Stuck in rush hour traffic, I am ten minutes late for an
important meeting
To neutralize a situation, I move a student’s seat, only to
have her sit smoldering the remainder of class, scribbling profanities about me
on the desk in permanent marker.
After a weekend away, I open my fridge to discover I have
exactly ten clementines on the verge of going bad.
You’ve seen the signs before. Slightly squishy. A few with
mold creeping up the side. They are not the cherubic globes of cuteness they
once were.
It would be tempting to dump the whole lot into the trash
and forget about it, but frugalist tendencies instilled by my Italian grandmother
brought me to a quick google search for clementine recipes, and friends, I’m so
glad it did.
After finding this recipe for clementine vanilla quick
bread, I am never going back.
I might even buy old clementines just to make it.
I modified the recipe quite a bit. The original called for
vanilla beans, which I am not fancy enough to possess, as well as heavy cream,
which I did not have in my fridge at the time. To amp up the protein, I substituted half of the flour for
almond meal and the majority of the butter for greek yogurt. The result is denser than sandwich
bread, but still sweet, nutty, and oh so fragrant. It’s perfect for breakfast,
and has a little more staying power than your ordinary bread.
If you make this bread, you must must MUST smell it right
after it comes out of the oven. The citrus and vanilla are a dream together—comforting
and luxurious, yet somehow perfect for a cold January morning.
Lesson learned. When bad things happen, bake bread.
Clementine
Almond Vanilla Bread
Ingredients
¼ cup juice freshly squeezed from 6-8 clementines
or ¼ cup orange juice
¾ cup almond milk
1 tablespoon pure vanilla
extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup almond meal (I made
my own almond meal by pulsing almonds in a coffee grinder until blended. You could
use a food processor as well)
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
½ cup vanilla greek
yogurt (I’m a fan of the Trader Joe’s variety because it has flecks of vanilla
bean in it!)
1 cup sugar
4 egg whites
Directions
1.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter
and flour a 5 by 9 inch loaf pan. Zest enough clementines to produce 1
tablespoon zest. (I used 5) Cut
and squeeze enough clementines to produce ¼ cup juice.
2.)
In a medium bowl, combine clementine
juice, almond milk and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, whisk together
flours, baking power, baking soda, and salt.
3.)
With a mixer, beat zest, sugar,
butter, and yogurt on medium speed until combined. Add egg whites one at a time.
4.)
Reduce speed to low and alternate
adding the juice and flour mixtures, beginning and ending with the flour.
5.)
Pour into pan and bake for 60 to 65
minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.