Sticky Sweet

When life gives you Lemons....

make a Coconut-Lemon Loaf

My man ♥'s coconut things.... I ♥ my man and try to do nice things to please him.

I'm a ripper of recipes. I get a magazine and 'rip' the recipe from it...then I shove it into a folder or binder. I just stumbled upon a folder I forgot about and discovered sweet goodness (think back to the cupcakes from Lily's party) recipes dating back to 07.

This recipe is from Family Fun...I'm sure from 07 too....

What I love about this recipe was you can mix everything by hand. Don't get me wrong...I love love love my stand mixers, but there is something about mixing by hand (makes me feel like I'm Laura Ingalls on the prairie....)

I doubled the glaze for this recipe...I'm a sucker for glazes...you can never have too much sweetness. I also didn't have lemon extract on hand, but did have coconut extract (I keep it on hand b/c again...I ♥ my man) USING THE COCONUT EXTRACT WAS A MUST I THINK...so alter it...

• 1 cup sugar
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract (or coconut extract like me)
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup milk

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) sweetened flaked coconut
• Coconut-Lemon Glaze (optional)

Instructions

1. Line a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan with waxed or parchment paper (or grease and flour it), then set it aside. Heat the oven to 350º.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, melted butter, oil, lemon zest, lemon extract, vanilla extract, and milk.

3. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and the buttermilk until evenly blended. Set the bowl aside.

4. In a medium-size bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt. With a wooden spoon, stir about a third of the flour mixture into the sugar mixture, then alternately add half of the remaining egg mixture and half of the flour mixture, stirring after each addition just enough to blend. Stir in the coconut.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spoon. Bake on the center oven rack until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes.

6. Remove the pan from the oven and put it on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes, then remove the loaf and place it on the rack to finish cooling. When the loaf is completely cooled, in about two hours, apply the Coconut-Lemon Glaze, if using. Makes 10 servings. *note: I didn't wait 2 hrs...I waited about 10 mins