Orange Nut Bread

Ask my husband what he wants me to bake for him and he will say, without hesitation, "Nut Cake."  What really is a nut cake?  A cake with nuts?  What kind of nuts?  Is there anything besides nuts floating around?  Where in the cake, do you use the nuts, in the batter, in the topping?  Are the nuts whole, sliced, chopped or ground.  This is a project in itself.  I need Joanne from Eats Well with Others to come here and do a study on nut cakes and I am sure, she can use this in med school.  If you visit Joanne, please let her know, I need her help.

I usually respond.  Good, now what kind of nut cake?   Walnut, almond, pecan, pine nuts, (are they really nuts?) pistachio or one of the sundry nuts, running around to escape my nut cake.  After I establish a nut -- usually the "I don't care" nut, we venture into he land of fruits and chocolate.  Chocolate is easy.  He does not like it.  On to fruit.  Should it be dried or fresh?  Doesn't that depend on the season?  I suggest dried apricots and the response is. "Why not fresh apricots?"

"Uh, they are not in season and you can't get them anywhere."

We end up with fresh apples and dried apricots - yum.  I am not going to tell you about choosing a shape.  Usually mini muffins wins.  All I know, is that I have a freezer full of muffins.

This time, we bake orange-nut bread.

Cranberry Nut Bread at Simply Recipes where you can always find good recipes.  Hubby did not want the cranberries so I made it with just the walnuts but I think we lost some of the moisture from the cranberries and I added a little more orange juice to the batter, probably one quarter of a cup.
Orange Nut Bread  (adapted)Walnut Bread

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon orange zest
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
  • 1/2 cup dried apricots
  • 1 apple, diced
  • 1/4 cup orange juice   (I ended up using one cup of orange juice)
  • 1/4 cup canola oil
  • 1 egg, beaten
Method:                                                                  
1 Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
2 Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the walnuts to coat with the flour mixture.
3 Mix together orange juice, oil, and egg. Add to flour, apple, apricot andnut mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until just blended.
4 Pour into a greased 9×5 or 8×4 loaf pan. Bake at 350°F for 55 to 60 minutes or until done (a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).
5 Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.
Serves 8.
Ta Walnut BreadLinked to Full Plate Thursdays

Comments

  1. aipiFebruary 17, 2011 at 10:37 AM

    So lovely! I adore the flavor of oranges..thanks for sharing :)

    US Masala

    ReplyDelete
  2. Miz HelenFebruary 17, 2011 at 5:47 PM

    Your Orange Nut Bread looks so moist and we love anything orange. I will be trying your recipe very soon. Thank you so much for bringing your lovely bread to Full Plate Thursday and please come back!

    ReplyDelete

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