My husband loves having quick breads with his morning coffee. The Maui cookbook from Monday’s blog has a recipe for a pineapple nut bread with quite a history behind it. In the chapter of the cookbook called Restaurants Gone By, The Hotel Hana Maui was mentioned as a hot spot for Hollywood celebrities such as Clark Gable, Susan Hayward, Roger and Dale Evans, and Vincent Price.
Vincent Price of movie horror fame, was also a gourmet cook and cookbook author. In 1965 he published a wonderful cookbook (I have it in my Culinary Cellar!) that provided recipes of “famous specialties of the world’s foremost restaurants adapted for the American kitchen.” The Hotel Hana Maui was the only restaurant from Hawaii included in the book. Mr. Price called the recipe for this pineapple nut bread “most unusual, most delicious.” He liked to serve it in thin slices with a cup of coffee at any time of the day or night.
The bread uses an entire jar of macadamia nuts and two cans of crushed pineapple. There is a cinnamon-sugar topping that adds flavor and a nice crackly top. (I found that the bread is best if you wrap it up in plastic wrap for a couple days. It gets a nice moist texture and slices beautifully. I have to agree with Vincent that thin slices are great with coffee, but also good sliced thin and served with fresh sliced peaches or strawberries and sweetened whipped cream!)
- 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1-1/2 cups coarsely chopped macadamia nuts (6.75 ounce jar)
- 6 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 1-1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups crushed pineapple with juice (2- 8 ounce cans, undrained)
- 4 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 8-by-4-inch loaf pans.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the macadamia nuts; set aside.
- In bowl of electric mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar. Beat in eggs and continue to beat until mixture is smooth. Stir in half of the flour-nut mixture and stir until blended. Stir in the pineapple with its juice. Stir in the remaining flour-nut mixture until blended.
- Divide batter between the two prepared loaf pans and smooth the tops. Combine the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle evenly between the two pans. Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until bread just tests done. Let cool in pans for 5 minutes, then turn out on wire racks to cool.
Who knew about Vincent Price and his love for cooking? I just always was afraid of him (lol)
Lisa, you would love his cookbook! It’s a collectable and sometimes hard to find and expensive. One of the very first blogs I ever wrote here back in 2010 was about his book: https://theculinarycellar.com/vincent-price-cooks-now-thats-a-scary-thought/ When I switched over to WordPress it got a little funky with the format, but it’s still readable. Also, his daughter has a popular Facebook page honoring him!
Sounds delicious! But I love pineapple upside down cake, so am planning on making this soon to have with my morning coffee. How fun to serve this cake and be able to tell the story about Vincent Price and his ‘most unusual, most delicious’ pineapple nut bread! Thanks for sharing!
Looks good! I will definitely try it. I too love pineapple upside down cake. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for this nice recipe. I’m a fan of both pineapple and macadamia nuts but, shame on me, I’ve never thought about combination of them. I’m just looking for a cake for my leftover pineapple then I found this one.
I baked half of the recipe to fit for my leftover pineapple and yield two small 6×3-inches loafs (baked for 50 minutes). I wrapped them with cling film and fridge overnight. Everyone loves it and this will be one of my house favorite for sure !! Thanks.
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
Debbie: OMG . You have so fulfilled my quest to find this recipe. I purchased a Holiday magazine back in the 80’s that highlighted it. I made it every year for Christmas after that, and gave them to friends and family to celebrate the season. After several moves since 2000, I lost/misplaced that mag. Found several other’s recommended by other sites; however, they just weren’t the same. I’m so overjoyed that I can now pick back up my tradition this Christmas and beyond. Thanks so very much,
Hi Lesley- Your comment made me so happy! I am thrilled when someone finds a long lost recipe, especially one that so many people enjoyed at Christmas. Have fun baking and giving away this year. Baking for those you love is the best gift ever.
Hi Debbie,
You have a wonderful blog here. Thank you for posting this recipe. My family recently vacationed in Maui. During the breakfast buffet at our hotel, I discovered this delectable treat! I asked for the recipe, which they happily gave to me. After we got back, I tried it. I followed the recipe to the “T” and found it the bread to be nothing like what they served. I hunted for other recipes and happened upon yours. Just from the look of it, I could tell I’d found the right recipe. I’ll make it later today. Thank you, in advance, for your help. 🙂
Hi Tony- Thank you for your kind words! I’m so happy you found the recipe here. I hope you like the bread. I remember making it when I got the cookbook from my daughter who traveled to Hawaii several years ago, and how the bread got even better after being wrapped up for a couple days. Unfortunately, the book was lost in the flood last summer when I lost my cookbook collection, but I’m glad I have the old blog to see the photo of the book so I can order another one to replace the lost one. Thanks for writing and please come back again!
Mahalo!
My mom was born in Hana. She is part of the Cummings family from Kauai. My cousins live in Lahaina and also part of the Apo family. So nice to try to find a recipe for this bread and in my research, your website pops up. I will try this recipe. How do I obtain the cookbook that this recipe is in.
Hi Ann – I’m thrilled that you found my blog in your research. My daughter bought the cookbook (and several more) when she was visiting Hawaii. I am sad to say I no longer have the books because I lost all my cookbooks (almost 4,000) in a devastating flood about 2 years ago. Have you tried to find the book online? Some cookbook stores will do a search for you, or sometimes they can be found in used book stores. Good luck – I hope you can find it. I remember those books were all wonderful.
This bread is just what I was looking for. I’m going to try this with dried pineapple chunks and pineapple juice. I wonder if I should soak the pineapple in the juice for a while they are moist but not wet like canned pineapple. Hope it works. Thanks for sharing.
Greg, I’d love to hear how it turns out!
I’m wondering instead of pineapple if I use apple juice and coconut instead. Not a fan of cooked pineapple.
Definitely try the apple juice/coconut combo. Hope it works- it sounds good!
So sad! I was really looking forward to this recipe being outstanding! Extremely dry and crumbly and not much flavor…. Followed the recipe to the tee! Actually checked the bread at 38 minutes with a long toothpick and quickly took it out. Bake a lot so I know my oven is accurate. I live in colorado. Wonder if I should have adjusted in some way for high altitude? ??? All fresh ingredients….. Cooled, wrapped in saran wrap and a ziploc bag for 2 days and was so disappointed. sigh…. I think this recipe maybe would be better if some sort of oil was used in combination with butter or instead of butter?
Sorry it didn’t work out, Kim. I have a friend in Colorado who says she always has to adjust for high altitude baking so maybe that is the issue. Wish I could help you but I live in the flat Midwest and don’t know how to adjust for high altitudes.
Thank you!! Have lovely holiday!!
Same to you, Kristin!