A delicious vanilla-studded quick bread, full of fresh clementines and a sweet clementine glaze. Clementine Vanilla Quick Bread is a winter citrus favorite!
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It’s pretty much a guarantee that if you stop by my kitchen between November and February, you will find a crate (or two) of clementines sitting on the counter.
Hi, my name is Julie, and I’m a clementine addict. I pack them for lunch every day, I snack on them all weekend – I just can’t help it (and judging from the additional peels I find in the sink, my husband feels the same way!).
Given my love of clementines, it’s probably no surprise that I also enjoy baking with them.
Example A: this clementine vanilla quick bread. It’s not too sweet, which I like, and has a dense consistency similar to pound cake, which I love. Plus a clementine syrup coating to infuse with extra delicious clementine flavor!
The quick bread base for this recipe comes together quickly and easily. Start by creaming together the butter with clementine zest, adding in sugar and vanilla bean paste.
Add in eggs and dry ingredients, like usual, along with some heavy cream. The heavy cream adds both moisture and fat. This results in a soft, tender crumb – and a quick bread that is not at all dry!
After baking, this bread has a perfect golden color and the ideal “crack” running across the top of the bread. What is this crack, and why do we want it in quick breads? It’s time for my favorite subject… kitchen chemistry!
Kitchen Chemistry
As quick breads bake, they develop a classic crack along the top because the outer edge of the bread sets faster than the inside. As the batter inside continues to heat and rise, it pushes up through the already set crust and creates a crack. This internal rise and resulting crack indicates that the bread will be light and fluffy, rather than heavy and dense.
You might notice that this contains both vanilla bean paste and vanilla extract. The double dose of vanilla is delicious! But why not just use vanilla extract?
Vanilla bean paste is a thick paste (whaddya know, aptly named!) full of beautiful little specks of vanilla beans. It’s basically the equivalent of scraping a vanilla bean right into whatever you’re making.
It leaves behind these beautiful brown vanilla-y specks, so it’s perfect in light-colored bread like this clementine vanilla quick bread, where you can really see them. Delicious – and gorgeous!
You may be able to find vanilla bean paste in the grocery store, but you can also order it online.
(Or for the serious bakers – I get mine in the 32 ounce size. Running out of vanilla bean paste is apparently a pretty serious concern around here.)
To add even more clementine flavor to this bread, we’ll cover it with a sweet clementine glaze.
Instead of dusting with powdered sugar or adding a thick frosting, pouring a clementine simple syrup adds both flavor and moisture.
As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, while still hot, poke holes all over the top of the cake with a knife or skewer. Pour half the glaze over the top of the cake and let it sit for 15 minutes.
Then remove the cake from the pan and brush the remaining glaze all over the sides and top of the quick bread.
The glaze absorbs into the bread, infusing extra flavor without leaving a sticky coating.
A delicious vanilla-studded quick bread, full of fresh clementines and a sweet clementine glaze.
The clementine vanilla quick bread can be stored at room temperature, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 5 days, or frozen wrapped in foil and stored in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart
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