a taste of Maui

Every now and then, I find myself thinking about our trip to Hawaii in September 2011. I had never been, and it was an amazing vacation. On our first full day there, we drove literally the entire way around the island and along the Road to Hana. We made stops in towns and I picked up a bag of candied coconut and a mini loaf of coconut pineapple bread at a spot with a couple of stores and a restaurant that served fried fish and fresh guava. I cut small slices of that loaf every morning for an after-breakfast treat, so the bread lasted us more than half our stay. I was really sad when the last piece was gone.

In my search for a recipe to try out my new Corningware Spice of Life loaf pan, I stumbled upon this Phyllis Coconut Bread recipe and was intrigued that the writer seemed to be referring to the same bread that we had in Maui. I went with the traditional way and did not brown the butter or toast the coconut, but I'm sure I will be making it again, so I'll try it other ways as well. In fact, I will pretty likely try to adjust the recipe for white whole wheat flour, though I haven't had much success with other recipes.

I bought a 14oz bag of sweetened (per the comments on the site) flaked coconut and did not use the entire bag, even though it is less than what is called for in the recipe. A full cup went into the batter, but I didn't add a ton on the top because I didn't remember my loaf being totally covered in coconut when we had it in Hawaii. Also, I didn't know how many pounds my loaf pan is, so I just filled it to the brim. That was probably a bad idea because it took forever (1 hour 30 minutes) to finish baking. Next time I might grease the pan with oil so the crust doesn't get so brown.

This recipe turned out great. Not exactly how I remember, but that's ok. It's still a really tasty piece of Hawaii when I start to miss it again.

Next up will probably be this Chocolate Marble Bread, which looks pretty challenging. Or Fresh Mango Bread, sans the raisins. Or this Better Than Starbucks Lemon Loaf.