Orange Loaf with Orange Icing Drizzle

Orange Loaf with Orange Icing Drizzle ~ A couple weeks ago, because they were on sale,  I bought a big bag of oranges.  We did well eating them the first few days and then…well, we seemed to forget about them.

Consequently, a couple of days ago when I was rummaging in the crisper, I came across three lonely oranges that, while not “bad”, had certainly seen better days.

I hate to waste food, so I was wracking my brain to come up with a recipe to use them in.

I remember years ago making an Orange “Loaf”, using my mom’s Lemon “Bread” recipe and it turned out well, so I thought, why not?

See what I’m doing here…lol…I can’t decide if it should be called a “loaf” or a “bread” so I’m using both terms!  I grew up calling these sweet loaves, “breads” but people often call them loaves, which actually makes more sense to me.

When I hear the word “bread” I think of white bread, brown bread, whole wheat bread…something you make toast or a sandwich with.  But when I hear the term “loaf”, I think of a sweet “bread” (…see where the confusion comes in….these are the things that keep me awake until all hours of the morning, lol.)

Anyway, loaf or bread, they are darn tasty with a hot cup of tea or a glass of wine.  Yes, you read that correctly, I would definitely eat a piece of this (whatever it’s called) while sipping a glass of icy cold white wine!

I’m going to blame my mom for my confusion…see…”Lemon Bread”!

My Mom died in 2005. That year, as a Christmas gift for my siblings, children, nieces, and nephews, I compiled all of her handwritten recipes and had them copied and bound into a recipe book for each of them. Every time I open up this book and see one of my Mom’s handwritten recipes, I remember her.  In the early days, this would make me cry, but now it makes me smile.

For this “Orange Bread-Loaf”, (maybe that’s what I will start calling them), I basically used my mom’s recipe, substituted orange for lemon, omitted the glaze and added a drizzle.

This turned out extremely well and I actually prefer it to the traditional lemon. I love the drizzle too. It was really orangy and added a nice tang.  (Just be sure to let the drizzle set up and dry a bit before wrapping the bread or you’ll have a bit of a mess.)

Before I show you some pics from the recipe, thought I would share this little tip that I remembered as I was digging out the white sugar for this recipe. Whenever I use a vanilla pod, I shove the used pod into my sugar container. It flavours the sugar with the most heavenly vanilla scent!

 

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition

Always sift your dry ingredients to evenly combine.  You can do this with a conventional sifter, a wire sieve or by mixing the ingredients with a whisk.

Add orange zest and whisk some more to evenly distribute. (If you don’t have one of these handy kitchen rasps, you need to get one, they are so easy to use!)

Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and spread evenly. Bake as directed.

While the loaf/bread is cooling, make the drizzle. It should end up being a bit drippy, like above.

Using spoonfuls of the drippy icing, drizzle over the loaf/bread.  (Don’t worry if you add a little too much orange juice, just add a bit more icing sugar until you get the consistency you are looking for.)

As always, if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my very best to answer.

Okay, I need to know. Bread or Loaf…what do you call it?