As the name of my blog indicates, I spend a lot of time thinking about home. Of course, my Heavenly Home is the one that is eternal, so that’s where I need to lay up my treasures, and that’s the one I’m striving for. But in the meantime, I have been given this tiny piece of the here-and-now—this home on the edge of town, this family, this neighborhood—in which to serve Him. And, though this is in the earthly realm, I want the things that happen here to be investments in the Heavenly realm.




Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Bread On Tuesday: Week 9 {Coconut Bread}

...And a Book Review to Boot!



As we made our way around the world last year as part of our homeschool geography studies, we dabbled in a bit of ethnic cooking.  One of my favorite resources was the children's cookbook, Emeril's There's a Chef in My World!: Recipes That Take You Places

We made several of the recipes in this cookbook.  Mango Lassis and Indian Naan Bread when we studied India.  Swedish Meatballs and Swedish Cucumber Salad on our way through Scandinavia.  Pepperoni and Fresh Mozzarella Paninis and Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti as we spent time in Italy.  

All were fabulous.  I am not kidding.  

Now these were not your basic children's cookbook kinds of recipes.  Some of them are time-consuming.  I found some of the recipes a bit complicated.  A child who had only a passing interest in cooking could find these tedious. But a child who enjoys cooking, and has an adult to work with, will have a blast.  Every recipe that we have tried was well worth the time and effort, and the results were dee-licous!  Kids-requesting-repeats dee-licious!  

We decided that we'd keep trying recipes from this cookbook (and cooking ones we had already tried*), even though our year of world geography emphasis was over.  

Coconut Bread, is from There's a Chef in My World!and it did not disappoint.  The loaf was full of rich coconutty flavor.  I think I'd consider it a dessert bread, almost like a coconut pound cake.  Baked in mini-loaves, Coconut Bread would make wonderful homemade Christmas gifts.   

* These are the Swedish Meatballs and Cucumber Salad that we served at Sunday's birthday dinner.



This week's bread...



(Makes 1 loaf)


Ingredients:
1 tablespoon plus 1/2  cup unsalted butter
2 1/2  cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon  baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (6-ounce) package frozen fresh coconut flakes, thawed OR 1 1/3 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 1/4 cups coconut milk
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
  1. Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat the oven to 35oF.
  2. Grease a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with 1 tablespoon of the butter.  Set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Stir to combine.
  4. Using a knife, cut the remaining butter into small cubes.  Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, blend the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.
  5. Add the coconut, stirring to combine.
  6. In a second large mixing bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, eggs, and vanilla.  
  7. Using your clean hands, make a well in the flour mixture and pour the milk mixture into it, stirring just until moistened.  The batter will be lumpy.
  8. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes to 1 hour and 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  9. Using the oven mitts or potholders, remove the pan from the oven.  Allow the bread to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.  Invert the bread on a wire rack to cool.  Serve warm or at room temperature.




Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God,
that I will send a famine in the land,
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, 
but of hearing the words of the Lord. 

Amos 8:11






Looking for a recipe from another week?
Week 5: Rosemary Bread
Week 6: Cheddar Biscuits




Linking up with Allyson's Finished Friday at All Our Days..

6 comments:

  1. I do love coconut. Coconut milk? Is that the stuff that comes in the mixed drinks section?

    Have you done a recipe for Naan bread? I've always wanted to try that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vee, I found my can of coconut milk in the ethnic foods section, but I'll bet it's the same thing.

    I have not yet featured a recipe for naan. Maybe next week...

    ReplyDelete
  3. This sounds delicious, I have to try this as I have a couple of friends who adore coconut. Your meal on Sunday looked scrumptious. xo

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  4. I have two sweet tooth weaknesses.. chocolate and coconut! I'm definitely trying this one. The girls and I are still 'in' Italy. I think we'll look into inter-library loan for the cookbook since they really do love to cook and it would be fun to challenge them. All is well with your family? :) Spring makes all things fresh, yes?

    Blessings, Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  5. This bread sounds delicious! Our whole family loves coconut. I also love the idea of the mini loaves as gifts.

    We'd love for you to link this recipe to our blog party on Friday.

    ReplyDelete
  6. And I have coconut and coconut milk in the house! maybe this will be made this weekend! Thanks for sharing the recipe! New GFC follower and subscriber!

    ReplyDelete

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