Cointreau Glazed Orange Quick Bread

Fresh orange juice, zest and Cointreau give this lovely Cointreau glazed orange quick bread a fresh, sweet flavor that smells amazing as it bakes.

Perfect for snack, teatime or even as a dessert, this quick bread is a family favorite. Similar recipes are best known in Great Britain as lemon drizzle cakes, but as you can see, any citrus substitution will do nicely. 

Cointreau Glazed Orange Quick Bread

For anyone who doesn’t drink or cook with alcohol, the orange liqueur can be replaced with an equal amount of orange juice for both the bread batter and the glaze. This recipe makes one  8 x 4-inch or 9 x 5-inch loaf cake.

Ingredients

For the batter:

½ cup or 113g butter, softened to room temperature, plus more for the pan

1 cup or 200g sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tablespoon Cointreau or Grand Marnier 

½ teaspoon orange extract, optional

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest (from an untreated or organic orange)

1 ½ cups or 190g flour, plus more for the pan if not using baking parchment

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

½ cup or 10 ml milk

For the glaze:

½ cup or 62g powdered sugar

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tablespoon Cointreau or Grand Marnier

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Prepare your loaf pan by buttering it and either lining the bottom with baking parchment or dusting it with flour, tapping out the excess.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter with the sugar until blended and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, just to blend. 

Beat in the orange juice, the Cointreau, the extract if using and the orange zest.

Stir together the flour, the baking powder and the salt in a small bowl; beat in the flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with dry, beating well after each addition and using a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides.

Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the bread is risen, the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted near the center of the bread comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven and place on a cooling rack.

To make the glaze, sift the confectioner’s sugar into a small bowl and add the juice and the Cointreau. Stir until you have a very smooth silky glaze. 

Slide a thin knife blade around the edges of the cake to loosen it and pour the glaze evenly all over the hot loaf, allowing some to dribble down the sides.

Leave the quick bread to cool completely before turning out of the pan and cutting into slices to serve.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 17th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter Q. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the Q recipes below:

• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Asian Quinoa Salad 
• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Butternut Squash Taco Ravioli with Queso Fresco  
• Food Lust People Love: Cointreau Glazed Orange Quick Bread 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Loaded Quinoa Breakfast Bowl
• Palatable Pastime: Quebecoise Pommes Persillade 
• Culinary Cam: Quesabirria Tacos 
• Magical Ingredients: Queso Paratha
• Sneha’s Recipe: Quick Potato Instant Sambar - Without Dal 
• A Messy Kitchen: Quinoa Crunch Bars
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Quinoa Paniyaram
• Blogghetti: Sheet Pan Quesadillas 
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Whole Wheat Quinoa Bread

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw
D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing
E: Everything Pizza Tartin
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
G: Grape Juice Jigglers
H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts
I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops 

K. Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs 

L. Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry 

M. Fresh Mint Sauce 

N. Miso Butter Noodles 

O. Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs 

P. Homemade Piri Piri Sauce 

Q, Cointreau Glazed Orange Quick Bread - this post!

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Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs

Orange juice adds a lovely sweetness to these spicy orange braised short ribs. Slow cooking intensifies the flavors and the ribs melt in your mouth.

Despite their "golden riches" symbolism in Chinese culture, I didn’t think that oranges featured in many otherwise Chinese-inspired savory dishes. I certainly don’t remember any from the many years we lived in Malaysia and Singapore where Chinese restaurants abound.

But I was wrong! A simple search reveals, that as usual *deep sigh* everyone from Serious Eats to Kroger. com, for goodness’ sake, has an orange braised beef short rib recipe online. It’s hard to be original in this world. That said, I’m here to tell you, orange juice and zest are great additions and that’s probably why they are popular. 

Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs

Short ribs are such a succulent cut but they do release a lot of fat when slow cooked till tender. If you want to discard most of the fat, cook this ahead of the day you’d like to serve it. You will have time to chill it overnight and remove most of the fat that rises to the top and hardens. My method below includes that step. 

Ingredients

3 lbs 5 oz or 1.5kg short ribs

1 tablespoon five-spice powder

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

1/2 cup or 120ml soy sauce

2 cups or 480ml fresh orange juice

1 celery stick, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 thumbs fresh ginger, peeled and minced

2 red chili peppers, minced

2 tablespoons salted black beans, rinsed

1 orange

1 star anise

1 bay leaf

To serve: small handful cilantro, chopped plus more for garnish, if desired

Method

Using a sharp knife, cut off the zest of the orange in strips, as whole as possible, but thin, no white pith. Peel and chop the onion and garlic. Peel and slice the ginger. Remove the stems and cut the red chili peppers into two halves and chop the celery stick. 

Tuck the spare ribs in a Dutch oven that has a tightly fitting lid and sprinkle them with the five-spice powder, fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 

Add in the sesame oil, soy sauce then orange juice. 

Tuck the chili peppers, ginger, garlic, salted black beans, star anise and bay leaf on and amongst the ribs. 

Top with the chopped onions and celery. 

Put the pot on the stovetop over medium heat and bring to a low boil. Cover with tightly fitting lid and lower the heat to simmer. Cook for about four hours., checking occasionally to make sure it isn’t drying out. 

My LeCreuset Dutch oven really seals well and I don’t have to add water, but I know that not all pots are that great.  Add a little water, if needed from time to time.

If you have planned ahead as I mentioned above, pour the cooking liquid into a heatproof bowl. Pick out all the bones that have separated from the meat in the pot and discard them. 

Add the meat into the cooking liquid and chill overnight. The next day, carefully remove the solidified fat and discard. 

Rewarm the short ribs and stir in the small handful of cilantro.

I recommend serving the ribs with mashed potatoes or rice because of all the lovely gravy. Garnish with extra cilantro, if desired.

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 15th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter O. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the O recipes below:

• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice: Firecracker Oatmeal Peanut Butter Blossoms
• Culinary Cam: How to Shuck Oysters and a Few Serving Ideas 
• Palatable Pastime: Olive Cream Cheese Bites
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Orange Chili Pulled Pork 
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Oreo Mousse Cake
• Magical Ingredients: Oreo Paratha
• A Messy Kitchen: Ozark Pudding
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories: Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche
• Food Lust People Love: Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs
• Mayuri’s Jikoni: Whole Orange Cake

Here are my posts for the alphabet challenge, thus far:
A: Anchovy Deviled Eggs
B: Spicy Braised Ginger Pork Belly
C: Cecilie's Favorite Coleslaw
D: Cajun Chicken Eggplant Dressing
E: Everything Pizza Tartin
F: Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
G: Grape Juice Jigglers
H: Crispy Bacon-wrapped Chicken Hearts
I: Raspberry Rhubarb Ice Cream
J: Java Dry Spice Mix Chops 

K. Korean Barbecue-style Meatballs 

L. Easy Lamb and Fresh Tomato Curry 

M. Fresh Mint Sauce 

N. Miso Butter Noodles 

O. Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs - this post!

Pin these Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs! 

 .

Orange Glazed Pecan Muffins #MuffinMonday

Sweet buttery orange glazed pecans elevate a simple orange muffin to a super treat in these orange glazed pecan muffins. Enjoy with a cup of tea or a cold glass of milk!

As I mentioned in my post on Saturday, I made those orange glazed pecans solely to include them in muffin recipe for today but thankfully the pecan recipes makes about twice what you need for the muffins. Otherwise, there would not be enough left, they are that more-ish and delicious. 

Orange Glazed Pecan Muffins

Orange glazed pecans are super simple to make. You can find my recipe here: https://www.foodlustpeoplelove.com/2023/08/orange-glazed-pecans.html 

You can also use store-bought candied pecans. I often find them in the bulk section at Kroger. 

Ingredients for 12 muffins

2/3 cup or 130g sugar

Zest of 1 mandarin orange

2 cups or 250g flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 

2 eggs

1/2 cup or 120ml milk

1/3 cup or 80ml canola or other light oil

Juice of 2 mandarin oranges (about 1/4 cup or 60ml)

1 cup or 100g orange glazed pecans

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by spraying with non-stick spray or lining it with muffin papers. Since I was concerned that the pecans might get sticky again when hot, I chose to just grease my pan this time. 

Measure your sugar into a bowl and zest the mandarin orange into it. Use the back of a spoon or spatula to press down on the zest and mix it in with the sugar, releasing the flavor and oil till the sugar is a pale yellow and whole bowl smells of bright citrusy sunshine. Go ahead, take a big sniff. It's glorious! 

Whisk together your flour, orange sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. 

Chop the glazed pecans.

Add most of them to the flour mixture, saving some for sprinkling on the tops before baking. Use your hands to mix them in and separate any pieces that are sticking together till they are all well coated in the flour mixture.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your eggs, oil, milk and orange juice.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until just mixed, with a little flour still showing. 

Divide your batter between the 12 muffin cups. Top with the reserved pecans. 

Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pans and then remove to continue cooling on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

It is once again the last Monday of the month, which means it's time for Muffin Monday! Check out all the great muffin recipes my blogger friends are sharing today. 

• Carrot, Mango and Zucchini Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Orange Blueberry Zucchini Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Orange Glazed Pecan Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Vanilla Pudding Zucchini Bread Muffins from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Zucchini Snickerdoodle Muffins from Passion Kneaded

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Orange Glazed Pecan Muffins!

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Breakfast Martinis

This special cocktail from the Emirates business class menu features bitter orange marmalade, gin and Cointreau, a delightful libation to perk you up any time of the day.

Back when we were living in Dubai, my husband flew Emirates Airlines for all of his business trips. The upside to his constant travel was that he quickly moved up to a platinum frequent flyer membership which allowed him to nominate one friend or family member to gold status. I was that lucky person!

There were several advantages to gold status the least of which was occasional upgrades to business class or, more often, offers of an upgrade for a just a few hundred dollars more at online check-in. For flights longer than seven hours, I always jumped on those deals. Once I even got to travel first class and take a shower at 30,000 feet but that's a story for another day!

On the Emirates A380, the business class cabin includes a bar, with drinks, snacks and places to sit and chat. The friendly cabin crew manned the bar and would make any cocktail you could imagine. We even had them make our own cocktail invention Bulago Breezes for us on occasion. 

But one of my favorites from their own menu were their breakfast martinis. Sharp in a good way from the marmalade, gin and lime juice but sweetened slightly by the Cointreau and orange juice, I think breakfast martinis are the perfect Sunday morning brunch drink. 

Breakfast Martinis

Full credit for this drink recipe goes to the lovely folks at Emirates Airline and the wonderful crew who always made each trip such a great experience. I don’t recall the name of the lovely person who gave me permission to take photos as he made the cocktail and share them, but I am very grateful. We miss flying Emirates so much and it will probably be our favorite airline forever. 

Ingredients for 1 breakfast martini (easily doubled for two!)

1 teaspoon orange marmalade

1 1/2 oz or 44ml gin

3/4 oz or 22ml Cointreau

3/4 oz or 22ml lime juice

3/4 oz or 22ml orange juice

Ice

Note: 1 1/2 oz is one standard jigger, also known as "a measure" in many cocktail recipes. 

Method

Put 3-4 ice cubes in a cocktail shaker. 

Add the teaspoon of orange marmalade, the gin, Cointreau, lime and orange juices. 

Shake for 10 seconds.

 Strain into a martini glass. 

Good morning and enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today is all about breakfast! Check out the great breakfast recipes below. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. 

• Breakfast Martinis from Food Lust People Love
• Breakfast Quesadilla from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cinnamon Sugar Dutch Baby Pancake from Our Good Life
• Cottage Cheese Pancakes from Palatable Pastime
• Egg-Free Wheat Pancakes from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Millet Set Dosa from Sizzling Tastebuds
• Mini Cinnamon Rolls from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Kesari Semolina Sheera / Kesari Rawa Sheera from Sneha’s Recipe
• Maple-Sweetened Overnight Oats from Culinary Cam
• Quick Kande Pohe from The Mad Scientist’s Kitchen

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins #MuffinMonday

These delightful orange chocolate chip muffins are fluffy and not overly sweet. They make the perfect snack with a cup of tea or cold glass of milk. 

Can you believe it?! I’ve been doing some form of Muffin Monday for more than 10 years now and for the first three years, I posted a muffin recipe every week. That’s something like 240 muffin recipes. You’d think that I’d have run out of flavor combinations but you would be wrong! 

While I have made muffins with chocolate and orange before, they were a chocolate muffin with orange marmalade added so they were much richer and kind of taste like Christmas, well, British Christmas. These are much lighter! 

Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins

I used semi-sweet chocolate chips for these muffins but you could substitute milk chocolate or dark chocolate, if you prefer. 

Ingredients for 12 muffins

2/3 cup or 130g sugar

Zest of 2 mandarin oranges

2 cups or 250g flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 

2 eggs

1/2 cup or 120ml milk

1/3 cup or 80ml canola or other light oil

Juice of 2 mandarin oranges (about 1/4 cup or 60ml)

1/2 cup or 90g semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus a few extra for topping, if desired

Method

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin pan by spraying with non-stick spray or lining it with muffin papers.

Measure your sugar into a bowl and zest the mandarin oranges into it. Use the back of a spoon to press down on the zest and mix it in with the sugar, releasing the flavor and oil till the sugar is a pale yellow and whole bowl smells of bright citrusy sunshine. Go ahead, take a big sniff. It's glorious! 

Whisk together your flour, orange sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl. 

Add the chocolate chips to the flour/sugar mixture. I usually mix mine in with my clean hands so that I can separate any chocolate chips that are stuck together. 

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your eggs, oil, milk and orange juice.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until just mixed, with a little flour still showing. 

Divide your batter between the 12 muffin cups. Top with the extra chocolate chips, if desired. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pans and then remove to continue cooling on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

As mentioned above, it’s Muffin Monday! Check out the list of tasty muffins my friends are sharing with you today below. 

• Greek Lemon Yogurt Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Lemon Zucchini Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Pumpkin Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Whole Wheat Fig and Honey Muffins from Magical Ingredients

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins!

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