Sweet Coconut Bread

Gosh I love bread. Sweet, savory, roll, brown, biscuit – I don’t discriminate. And thanks to Fiji’s inspiration, I love this sweet coconut bread.

A bit about me: I’m a planner. I plan my weekly activities well in advance, schedule my meals and allocate every vacation day at the beginning of each fiscal year. The exception to this sometimes oppressive habit has been this blog.

That’s not to say that I don’t plan it at all. I typically come up with my menu the Friday before so that I have a grocery list to go buy ingredients on Saturday morning. The lack of planning comes from the fact that I’m usually writing these posts the day that I cook the meals. Once in a while, I’ll have a productive Sunday where I crank them all out in a day, but that seems to have been happening few and far between.

This past Sunday, I got my act together. Because I was traveling for work this week and didn’t want to push Fiji into next, this past Sunday was one busy day. Good thing, too, because when I left my house at 4:15 this morning to catch my 6 AM flight, I was armed with a very tasty breakfast, courtesy of Travel by Stove.

Admittedly it has been hard to find new and interesting recipes to make for these pacific islands, and when I read the rave review given for this coconut bread, I figured that, since I am obsessed with bread, I had to make it. And I’m SO glad I did.

This is really easy, moist and flavorful, which, I admit surprised me since it had no oil or butter in it. Since I lack self-control, when I originally made this, hot from the oven, I slathered it in Nutella (and therefore redefining fusion cuisine in my household). I had originally wanted to top it with lemon curd, but didn’t have any in the fridge. Because come on: Lemon + coconut? Nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all. No Nutella or lemon curd on the plane today, and it tasted wonderful nonetheless.

Ok, on to the recipe. Adapted from Travel By Stove.

June 19, 2013

Servings: 8

Prep: 15 min

Cook: 60 min

Total: 1 hr 30 min

Difficulty: Easy

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Sweet coconut bread is inspired by the Pacific Islands and uses both coconut milk and fresh coconut to give it the perfect taste and texture.

By: Chrissy

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
1 cup white sugar
1 TB baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups lite coconut milk
1 cup grated fresh coconut

Directions

Step 1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Meanwhile, toast the coconut on the stovetop until golden. This won’t take long so keep an eye on it.
Step 2 Sift the flour together with the baking powder, sugar and salt. Gently stir in the coconut.
Step 3 In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer until frothy. Stir in the coconut milk and vanilla extract.
Step 4 Make a hole in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the liquid. Fold gently or until just combined.
Step 5 Now pour into a greased, sugared loaf pan and bake for one hour, or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Step 6 Let cool in the loaf pan for about 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling