Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread
Blood oranges, with their special crimson deep red insides, are bright, refreshing and tangy! As a bonus, they are packed with vitamin C, high in fiber and antioxidants.
These types of oranges are robust in flavor and in season during the months from December to May. Blood oranges are fantastic for salads, sides, cocktails and baking!
Our Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread is beautiful for Valentine’s day or to liven up a gray winter's day. It’s is an easy one bowl recipe.
Serve our Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread with a hearty winter green salad topped with segments of the blood oranges, fennel, beets and hazelnuts. You can also serve the Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread for breakfast or brunch.
In the recipe, the vanilla yogurt and smoothie drink mellows out the sometimes-tart blood orange. The oil, eggs and juice help to keep the Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread super moist. The thick pink glaze adds a dramatic touch, decorated with sprinkles and fresh oranges.
Our Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread starts whisking the oil and sugar, then the yogurt, yogurt drink, honey and extract. Next, mix in the eggs and half of the juice to the mixture. Add the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Gently stir the ingredients until the lumpy batter forms (do not over mix). Add in the remaining juice to brighten the batter’s color. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until golden, covering with foil during the last ten minutes. Cool the bread on a cooling rack.
To make the Blood Orange Glaze, fit a sheet pan with parchment paper and top with a cooling rack. This will make clean up easy! Stir together sifted confectioners’ sugar, salt, zest, juice and milk. The consistency should be thick but pourable. You can add more milk if needed. Place room temperature Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread on top of the cooling rack. Spoon over the pink Blood Orange Glaze over the Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread.
As the Blood Orange Glaze is setting, top with colorful nonpareil sprinkles and fresh oranges or cut out hearts as it starts to set. While the Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread is baking and cooling, slice the blood orange into 1/8” rounds, leaving the rinds intact. You can top the Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread with simple slices. For the hearts shown in the picture, use the 1/8” rounds and a very sharp knife to punch decorative shapes as shown in the pictures with the small center insert from a Linzer Cookie Cutter set. Delicately help shape the hearts with the knife as you cut into the 1/8” rounds. Set the slices on a paper towel while the Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread bakes and cools, to dry them out. They should not omit juice once dried for several hours.
Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread
ingredients:
- ½ cup of neutral oil
- ¾ cup of granulated sugar
- 1 6oz. container of full fat orange or vanilla yogurt, at room temperature
- 1 7oz. bottle of orange or vanilla yogurt smoothie drink, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon of honey
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- Zest and juice of 3 blood oranges, divided
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- ½ teaspoon of baking soda
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 1 and ¾ cups of sifted confectioners’ sugar (see notes)
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- Zest and juice of 1 blood orange
- 2-6 tablespoons of milk, more if needed
- Optional decoration: colorful nonpareil sprinkles and 1 additional sliced blood orange (see notes)
instructions:
How to cook Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper and cooking spray.
- For the bread: In a large bowl, whisk the oil and sugar, then the yogurt, yogurt drink, honey and extract. Next, mix in the eggs. Add half of the juice to the mixture. Gather the dry ingredients, adding the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Gently stir the ingredients until the lumpy batter forms (do not over mix). Add in the remaining juice to create a swirl effect. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for approximately 50-55 minutes or until golden, rotating the pan in the oven halfway through the baking time, and covering with foil during the last ten minutes. Remove from the bread from the oven. Release from the loaf after 10 minutes of resting in the pan and set on a cooling rack until room temperature.
- For the glaze: Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper and top with a cooling rack. In a medium bowl, stir together confectioners’ sugar, salt, zest, juice and milk. The glaze consistency should be thick but pourable. Add more milk if needed. Place room temperature bread on top of the cooling rack. Glaze the bread. While the glaze is still wet, sprinkle with the optional sprinkles and orange slices. See the Notes section for additional decorating tips. Allow the glaze to set, about 1 hour.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Best eaten within 1-2 days of making the recipe.
NOTES:
• To make the Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread vegan friendly, use a few substitutions to the ingredients list. Use 2 flax seed eggs (replacing the conventional eggs), vegan vanilla yogurt (replacing the whole fat yogurt) and 1/2 cup of vanilla almond milk (replacing the yogurt drink). Add 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar and follow the remaining recipe.
• If you would like to freeze the room temperature Yogurt Blood Orange Sweet Bread, seal in a freezer bag, then glaze once completely defrosted and at room temperature.
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