butter

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk at room temperature

½ cup currants

These really are good. Since they take only about two minutes to mix up, be sure to start preheating the oven before you begin mixing. The oven should be up to temperature when the scones go in.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Dust a cookie sheet with flour.

Sift flour, soda, cream of tartar, salt, and sugar (if you use honey instead, stir it thoroughly into the buttermilk). Grate the cold butter into the mixture and blend with a pastry cutter or with your fingertips until the mixture is like oatmeal flakes. Stir in the buttermilk and currants, and mix gently and quickly, until barely blended together. Immediately turn out onto the floured cookie sheet and pat into a circle about ¾ inch thick, 8 or 9 inches across. Cut the circle into wedges, 4 or 6 as you see fit, and place immediately in the hot oven

Bake about 20 minutes. Serve at once.

PLAIN SCONES

Increase the butter to 3 tablespoons and omit the sweetener and currants.

GRIDDLE SCONES

If you prefer, you can bake either kind on a medium hot, ungreased griddle. Flour both sides of the scones, and turn when they are brown on the bottom. Adjust the heat so that the scone cooks through before it burns—that will take a little experimentation and the flour on the griddle will burn for sure. Just dust it off.

Quick Rye Breads

These breads are as remarkable and as distinctive as corn-breads, though in a very different mode. They are not just poor relations of the yeasted ryes, either, but have a delicacy and warm flavor all their own.

Honey-Spiced Rye

⅓ cup honey

1 ⅓ cups water

3 tablespoons oil

2 teaspoons grated orange rind

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch each cloves and anise seed

⅛ teaspoon each ginger and allspice

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 ½ cups whole rye flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ cup chopped toasted almonds

Festive of flavor, with a spicy perfume, this bread is quite nice enough for giving (and eating) on any occasion, holiday or not.

For a longer-keeping, slightly heavier loaf, use all rye flour. Decrease the water to 1 cup and bake about 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8″ 4″ loaf pan. Combine the wet ingredients and the spices, beating them smooth with a fork.

Sift the flours, baking powder, and soda together. Add them gradually to the liquids to make a mixture that is slightly wetter than other quick bread batters. Stir in the almonds, reserving 2 tablespoons to sprinkle on the top.

Bake about 45 minutes