Cinnamon Orange Bread

Hey you with those orange trees in your yard! Yea you with all those oranges you have known clue what to do with! Head over to my house with a few bags, and by the time were done you will love oranges more then you ever did. Citrus is in season in the phoenix area and you can find oranges, lemons, grapefruit, and all other citrus on almost every corner, in every back yard(except mine), or place of business. Josh has been feeling ill so he brought a bag home from some random tree. Besides juicing them I decided to make a hearty loaf with cinnamon and orange in every bite. If you love the flavor of orange you will want to save half the peel from one orange and add it to the food processor. This will intensify the flavor of orange in the bread and boy is it worth it. I had 3 small to medium oranges that were not juicy so I added a bit of water. If your oranges are juicy you may want to skip this step; if you have large oranges you may want to use 2 or 1 and a half of one. Whatever you do don’t skip adding the peel; that’s what gives this bread its kick. Now don’t add a whole orange peel to the bread it will be bitter! Just enough for the notes of orange to intensify the flavor of the bread, you can even get by with just some zest if your new to the flavor of orange. 

Cinnamon Orange Bread Recipe:
1 ¾ cups flour
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
2 heaping tsps. cinnamon
2 eggs
½ cup butter (soften)
½ cup sugar
4 tbsps. brown sugar
3 medium oranges (plus peel from half of one orange)
2 tbsps. water (optional)
½ tsp. vanilla

Recipe directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees, in a small bowl sift dry ingredients and set aside. In a blender or food processor blend oranges up until they make a puree. Save half the peel from one orange and blend it with the orange puree, add water and blend until the peel is blended with the puree.

In a large bowl cream butter and sugar, add eggs, vanilla, and orange puree. Slowly add flour to the batter as you mix until all the flour is added. Placed mixture into a well-greased loaf pan; place in the oven for 65 minutes. The bread is done once a tooth pick is inserted in the center and it comes out clean.