I have a bowlful of oranges I needed to do SOMETHING to. I don’t eat oranges as a fruit (though I like the flavor), and I am not actually big on orange juice. So I decided to adapt a recipe for lemon poppy seed bread and use the oranges for the citrus flavor.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all purpose white flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 cups Splenda
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 cup skim milk
- 1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (about 2 whole oranges)
- 3 tsp. vanilla
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1/4 cup poppy seeds
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add all ingredients to mixer and stir until well combined, scraping the batter down the sides of the bowl to make sure it’s incorporated.
- Spray two large loaf pans or five small ones with baking spray and pour batter into each equally.
- Bake for 45-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Okay, so I don’t know if my baking powder just isn’t fresh enough anymore or what, but this didn’t rise well at all. So I decided to do a sort of layer cake treatment and mixed up an orange glaze to sort of glue to two flat loaves together.
Orange Glaze:
- 1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (1 orange)
- 3/4 cup sugar (I wasn’t sure how Splenda would do with a glaze)
- 1 tsp vanilla
Directions: Mix well and drizzle over the orange poppy seed bread while still warm (the still warm part is important or it won’t harden up properly).
The verdict: Okay so this wasn’t pretty (at all, which is why there’s no picture), but it was certainly tasty. Great with afternoon tea.