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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Niçoise Picnic Squares #BreadBakers

Baked with the eponymous French salad inspired toppings on a savory quick bread layer, these Niçoise picnic squares are perfect to pack up and go! 

We have FINALLY been enjoying some picnic friendly weather in this weirdest of summers so these pretty squares have come in handy. They travel well and are tasty as well as filling.

My toppings, loosely based on the ingredients of a classic French Salade Niçoise, shout Summer is here! for me. I hope they do for you as well. 

Niçoise Picnic Squares

Depending on your tastes or what you have on hand, the toppings can be changed up but don’t leave out the seasoning and herbs in the fluffy bread base as they add so much flavor to the squares. Keep the vegetables thin or, as I have, parboil or boil them first to make sure they will be cooked completely. 

Ingredients

For the topping:

6-8 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 egg

3 artichoke hearts, drained well and quartered

A few pitted black olives, halved or slices

1/4  purple onion, thinly sliced

7-8 anchovies, well drained

8-12 new or small waxy potatoes

12 fine green beans 

For the base:

1 1/2 cups or 190g plain flour

1 tablespoon minced fresh herbs, such as thyme, oregano and/or rosemary

1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 oz or 57g grated mozzarella

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1/3 cup or 80ml olive oil, plus extra for greasing the pan and drizzling on the bread before baking

For baking:

Grated Parmesan

For serving: 

small leaves of rosemary, thyme and basil

grated Parmesan

Method

Heat the oven to 350°F or 180°C and put a rack in the middle of it. Grease and line a 9 in or 23cm square baking pan, leaving enough of a paper overhang that you can grab it to lift out the bread later. Tip: Scrunching the baking parchment into a tight ball then spreading it back out makes it much easier to fit into a square pan nicely. 

Put a small pot of salted water on to boil and fill a small bowl with ice and cold water. When the water boils, add in the green beans and cook for 1 minute. Use tongs to remove the green beans to the ice water bowl. 

Add the new potatoes to the boiling water. 

Cook for 5 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the biggest one goes in easy. Remove the potatoes from the pot and set aside to cool. 

Add your egg to the pot and bring the water back to the boil. Boil for one minute, then remove the pot from the heat and cover for 10 minutes. When the 10 minutes are up, transfer the egg to the ice water bowl. When cool enough, peel and quarter.

Meanwhile, halve the cherry tomatoes and quarter the artichoke hearts. Put the tomatoes and artichokes on paper towels and let them sit for the few minutes it takes you to prepare the batter. 

For the base, whisk the flour, herbs, baking powder, salt, crushed red pepper and black pepper in a large bowl. 

Add in the mozzarella and stir to coat. 

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and fold until just combined. 

Scrape the batter into the lined pan.

Spread it out evenly. The batter is thick and the layer is thin, so you’ll have to poke and push it into the corners.

Arrange the topping ingredients on top in whatever pattern you like, keeping them to a single layer – drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle on some Parmesan.

Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the edges are golden and a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean. 

Transfer the bread pan to a rack, then wait five minutes before running a table knife around the edges. Lift out the bread, then slide off the paper. 

Return the bread to the rack and leave it to cool a bit before cutting it into squares. 

Sprinkle the top with the herb leaves and more Parmesan.

The squares are best eaten on the day they’re made but they can be stored overnight in the refrigerator and reheated in a warm oven, if they last that long. We also enjoyed them cold! 

Enjoy! 

It's the second Tuesday of the month so that means it's time for me and my fellow Bread Bakers to share our bakes. This month we also celebrate a special anniversary: 10 years since we created the Bread Bakers group! Our inaugural event was actually in September though. You can read my very first post here.

 https://www.foodlustpeoplelove.com/2014/09/fionas-wonderful-bread.html

Our theme this month is picnic bread! Many thanks to our host, Camilla from Culinary Cam. Check out the recipe links below.

• Baked Whole Wheat Kachori by Cook with Renu
• Checkerboard Rolls by Passion Kneaded
• Cheddar and Herb Loaf by Palatable Pastime
• Easy Sourdough French Country Bread by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Eggless Fruit & Nut Chocolate Banana Loaf by Sneha's Recipe
• Garlic Herb Fan Rolls by A Messy Kitchen
• Hushpuppies by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Niçoise Picnic Squares by Food Lust People Love
• Schiacciata all'Uva by Culinary Cam

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

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Herby Peach Fig Feta Salad

Ripe summer peaches and sweet figs are the stars of this herby peach fig feta salad with the salty cheese and fresh herbs as fabulous counterpoints.

I’ve no doubt mentioned this before but when I was growing up, both of my grandmothers had immense fig trees in their backyards. I’d climb up high, get comfortable and snack till my heart’s content. So much warm, ripe fruit within my reach! Summertime’s best treat.

Now that we spend most summers in the Channel Islands, figs are much harder to come by. Occasionally my local grocery store will have a few imported packs at an exorbitant price and I will succumb to the temptation and buy them. 

Last week, I got lucky! The figs were marked down but still looked in perfect condition. I knew I had to add them to this delicious peach salad I had planned.

Herby Peach Fig Feta Salad

All of the above brings me to my point: If you don’t have fresh figs, you can make this salad with just peaches. Or nectarines. Or even sweet plums. I encourage you to buy feta in a block and crumble your own. Already crumbled feta is drier and, in my opinion, less flavorful. 

Ingredients

2 sprigs basil

2 green onions

4-5 sprigs cilantro

2 sprigs mint

1 small baby cos or little gem lettuce

2 ripe peaches

4-5 ripe figs

4 oz or 113g feta cheese, crumbled

1/4 cup or 60ml olive oil

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 teaspoon honey

Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Remove and discard the hard stems from the basil, cilantro and mint. Roughly chop the leaves and tender stems.

Cut the lettuce into skinny wedges and arrange them on a serving plate.

Remove the pits and cut the peaches into wedges. 

Cut the hard stems off of the figs and quarter them.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, honey and a few good grinds of black pepper. 

Add in half of the crumbled feta and stir to combine. Put half of the chopped herbs into the dressing and stir again. 

Arrange the peaches and figs on the lettuce. 

Spoon over the dressing. 

Top with the rest of the herbs and feta, with another couple of generous grinds of black pepper. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and in honor of National Peaches Month, we are sharing recipes with that fuzzy fruit. Many thanks to our hosts, Sue of Palatable Pastime and Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. Check out the links below.

• Sneha's Recipe: Flan Entremets & Peach Jelly Dessert - Vegetarian 
• Food Lust People Love: Herby Peach Fig Feta Salad 
• Culinary Cam: Mejillones con Vinagreta de Melocotón 
• A Day in the Life on the Farm: Pasta Salad with Chicken and Peaches 
• Mayuri's Jikoni: Peach & Mozzarella Flatbread 
• Palatable Pastime: Peach Poppy Seed Fruit Salad

 

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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