On Thanksgiving I posted some ways to repurpose Thanksgiving leftovers on my page at Examiner.com. I shared a round-up of recipes that use Thanksgiving leftovers – from the turkey to the cranberry sauce to the excess of green beans brimming from your vegetable drawer.

What I haven’t yet shared is a new recipe that I tried from Martha Stewart Living this year.  Since I was in first grade, I’ve made cranberry bread for Thanksgiving. For years, it was Pillsbury quick bread. Sometimes it was Thanksgiving breakfast, other times it was a side dish to the main meal, but it was a fixture on the fourth Thursday of November.

To this day, cranberries signify the holiday season. For me, holiday spirit doesn’t come from the holly-decked aisles at CVS (on October 15) or even from the holiday candy displays at Target (in September). It’s cranberries. It’s the smell in the air. It’s waking up and being able to see your breath when you’re walking to the bus for school or work.

This crimson-topped cornbread is a new-to-me cranberry bread recipe. The cornbread is sweet enough to complement the tart cranberries without being sweet enough to quite count as a dessert.

Cranberry Cornmeal Quick Bread

Ingredients:

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cups (4 1/2 ounces) fresh cranberries
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal, preferably stone-ground
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon finely chopped candied ginger

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons sugar, stirring until dissolved. Add cranberries, and stir to coat. Cook until cranberries begin to pop, about 1 minute. Pour into a 5-by-9-inch loaf pan, distributing cranberries evenly to cover bottom. Let cool.

2. Whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat remaining 1 1/2 sticks butter and 1/2 cup sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With machine running, add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low, and slowly add flour mixture, mixing until combined. Fold in ginger. Pour mixture into pan over cranberries. Gently smooth top using an offset spatula.

3. Place pan on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until a tester inserted into center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cool for 15 minutes. Invert pan to remove bread. Let cool completely on wire rack, cranberry side up. (Bread can be stored, wrapped, at room temperature overnight or refrigerated for up to 5 days.)