by Texas Homesteader ~
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I had extra cantaloupe in my garden. So I made cantaloupe bread with a praline glaze. It’s similar to zucchini bread, but made with cantaloupe. And it was delicious!
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Cantaloupe Excess In The Garden
Usually by the middle of July the searing sun has wiped out anything that struggled to remain during the hot summer months.
But even though it’s been hot this year my garden has provided garden deliciousness well into the fall months. Yea!
One of the fall feast-or-famine goodies from the garden is cantaloupe. Now I didn’t plant cantaloupe this year, the vines volunteered from my compost. But I let them grow to become a Living Mulch for the rest of the garden.
RancherMan eats only a modest amount of fresh cantaloupe. And although I love it, how’s a girl to eat that much by herself?? I wondered if there was something I could do with all the excess cantaloupe. As it turns out, there is!
Typically my go-to recipe source is allrecipes.com. I searched their site for some ideas of what to do with excess fresh cantaloupe and found a recipe for Cantaloupe Bread With Praline Glaze. Hummmm…
Although the thought of cantaloupe bread didn’t initially sound delicious to me, how different could it be from the delicious sweet-treat bread made using zucchini squash? Maybe I should just check out the ingredients.
The seasonings look good, and I have all the ingredients in my pantry. Let’s give it a try!
Cantaloupe Ingredient
I’d already harvested several fresh cantaloupes so I peeled one up and dropped the peeled pieces into my *Ninja blender and blended it until it was smooth. The recipe called for 2 cups of puree so I measured it out for my recipe.
Then I plopped the cantaloupe puree into my KitchenAid mixer. I wanted to substitute applesauce for the oil. So into the KitchenAid with the cantaloupe puree I added the eggs, applesauce, sugar, vanilla and cantaloupe & mixed it all up. That bowl was then set aside.
In another bowl I blended flour, salt baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon & ginger. Then I mixed the contents of the two bowls together to make my batter.
Baking 2 Loaves
I poured it into two lightly greased & floured glass loaf pans & placed them into the preheated oven.
Then I baked the loaves for about an hour. When it was done I brought out the two loaves of cantaloupe bread (breathes deeply) Oh yeah, this might work after all!
Pecan Praline Glaze
While the bread was still hot I whipped up the glaze of melted butter, brown sugar and chopped pecans. The pecan praline glaze was added to the tops of my hot loaves of bread.
Although the flavor of the praline glaze was absolutely amazing, I wasn’t happy with the texture of it.
The praline glaze cooled to a crumbly texture that fell from the top when I tried to cut & serve the bread. So I may tweak that part in the future to add more butter or less brown sugar.
I could top my warm cantaloupe bread with my Simple Honey Glaze. It’s just honey, butter and brown sugar and whips up in seconds
Sometimes I may eliminate the topping completely, who knows??! It’s even delicious all by itself!
Here’s the recipe as I made it – give it a try.
Cantaloupe Bread with Pecan Praline Glaze, makes 2 loaves
What to do with all the cantaloupe in the garden? Puree it and make it into Cantaloupe Bread! Never heard of cantaloupe bread? Don't discount it, now - the seasonings are similar to zucchini bread so give it a try! ~TxH~
Ingredients
In mixer, combine
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil (can substitute with applesauce)
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups cantaloupe puree
In separate bowl, sift
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- Mix together pour into 2 greased loaf pans & bake @ 325 degrees for 1 hr.
For glaze, mix
- 1/2 cup melted butter (or 1 stick)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- Pour over hot bread as it comes out of the oven
Instructions
Directions
-
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
-
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, vegetable oil/applesauce, sugar, vanilla and cantaloupe. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger. Stir flour mixture into cantaloupe mixture; stir to combine. Pour batter into prepared pans.
-
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into center of a loaf comes out clean.
-
As the bread is cooling make the pecan praline topping. Combine melted butter and brown sugar. Microwave for 3 minutes, stirring at 1 minute intervals; mix in pecans. Pour praline sauce over hot bread. Then let cool for 1 hour before serving.
~TxH~
Other Favorite Breads
- Soft Sandwich Bread
- Oatmeal Sandwich Bread
- Making Pre-Mix Bread Ingredient Packets
- Bread Machine Recipe: Honey Oatmeal Bread
- Making My Own Oat Flour For CHEAP
- No-Knead Rosemary Skillet Bread
- No-Knead Boule Bread
- Jalapeno/cheese Yeast Bread
- Easiest Honey/Oat Hamburger Buns
- Jalapeno/Cheese/Beer Hamburger Buns
- Basic Beer Bread
- Rosemary/Cheddar Beer Bread
- Pesto Beer Bread
- Homemade Country-Style Buttermilk Biscuits
- Mix-n-Bake Cheddar Biscuits
- Leftover Biscuit Dough Cinnamon Rolls!
- Snappy Jalapeno/Cheese Biscuits
- Jalapeno Cornbread
- Corn Dodgers – A Delicious Accident
- Mix-n-Pour Tortillas
- Easy Corn Tortillas
- Sweet Pumpkin Bread
- My Favorite Bread-Making Kitchen Feature
- Homemade Bread-Making Shortcuts, Tips & Tricks
- Make Self-Rising Flour From All-Purpose Flour
- Our Favorite Bread Recipes, All In One Post
All Bread Posts
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I once got from a magazine a recipe for yellow squash muffins that we all loved and you COULD taste the squash in it! [But you could also taste the butter and sugar!] I once had a very delicious salad recipe that included cantaloupe, wild rice, celery, and cucumber. The ingredients were chopped quite small, mostly so each bite could have some of everything, and I suspect there may have been some other ingredients I am forgetting, as well as not being able to remember what “liquid ingredients” made up the “dressing” as I have lost track of that recipe. Your cantaloupe bread does not seem to have a chance for people who DO like cantaloupe to taste it underlying the applesauce and spices. If I ever make it, I plan to use oil instead of applesauce and no spices.
Your salad sounds delicious. Regarding the cantaloupe bread – the beauty of homemade is that you can tweak things to your family’s tastes. We love the recipe as written but I’m sure your changes will result in a delicious loaf as well. Be sure to tell us how you like it! ~TxH~
Well after you talking about this for a while now I ended up forgetting about some Cantaloupe in the fridge and these days like everything paid to much for it to hit the compost yet. So searched for your recipe. Loved it made 2 loaves one to eat and one to share. I did the honey glaze but only made a small amount to give just a very light coating. Tractorman enjoyed it as well as I. Our dear friend that got the 2nd one was skeptical but let us know great with his morning coffee.
Another winner to keep waste lower.
So, I made this for the melon festival cooking contest this weekend. Now to make another batch, apparently it was really good. I halved the brown sugar, doubled the butter and it is amazing.
Will let you know how it goes. Also, cantaloupe sorbet is great too.
I’ve never heard of cantaloupe bread. I must give this one a try. Pinning.
Canteloupe bread?? I never would have thought of this!! I bet this is amazing! Thanks for sharing on the What’s for Dinner link up!
RancherMan has dug into one loaf of bread (hard) and I warned him that the other loaf was in the freezer for future impromptu covered-dish gathering use. His comment was “Well, maybe you need to make another batch!” LOL He loves it. ~TxH~
Will that is a first for me – baking with cantaloupe. What a shame that the topping was falling off.
Thanks for sharing at Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop. Hope you come back next week so I can stop by again.
Bev
Great idea… I’ve never cooked w/ cantaloupe… 🙂
Got to try this. It looks so good and the praline topping should just add to the pleasure. I am visiting from the Blog Hop at Oakhill Homestead.
Oh my gosh what an idea and it looks wonderful! – Pinned! Thank you for sharing with at the To Grandma’s House we go Wednesday link party! Hope to see you there again tomorrow!
When I saw your link on the blog hop I had to check it out. I’ve never heard of cantaloupe bread. I’m going to pin it for the future when I might have cantaloupe I need to use. I could have tried it just a few weeks ago, but not now. Darn. Thanks for sharing!
Well this is a first! I have never thought of cantaloupe for making bread! I do love the fruit, so I am very excited to try it!
It’s delicious Susan – sweet and flavorful. There’s no strong taste of cantaloupe in this bread just like there’s no strong taste of squash in zucchini bread. But what a wonderful (and delicious) way to use cantaloupe excess? Try it! ~TxH~
Hi Tammy, I love cantaloupe so I’m sure I’d like this bread! What a novel idea! Thanks for sharing! Blessings, Janet
I’ve never heard of using cantaloupe in a baking recipe – this sounds amazing! 🙂 Thank you for sharing with us at the #HomeMattersParty
Oh this looks delicious, I have never heard of cantaloupe bread, now I want to try it!! I love them fresh as is, so I can imagine that this bread must be amazing!
Cantaloupe what a great idea. I opened the post when I saw praline I need a new topping recipe, but now I am going to make the cantaloupe bread as well. Pinning.
Wow! I would have never thought of cantaloupe! I love it when someone thinks outside of the box. We didn’t have much of a garden this year, but are hoping to next year. i will pin this for the future. Thanks for sharing!
Me too, Renee. I wasn’t wowed by the thought either – nor was RancherMan. But when I cut him a slice of the bread hot out of the oven, well he was certainly wowed. I’ve got more pureed cantaloupe in the freezer and once it cools down a bit I’ll be baking up more loaves of cantaloupe bread and freezing them to bring to the many covered-dish luncheons that are sure to be coming up. ~TxH~
Wow!
I love this unique recipe!
I have only enjoyed cantaloupe raw!
Looking forward to trying it!
Michelle
RancherMan was pleasantly surprised at how delicious it was even to his palate! ~TxH~
This looks really good. I love cantaloup, but my husband doesn’t. Did your husband like the bread? If he did maybe my husband would like it too.
He loved it Cynthia, but then again it doesn’t taste like cantaloupe. Just like zucchini bread doesn’t taste like squash, this bread doesn’t taste like cantaloupe. It has a sweet, deserty taste. YUM! ~TxH~