Categorized | Desserts
How to make coconut sweet bread.
Posted on 29 November 2009
My grandmother seems to posses the “sweet-hand” for making a killer coconut sweetbread and though I’ve never formally asked her to share it with me, I’ve been playing around with developing a recipe to try and match hers. However with her 94 years of experience, I doubt I’ll ever be able to come close to equaling hers. This morning I started off the day GRAND… with a large cup of tea and a couple slices of fresh-baked coconut sweet bread and it took me right back to my child hood.
You’ll Need…
4 1/2 cups flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup mixed fruit (cherry, orange peel etc)
1/2 cup sultana or raisins
3 cups coconut, grated (not dried or sweetened)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, grated
2 eggs, well-beaten
3/4 cup evaporated milk
2 teaspoons almond essence
1/2 lb butter (2 sticks) melted and cooled.
* If you don’t have the mixed fruit, use: 1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherry and 1/2 cup mixed peel.
In a large mixing bowl put the flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and baking powder… using a whisk, work a few times to incorporate the dry ingredients.
Then add the mixed fruit, grated coconut, raisins and sugar and whisk together. It will become a bit lumpy as the mixed fruit will be a bit wet.
The final step is to whisk the 2 eggs in a small bowl and add the milk as well as the melted butter and almond essence, then pour into the main bowl with everything else.
While we work the mixture preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Now using a cooking spoon or fork, work the batter until everything is incorporated into a batter (it will be almost cookie dough like) and not like a cake or bread batter. Don’t try to knead like you would normal bread. I really wish I had a pic to show you what the dough would look like, but my camera’s battery died and I couldn’t allow the dough to sit. It will be wet, heavy, sticky and very hard to work with the spoon.
Now all we need to do is grease your bread pans and pour in enough mixture about 3/4 the depth of the pan. You’ll need 2 pans. When your oven is ready place the 2 pans on the middle rack and allow to bake for about 60 minutes. At about 50 minutes I would recommend that you do a toothpick test by placing a toothpick in the middle of the bread and removing. If it’s clean when you remove it, the bread is cooked in the middle. If you find that the toothpick comes out with dough stuck to it, it means you’ll have to cook it a bit longer.
To add a nice touch, remove from the oven when done cooking all the way though. Then in a small bowl combine 1 tablespoon warm water and 1 tablespoon sugar to form a glaze. Using this glaze, brush the bread and then sprinkle the top with some sugar and place back in the oven from about 5 minutes.
Remove from the pans and allow to cool before cutting. When you cut the coconut bread you will notice that it will not cut clean and will crumble.. this is natural!
Tip 1: When the coconut sweetbread is cooled, I would recommend that you wrap with plastic wrap to seal it off from air or it will dry up and become very crumbly.
Tip 2. Since there’s fresh grated coconut this bread can go bad relatively fast. I would leave it on the counter for about 3 days and after that store in the fridge for a few days more. However, I’m sure you’ll find that this bread won’t last long as your family will devour it very fast.
* I was tempted to use the shredded coconut you can get in the baking section of the grocery store, but was advised against it. As I was told the end product would not be as good as using fresh grated coconut. However if you do use the store bought shredded coconut and use it for this recipe, I’d love to know about your end results. BTW, make sure you use the finest shred you can get if this is your only option. (maybe you can pre-soak the shreaded coconut in the milk if you don’t have access to fresh grated coconut.)
Happy Cooking.
Chris…
Similar Recipes:
47 Responses to “How to make coconut sweet bread.”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
-
[...] 1:a advent har jag i alla falltid med. Jag utgick ifrån Chris, Caribbean Pot’s, recept på Coconut Sweet Bread, men jag minskade på sockret och ändrade lite i smaksättningen efter det jag hade hemma, det [...]
Leave a Reply
- Tags
- Popular
- Latest
- Comments
- Subscribe
- The Ultimate Dhalpuri Recipe.
- Stewed Oxtail With Butter Beans.
- How To Make Geera Chicken.
- Spreading The Culinary Culture Of The Caribbean – Ramin Ganeshram.
- The Ultimate Jerk Pork Recipe.
- Oxtail Braised In Guinness.
- Classic Jerk Chicken Wings In the Oven.
- Banana Fritters A Caribbean Favourite.
- A Tasty Caribbean Recipe Using Green Bananas.
- Fry Channa Done A Bit Healthier.
-
banana fritters
Beef
caribbean dessert
caribbean recipe
Caribbean recipes.
caribbean soup
caribbean soup recipe
caribbean stew chicken
caribbean vegetarian recipe
eddoes recipe
fish recipe
habanero hot sauce
habanero hot sauce recipe
hot sauce
how to cook trini food
how to make caribbean soup
how to make roti
jamaican callaloo
jamaican food
Jamaican hot sauce
jamaican oxtail recipe
jamaican recipe
jamaican recipes
jamaican soup
jerk
Jerk Chicken
jerk pork
oxtail recipe
pepper sauce
recipe
recipes from trinidad
roti
spinach recipe
trini cooking
trinidad recipe
trinidad recipes
trinidad soup recipe
trini food
trini pepper sauce
trini recipe
trini recipes
trini soup
trini soup recipe
trini stew chicken
vegetarian recipe
Stay up to date
- Subscribe to the RSS Feed
- Subscribe to the feed via email
Perfect. Just Perfect. Do not mess with granny’s recipe! It is the real deal. Almost identical to the one I use which I also got from someone’s granny:-)
.-= Wizzythestick´s last blog ..Christmas Bread from Venezuela – Pan de jamon =-.
Chris, this was a great recipe. So only until I got home that I realized that you stated not to use dry shredded coconut. I soaked it in milk as you stated and it came out pretty good. Next time I will use the real thing and compare. Thanks!
Glad to know that it worked out for you.
I used the shredded coconut found in the grocery section. I added the milk to it and blended it. However, since the shredded coconut was already sweetened, I reduced the amount of sugar. Turned out perfectly. GREAT RECIPE. THANKS Chris!!!!!
hiya chris, oh my the coconut bread looks delish I'm definatly going to follow your recipe to the letter, also I'm going to see how well it freezes, that way one will still be fresh after the other is eaten
)))
Please do let me know if the freezing works.
Just to let you know I made the sweet bread using the shredded coconut and the sweetbread came out fine !
Thank you
Dessmon
Thanks for sharing this tip
Hey Chris, used your recipe for the base and added a few tweaks… I added dates and walnuts and I must say… it was a hit… your base was a perfect way to start… unto Roti now.
dates and walnuts.. classic.
Hey Chris!
I purchased a bag of sweetened coconut, I cant find it fresh. Do u kno what the taste difference between the bag of sweetened and grated freshly n a sweet bread. imma try the sweetened coconut first and when i find fresh, imma try that too!
Since I've only used the fresh stuff I really don't know. I would guess that you may have to cut back a bit on the amount of sugar used in the recipe? Maybe we can get someone to help us from the other readers?
Do let me know how it turns out.
WHen i am forced to use preshreded coconut in recipes, I have found that soaking it in water to remove all the excess sugar and to rehydrate helps. If you can find th unsweetened that hslps too. It is stil never the same as fresh but its a sight better than straight from the bag
thanks so much for the tip.
I have been looking for a sweet bread recipe for sometime now.
I made this a few weeks ago to take to a family picnic and everyone loved it.
I love to bake and try new things. I used fresh coconuts and asked my husband to grate it.
Thanks for posting this recipe Chris.
So glad everyone like it. Yes, nothing beats fresh grated coconut.
This recipe looks interested. I have to try it. Anything with coconut has to be good!
I have been using your recipes for a few months and I have never been disappointed. The same holds true for this recipe. My sweet bread came out fantastic! I also used desiccated coconut but didn't soak in milk…Next time I will try that and see if there is any improvement. Thanks for taking the time to put up the site and sharing these recipes….
Hi Chris, using a food processor (without and liquid) makes a fantastic grated coconut. That sure beats slaving over a box grater to end up with the same result. I do it every time I have to use grated coconut.
THE BEST SITE IN THE WORLD!
KEEP UP THE GREAT JOB CHRIS.
SHELLY
Chis, thank you so much for posting this recipe – I found one on-line but it needed a "little help" and yours I'm sure is much better than the one I tried. I definitely try it and let you all know how it came out for me – HOWEVER, I do suggest you ask your Grandma to write down her recipe for you. After all, she's your Grandma and you only have 1 (or 2 if you are/were lucky) and unfortunately they don't stay around forever.
Hi Chris, I tried the sweet bread recipe yesterday – Out of the other recipes I tried this one was the best. Everyone I gave a piece to said it tastes good. Still have other comments to hear- a guy told me he will get back to me with a rating from 1to 10. I will post it when he get back to me.
To me (only) it was a bit sweet. I did leave it in a little longer in the oven because the inside did not come out clean at 50 minutes and as a result I think that made the top just a little hard.I do plan to use the recipe again but I will either 5cups of flour or 1 1/2 cup sugar- just to tone down the sweetness for me and use and I will try creaming the butter and sugar first and see how this methods works. Usually I mess up things as I am a terrible cook but this was good and it just goes to show the recipe is legitimate. I want to thank you.To everyone out there who stops here try this recipe the taste wont be disappointing. Thank You Chris. Now to try the Roti. I have to try your recipe because I have always had problems with the dough. It never comes out soft.
good receipe, but I felt that there was too much flour and not enough coconut. it cold also has a little more milk.
thanks for sharing
Just stopped in to say that the guy told me the bread tastes really good and that he likes it. I did try the roti and it was soft indeed. I must say that these recipes are very legitimate. I have tried recipes from a book and they didnt turn out half as good. Can't wait to try the rest and comment on them.
I made this sweetbread for Christmas and it came out perfect I had to make more for the New Years, everyone love it. Thanks for sharing this recipe!!!!!
i made this sweet bread it so good my husband want me to make it every week very nice
Hi, trying to figure out how much a cup is to ml, and it seems like it differs from country to country. Do you know how many ml "your" cups are?
Hello Chris I love getting your e-mails! Tahnk you for the service you give. I have been cooking since the age of 10 and my mom always taught me fresh is the best and I try to do that more often than not. However, my sister in law who loves the shortcuts tol dme thats he uses packaged coconut and the sweet bread comes out fine. I decided to try it and it does! I cut back on the sugar by 1/4 cup, you don't want to cut back on too much because in addition to sweetening the baked goods, sugar adds a level of moistness. I also started using Agave Nectar in my baking as opposed to sugar because of health issues with my husband. It keep the sweet bread moist and delicious. I also use currants in my recipe, which I got from the Naparima cookbook!
I found frozen grated coconut in the indian store in my neighborhood and it worked very well. Thanks for all the good recipes and memories.
Hey Chris, I just love your site, keep up the great work!! I tried this recipe to the letter, except I used 1 cup brown sugar and 1 cup white…… and all I can say is …Priceless!!..It was perfect! haven't made sweetbread in about 10 years and it tasted sooooo delicious I almost feel convinced I could bag this and sell it, wish there was some way to add a picture to show you how perfect it turned out!!
Hey Chris, how do i tweek this to make a more 'bread-like' version of this recipe, I tried today with another recipe but I don't know what I did wrong, I used a sweet dough recipe: 41/2 cups flour, 3/4 stick o'butter, 1tbsp instant yeast, 1 cup milk, 1 egg, 1 cup sugar, (from here is my adjustment——->)and added about 1 cup grated coconut and about 1/2 cup raisins and cherries and I kneaded it to a somewhat smoothe dough but its four hours now and the dough has only risen a wee-little bit, I was sooo looking forward to see how it turned out….anyhoo I will see what takes place in the next hour……if anyone else has a recipe for "Raisin bread" please do share!! Thanks much…
looks good
i have been following your blog for a while now. i am from germany and married to a trini. he is always amazed, when i cook something from his childhood. even if my caribbean cooking will always have a german-touch on it
thank you for posting the recipe for the coconut swet bread, i will make it today. i hope you will post a recipe for currant-roll soon. can't wait to learn from you.
thank you so much.
Love the recipe i used the store brought coconut it turned out good!!! i socked it in water
My cousin in law is from Trinidad and his aunt makes the best Coconut Sweet bread! I am Jamaican and I kept asking him to get the recipe from her. Thanks to you I can make it on my own. It tastes like a cross between a bun and a cocont bread we call toto in Jamaica. I love it! Thanks Chris!
Oh my gosh Chris your recipes are flipping amazing. Even I can cook like a real Trini too! Thanks so much for all the great recipes that take my husband back to his childhood in San Fernando. Bless you and thanks again and again.
Maria
Hi, I tried this recipi and I tell you it was super delicious. It was finger licking good.
I have been asking my trini family so long for a recipe like this cause I have lost the original. My sweet bread came out just like the one in the picture and I am confident that it will taste just as appetising as it looks, can,t wait for it to cool
I just made the sweet bread and it came out great!! I did use the prepackaged shredded sweetened coconut and it was great. The only other change I made was I reduced the sugar to 1 cup. My boyfriend is from Trinidad and always makes it for me and I am so excited to have him try it. I think it's a winner. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks for that sweetbread recipe will be making it soon.
Thanks Chris. There is nothing like a trini style sweet bread.
I tried this recipe and it came out absolutely perfect! In fact, I've made it several times by popular demand. Now all my relatives ask me to bring this over when they have get-to-gethers. LOVE IT !!
This was very attempt baking a perfect coconut sweetbread. It was phenomenol! Thank you Chris…
Hi
Hi Chris I tried this today and it came out great.
Hi Chris I really enjoy this site I have already tried the jerk chicken recipes and I tried the sweet bread today they were both amazing thanks a lot.