Trinidad Sweet Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking Powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cups shredded coconut (not dried- use fresh or frozen)
• 2/3 cup raisins or dried cranberries
• 2/3 cup mixed/glazed fruit
• 1/2 cup halved maraschino cherries (red, green or both)
• 1 tbsp vanilla Extract
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter (melted)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg

Glaze:

• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp sugar

Method:

• Preheat oven to 325 F
• Grease two loaf pans
• Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt
• In a separate bowl mix together shredded coconut, raisins, mixed fruit and cherries
• To the melted butter, add, milk, sugar, beaten egg and vanilla
• Combine milk mixture and fruits
• Add sifted dry ingredients into the fruit combination and mix until all of the flour is fully incorporated
• Pour into two greased loaf pans and garnish top with a little extra cherries and mixed fruit
• Bake for 55 to 60 mins or until tester comes out clean
• Mix up glaze and pour half of each mixture over each loaf
• Return bread to oven for 3 to 4 mins and turn oven off
• Remove bread from oven and sprinkle a little granulated sugar over top to give a frosted appearance
• Allow to cool in pan for at least 40 mins
• Turn over and allow to cool on a wire rack

If you are using salted butter please omit the salt from the recipe.

Sweetbread is one of those things I grew up with in Trinidad. Funny story, one time I was watching Iron Chef on cable, I was probably around 15 years old. I remember the host revealing the secret ingredient as "sweetbread" then uncovered a table full of what the rest of the world know as this sweetbread. My goodness I remember feeling so confused, I thought to myself I would never eat that stuff and in typical trini/caribbean form thinking to myself they need to come here to see what real sweetbread is. Fast forward to my second culinary school in Niagara and we had a class where we had to cook these sweetbread. Definitely not for me. I learned to make sweetbread mostly because my late father loved it but I was tired of seeing him eat some from a couple bakeries that I found to be quite dry. This recipe is quite moist and delicious. I hope you are all well. Enjoy!

Batter in pans and ready for the oven

Sweetbread after baking and adding sugar

Sweetbread on cooling rack