Disclosure: I received a sample from to facilitate this post. The opinions shared here are 100% mine. If you order by clicking on any of my links and have never ordered from Tropical Traditions in the past, you will receive a free book on Virgin Coconut Oil, and I will receive a discount coupon for referring you.
Remember the chain letters that you used to pass around and receive as a kid? The ones that demanded that you give 20 copies out (or in the 21st century, forward to 20 friends) or bad luck would follow you like an albatross for the rest of your days? Well, I just conquered the food variety of a chain letter.
My friend recently gave me a starter for Amish bread. Have you ever received one of those? I’ve always avoided them when someone tried to give one away at work. I’m not opposed to making a loaf or two, but the idea of keeping a starter going for generations is just a touch overwhelming. When the directions are printed off, they even look like a chain letter. You have to keep this thing going for 10 days, bake it, and give away 4 of the starters to people. But what happens when you run out of people (or when those people find out you’re giving away a starter and run away when you come near)? My kids really like this recipe, though, so I’m still friends with the chick who gave me the starter. 🙂 Love you, M! Anyway,this bread recipe was the perfect time to incorporate more coconut oil into our diet. Tropical Traditions sent me a quart of their Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil to try. This is not your mama’s cooking oil — check it out!
First of all, I always use a stoneware loaf pan for my bread. It evenly bakes the bread and there’s not usually a problem with the bread sticking to the pan. Now, my first big timesaver in making the bread is to write out the important dates directly on the starter bag. My kids ask me every day if it’s time to mush the bag, add ingredients, or bake it. By writing the dates on the bag, my older child can just look at the calendar and see when we need to do what.
When I’m doling out the coconut oil, I use a spoon to I wipe the spoon with a folded paper towel. Then I use that paper towel to grease the pan. Next, I sprinkle some raw sugar on the greased sides and bottom of the pan to help form a sweet, crunchy crust on the bread. This recipe usually calls for vanilla pudding mix in the batter, then cinnamon sugar for the crust. I forgot to buy vanilla pudding mix this week but had some chocolate pudding mix in my pantry. I didn’t think the cinnamon would work with the chocolate so I just left it out.
Just mix up the rest of your recipe as normal. When I started using coconut oil in my baking recipes, I used to put it in the microwave until it was liquified. Now I don’t even bother; we just toss it in and mix it up with the rest of the ingredients. The batter for my bread is a little lumpy from the coconut oil but it bakes up just perfectly. The bread turned out absolutely delicious……the sugar on the outside gives it a sweet crunch and the coconut oil adds a little note of tropical flavor.
My kids love this warm with a little pat of butter and a side of fruit. It’s a delicious homemade snack! I’ve also been using the Tropical Traditions coconut oil in my beef and broccoli stir fry dish. My daughter LOVES the broccoli in the entree and always asks me to make it again after she cleans her plate. Tropical Traditions is a winner because it’s so easy to shop on their site. It’s full of all kinds of cool information, plus there are many product options. In my area it’s hard to find organic products. Shopping online is an easy way to save time and money while finding the products I want to serve to my family.
If you’d like to have your own jar of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil, be sure to enter the “For The Home” Giveaway starting July 8.
Here’s the recipe for the friendship bread. Now, you need a starter…you could ask around and find out if one of your friends has one!! I baked this bread on Day 10 of the starter.
1. Pour the entire contents of the bag into a large glass or plastic bowl. Add 1 ½ cups sugar, 1 ½ cups flour, 1 ½ cups milk. Mix well with wooden or plastic spoon.
2. Label 4 one-gallon Ziploc bags with “Day 1” and today’s date. Fill each bag with 1 cup of batter. These are the starter bags for you to pass on. If you want to make bread again for yourself, keep a starter bag.
3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
4. To remaining batter add:
3 eggs
1 cup oil (this is where I used the coconut oil)
½ cup milk 1 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon 1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda ½ tsp salt
½ tsp vanilla 2 cups flour
1 large box of instant vanilla pudding
Use a mixer to mix the ingredients.
5. Grease bottom and sides of two large loaf pans. Mix ½ cup sugar and 1 ½ tsp cinnamon in a small bowl. Duse the insides of each pan with ½ of the mixture, making sure to cover the bottom and sides well. Pour batter evenly into the 2 pans and sprinkle the remaining sugar/cinnamon mixture on the top.
6. Bake approximately 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool until the bread loosens from the pan easily. Slice and serve.
Which of your favorite recipes could use some Tropical Traditions coconut oil?
Certainly a unique approach to bread making. I’ll bet the bread is so moist!
What’s great about this product is that it’s made from my Homeland Philippines 🙂 and I can’t wait to try it, I won it from a giveaway.
I absolutely love to use coconut oil in place of butter or other oils in any baked goods!
I love cooking with coconut oil, it makes the house smell amazing. Have you ever tried popping corn with it- yum, and so much healthier than alternatives!
Oh, great idea! We have some young cousins visiting us this week, might have to let them try that. I bet they’ve never had homemade pop corn (not the microwave version).
I have never tried coconut oil, but have always wanted too!
wow, never tried coconut oil in my corned beef before. would love to try that coz I love coconut.
Love this recipe!! I absolutely love the tropical traditions coconut oil! I use it all the time. It has the best flavor in baking and cooking!
Kudos to you for taking on the challenge! It looks absolutely delicious and moist!!!
I have been reading about coconut oil, now only if I cooked!
It all sounds delicious!
Mitch
My husband always cooks with coconut oil, but I can’t get past the smell. I don’t like coconut no matter how it is prepped. I wish I could be a convert – I know that it is amazing for your health!
I don’t like coconut either, usually. It’s so very light in this recipe that I actually enjoy it.
We love Amish Friendship Bread. I haven’t made it for years thought!
That looks really yummy! I have seen a lot of this Tropical Traditions coconut oil lately. I guess it must be really good! I guess I will have to try some!
Yum! This sounds fantastic. I do love the combo of cinnamon and chocolate though so I’m sure I’d try it that way. I make a mean cinnamon brownie!
Looks delicious. This is something new to try for baking! Thanks a lot for sharing. Hugs!
OMG! Not a fan of those starters either, but man, this sounds good!! I’ve been trying to come up with ways to use coconut oil in our diets, so this is a great idea!!
I honestly never knew I can use coconut oil for cooking
Great use for the coconut oil with the chocolate pudding Amish bread. I’ll try it out on the grand kids. They have coconut oil on popcorn now instead of butter and love it.
i realy love that recipe and really want to try coconut oil
I love using coconut oil and it is so flavorful! Plus its amazingly healthy.
I love experimenting with different oils, but I haven’t tried coconut oil – yet! These are great ideas and taste tested by kids – a real test!
I haven’t ever tried coconut oil before, but I am trying to cook healthier, so I would like to give it a try
Thanks for sharing, I’m new to coconut oil and all it’s uses, but am excited to get going! I’m just grateful that there are better choices out there!!!
I could go on all day about how wonderful coconut oil is. So many benefits how could you not love it! I can never get enough of it!
my sister uses coconut oil and loves it because of the taste and health benefits
Tried to use coconut oil in banana bread. It didn’t turn out so great! But then again I am a horrible baker. Going to try to use it for stir fry instead.
Aww, I’m sorry!
I have never cooked with coconut oil before, but I’d love to give it a try. I have never heard of the “starter”, yes it does sound like the baking version of a chain letter. This was a very interesting post to read, thank you for sharing it. If I ever get my hands on a “starter” I will definitely give this a try.
I love coconut oil but oddly enough I never use it for cooking lol!! I should probably start 😉
I would love to be able to switch to a healthier option. I appreciate your great review on this.