The Mysterious Case of Orange Bread

In honor of the Horns defeating Ohio State, I bring you...Orange Bread!

I had never even heard of Orange Bread until I was home for the holidays. My nephew Joseph's birthday is the day after Christmas (bless his heart) and it was a treat to be there for that.

The birthday boy had some very specific birthday wishes.

#1 Orange Bread for breakfast
#2 Chicken fried chicken for dinner
#3 Carrot Cake for his birthday cake
#4 OR - scratch all the above in exchange for dinner at Truluck's in downtown Austin;)

Orange bread? Carrot cake? What a budding little foodie! As for the chicken fried chicken, well, that's not a bad choice either in my opinion...

As I watched my niece and sister assemble the orange bread, I learned that it's not a yeast bread or even a quick bread. In fact, it's made from canned biscuit dough, which you spread with cream cheese in little sandwiches before standing on their ends to form a 'ring' in a bundt pan.

You might want to cover your heart and arteries' eyes before reading the rest of the ingredient list...but as a birthday treat, I think it's worth the jolt of cholesterol.

Orange Bread

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped or whole pecans
1 Tablespoon grated orange rind
2 (11-ounce) cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, cut into 20 squares
3/4 cup butter or margarine, melted and placed in a shallow bowl or pie plate
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons orange juice

Preparation:

Combine sugar, pecans, and orange rind in a small bowl; set aside.

Separate biscuit dough into individual biscuits; gently separate individual biscuits in half. Place a cream cheese square between the two halves, and pinch sides to seal each back together. Dip in butter, and dredge in reserved sugar mixture. Stand biscuits on edge in a lightly greased 12-cup bundt pan, spacing evenly. Drizzle with remaining butter, and sprinkle with remaining sugar mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 45 minutes or until golden. Immediately invert onto a serving plate.

Combine powdered sugar and orange juice; stir well. Drizzle over warm bread. Serve immediately.

Yield: one 10-inch coffee cake