Orange Macadamia Cream Cheese Bread or That Name is Too long!

Well, here we are again.  Blogging twice in one week has to be a record.  But while we were at Lake Tahoe and a little cooped up because of the snow, I decided to make a sweet bread.  It wasn’t particularly cold (40’s during the day), and we were able to get out every day and take Obie T. Dogg for a walk around the block, but we couldn’t really walk around the forest or go to some of our other favorite haunts, because there was just too much snow and some of the roads are closed during the winter. Plus, it was a three day weekend in a ski resort, so there were people everywhere!

But we always love to be in Tahoe…rain, snow, sleet or dark of night. In fact, my husband and I can work side-by-side at the kitchen table quite well, no matter the weather. We get some pretty good light in the front windows and also in the back of the house, so that makes me quite happy.  And, Obie T. can lounge around on the couch and also keep tabs on us.  And that makes him happy.

Yes!Chef! does not like to cook sweets and he particularly doesn’t like to bake.  I enjoy baking and breads are pretty easy. I found a basic cream cheese bread recipe that I liked and came up with something that was pretty tasty.  And, it was even better with a simple orange syrup on top.

The one thing that I forgot was that we were at a high elevation (over 6,500 ft.).  I didn’t account for that in my recipe so you can see that the bread kind of sank in the middle.   In case you want to try this recipe and you live at an elevation above 3500 ft. above sea level, here’s an article that will help you adjust your recipe:  High Altitude Cake Baking.  The bread still tasted great, even though it looks a little sad.

I also used a combination of Macadamia Nuts and Cashews, because that’s what we had.  You can use any nut that you want, but I found that the orange syrup really brought out the flavor of the Macadamia more than the cashews.

You can see in the above photo what a great crumb this bread has.  I had to be real careful that I only ate one piece per day because it is rather addicting.

Here’s the recipe:

Print Orange Cream Cheese Bread Recipe

link to Key Ingredient Recipe Card

I think you will like this bread and since it makes two loaves you can:

1. Give a loaf to a friend
2. Freeze a loaf
3. Send a loaf to work with your husband so you are not tempted to eat one loaf and claim you only made one.
4. Have a party and serve both loaves with vanilla ice cream AND orange syrup on top.  Your friends will tell you that it is way over the top, but they will eat it anyway.  (They will probably also blame you for ruining their New Year’s diet resolution.)

Enjoy this bread.

And because I love the color orange and I love Lake Tahoe, here’s a photo I took a couple of months ago during the first snow fall when there were still fall leaves on the trees.  Make sure you visit Tahoe if you get the opportunity.