This Macadamia Coconut bread is sweet and moist with chopped macadamia nuts, orange zest, and shredded sweetened coconut. A citrus sugar glaze tops the coconut bread adding a special touch to this Caribbean-inspired sweet treat!
So, step aside Christmas fruitcake and make room for this irresistible holiday quick bread!
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❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- This bread is sweet and moist, soft on the inside, with a slight outer crust.
- This Macadamia Coconut Bread recipe is perfect as a special holiday treat but can just as easily be enjoyed throughout the year as a sweet breakfast or brunch treat.
- Use this recipe to gift mini coconut bread loaves, wrapped in colored plastic wrap, to friends and family over the festive season!
This Caribbean-inspired Macadamia Coconut Bread is deliciously sweet and perfect for the holidays as an alternative to cinnamon buns or traditional fruit cake.
🛒 Ingredients
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Note: The full list of this recipe ingredients with their amounts and options are listed in the recipe card below.
- Coconut -- this is the sweetened flaked coconut.
- Orange -- freshly squeezed and zested.
- Butter -- is unsalted
- Eggs -- are a large size.
- macadamia nuts -- not salted.
🗒 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the Coconut Quick Bread recipe card below.
- Heat the oven and prepare the loaf pans with parchment paper.
- Cream sugar and butter in a larger mixing bowl, followed by eggs, sour cream, orange juice, and orange zest.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add the flour mixture to the bowl of wet ingredients and mix well.
- Stir in the coconut and nuts into the batter.
- Divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake (35-45 minutes for mini loaves and 45-55 minutes for larger loaves).
- Remove the pans from the oven and allow them to cool on a cooling rack.
- Remove the baked loaves from the pans and transfer them to a wire rack with a sheet of parchment paper.
- Assemble the sugar glaze ingredients.
- Combine the powdered sugar, orange juice, and orange zest. Stir until smooth.
- Drizzle the orange sugar glaze over the bread loaves.
- Slice and serve.
🔪 Equipment
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You’ll need the following items to make this recipe successfully.
- loaf pans -- you may use 2 (9X5-inch) loaf pans which we used, or 5 mini loaf pans (5 ¾X3-inch).
- electric mixer
- mixing bowls
- dry measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- liquid measuring cup
- spatula
- parchment paper
- microplane - for zesting orange
🤔 FAQs
Questions frequently asked about making our Macadamia Coconut Bread recipe.
Jamaican coco bread is typically made with flour and coconut milk and slightly sweetened with sugar.
This bread originates from Jamaica, the birthplace of coco bread, which is considered a national treat.
Coconut flour is mild with a slightly sweet taste. Its taste is fairly distinct, which may take getting used to, but it can also easily be disguised by stronger flavors such as coffee, cacao, and bananas.
Coconut bread is higher in fiber and protein compared to regular wheat flour. The coconut flour in the bread also assists with regulating healthy blood sugar levels.
👩🏻🍳 Tips
- Slicing this coconut bread before storing it in the freezer is a great way to enjoy the exact amount of bread at any given time without thawing an entire loaf.
- Mini loaves typically require 35-45 minutes baking while larger loaves require about 45-55 minutes. You can insert a toothpick into the center of each loaf to check for doneness if you are unsure.
- It’s important to allow the baked loaves to cool completely before adding the sugar glaze; otherwise, you will end up with a runny mess!
- For a thicker glaze, add extra powdered sugar. For a thinner consistency, mix in extra orange juice.
- A helpful trick to prevent each coconut bread loaf from sticking to the pan is to line each loaf pan with a “sling” of parchment paper. This is where the parchment paper lines the pan with excess paper hanging over both edges, creating handles to lift the baked bread from the pan easily. I do this in addition to lining the pan with non-stick cooking spray or vegetable oil.
📚 Variations
- Make this bread in small or large bread pans. You will need to adjust the baking time when using a different-sized pan from what I have used.
- Add raisins or other dried fruit into the bread batter for added texture.
- Drizzle a vanilla sugar glaze over the cooled coconut bread loaves instead of the orange sugar glaze.
- Top each coconut bread loaf with extra chopped macadamia nuts while the orange sugar glaze is slightly wet.
- You can combine shredded coconut and coconut flakes if you like.
- Add a small amount of ground cinnamon as a delicious holiday spice flavor. It goes beautifully with the orange and coconut flavors.
🥫 Storage
Store this Macadamia Coconut Bread at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for 4-5 days, wrapped and in an airtight container.
You can also freeze this sweet bread for 3-6 months, wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil.
📗 Related Recipes
Coconut lovers beware! These coconut-inspired desserts are addictive!
- Coconut Pineapple Delight - Cream cheese, crushed pineapple, whipped cream, and buttery Graham crackers fill this tropical dessert.
- Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroon - The perfect blend of sweet coconut and rich chocolate, served as an irresistible handheld treat.
- Italian Cream Cake - A rich yellow cake filled with pecans and coconut and topped with cream cheese, toasted pecans, and toasted coconut.
🍽 Serve with
Serve this Macadamia Coconut Bread as is or alongside softened butter, jams, or whipped cream!
📞 Chiacchierata (chat)
I don’t know about you, but I’ve never liked holiday fruitcake! It’s one of those seasonal treats that people either love or hate! Over the years, I’ve experimented with suitable alternatives, and this Caribbean-inspired Macadamia Coconut Bread has become my favorite!
This sweet coconut bread is moist and soft with familiar holiday flavors and textures such as citrus orange and chopped nuts.
Tutti a tavolo, è pronto!
What's new? Check out my All Our Way Store on Amazon. We'll be adding more items we love and use or wish we had to make cooking fun and easy.
📝 Recipe Card
Macadamia Coconut Bread is the perfect holiday sweet treat consisting of sour cream, coconut flakes, shredded sweetened coconut, orange zest, chopped nuts, and an orange sugar glaze. Enjoy this coconut bread for Christmas as a delicious alternative to fruitcake. And pinky swear, if you give this bread as a present, it won't be regifted!
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
📖 Recipe
Holiday Macadamia Coconut Bread With Orange Glaze
Ingredients
Coconut bread:
- 1½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream
- ½ cup orange juice
- 2 Tablespoons Orange zest freshly grated
- 3½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
- ⅔ cup macadamia nuts coarsely chopped
Glaze:
- 1 cup Confectioners' sugar
- 1½ Tablespoons orange juice to reach desired consistency - may need more.
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
Equipment Needed
- 2 Loaf Pans 9x5 or use 5 mini pans (5¾X3-inch)
Instructions
Coconut Bread:
- Heat oven to 350 °F. Grease bottom only of 5 mini (5¾X3-inch)loaf pans OR 2 (9X5-inch) loaf pans. Set aside. **IF using larger loaf pan, line with parchment paper to remove the loaf without tearing into it. (See notes below on how to do that).
- Combine sugar and 1 cup butter in a large-size mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, , until creamy. Add eggs; continue beating until well mixed. Add sour cream, orange juice and orange zest; continue beating until well mixed.
- In another bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the flour to the wet ingredients beating at low speed until well mixed.
- Stir in the coconut and macadamia nuts into the batter.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pans. Bake the mini loaves for 35-45 minutes and the larger loaves for 45-55 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
- Let cool for 10 minutes; run a cake release tool or knife around the edges then remove the bread from pans and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.
Glaze:
- In a small bowl stir together the powdered sugar, orange juice and 1 teaspoon of orange zest. Stir until smooth.It should have a drizzling consistency. Add more orange juice to thin it out or powdered sugar to make it thicker.
Notes
- Grease the pan - I like to use vegetable spray.
- Cut or tear a piece of parchment paper that's the same length as the LONG edge of the bottom of your loaf pan (about 9 inches if using a 9x5-inch pan, or 8 ½ inches for a standard (8 ½x 4 ½-inch)loaf pan.
- Press the parchment into the bottom of the pan and up the long sides of the greased pan so that there's an equal amount of overhang on each side. Crease the corners so that the paper lies flat along the bottom and sides of the pan.
- Depending on the width of your parchment paper, you may want to trim the edges. I like to leave an inch or two of overhang so I can use them as handles to lift the loaf out after baking and cooling.
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