Happy Wednesday, ya’ll. I can’t believe it’s already mid-week. How was everyone’s weekend? It was a pretty lazy one over here, which honestly, I’m too not mad about. The past week had been crazy busy so it was nice to take a step back and chill. Another bonus of that was taking the time to flip through my old pastry binder to spark some ideas on what to bake this week. Yes, I do in fact have an entire binder full of dessert recipes. It’s pretty awesome. Although I flipped through hundreds, this coconut bread recipe stuck out to me straight from the beginning. Now, I used to make this weekly as a pastry chef and everyone loved it, but I wanted to take it a step further and add something more to it. Winter/early spring gets a lot of flack for not be a very “fresh” season for produce, but what a lot of people don’t know is that it’s ‘prime time’ for citrus. Which, of course, led me to these beautiful blood oranges.
Blood oranges are, in my opinion, the queen of oranges. Not only are they beautiful in color but they have great health benefits, some of which your typical navel orange doesn’t have. Blood oranges are rich in antioxidants, which lower your risk of chronic health problems like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. While all varieties of oranges are good options in terms of nutrition, these antioxidants give blood oranges the higher up. However, the down side of blood oranges is their short window in which you can find them, and unfortunately it’s coming to an end very soon. Bummer! If you cant find blood oranges in stock or in season at you local grocery store, any orange will work great as well. Heck, you could even swap out oranges for a different citrus. This glaze is very versatile.
Aside from the blood orange glaze, this coconut bread can stand by itself. It has a perfectly sweet and moist interior with a slightly crispy outer layer making it the ultimate bite and perfect accompaniment to your morning cup of coffee or tea. Although let’s be real, I’ve eaten this at multiple times of day. This bread also makes the best mid-morning, afternoon, or midnight snack.
So if you are wanting to impress overnight guests, your significant other, your kids or heck, even yourself, give this recipe a go and let me know what you think in the comments below. Happy Baking!
Looking for other bread recipes? Here are some ideas:
Pumpkin Muffins with Pepita Streusel
Pumpkin Bread with Brown Sugar Crumble and Maple Butter
Coconut Bread w/ Blood Orange Glaze
Ingredients
Coconut Bread
- 8 oz butter, softened
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 egg yolks (reserve whites)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp coconut extract
- 1 cup milk
- 3/4 cup shredded coconut (I use Bob's Red Mill. If using other coconut brands, slightly chop up the coconut shreds into smaller/finer pieces)
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 egg whites
Blood Orange Glaze
- 2 Tbsps blood orange juice (about 1 blood orange)
- Zest of two blood oranges
- 3 Tbsps plain, full fat greek yogurt
- 1 1/2 cups + 2 Tbsps powdered sugar, sifted
Instructions
Coconut Bread:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray baking vessel with cooking spray. Set aside. (This recipe makes 1-2 loafs or 1 bunt cake, see notes below)
- In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Add yolks one at a time until fully incorporated. Add extracts.
- Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir coconut into sifted ingredients. Add into butter and egg mixture. Mix until just barely combined.
- Slowly stream in milk until combined.
- In a separate mixing bowl whip egg whites to soft peaks. Fold into bread mixture. (You could do this step first if you don't have two mixings bowls and transfer egg whites to another bowl until ready to fold in.) Pour batter into baking pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 1-1/2 hours. Baking time will vary depending on what size pan you use. Check after 50 minutes. Once a toothpick comes out clean, bread is fully cooked.
- Let bread cool completely before topping with glaze. Store at room temp for 2-3 days or in refrigerator for up to 7.
Blood Orange Glaze
- Whisk together blood orange juice, zest and greek yogurt until combined. Add sifted powdered sugar and whisk until fully incorporated. Pour over fully cooled bread.
Notes
