Carrot Bread
What do you do when your boyfriend asks you to pick up his root vegetable CSA? Google carrot recipes, thinking you’ll be able to get through them quickly, and realize that even carrot-based recipes don’t use enough carrots to make a dent in your bag of produce. Guess that means I’ll have to make carrot cake for Easter! (Also, if you can think of any other carrot recipes, any at all, please send them to me. Doesn’t have to bae a baked good!)
So exactly how much produce did I start with? Here’s the bag next to my stand mixer, after I’d already consumed a number of carrots for snacks this week:
And these carrots aren’t messing around. A bag of carrots may seem like a reasonable thing to snack on, but that’s just not the case when the carrots are literally the size of your arm.
That carrot gave me 2 1/2 cups of shredded carrot. All by itself.
Anyways, you can see why I needed to make a carrot bread. I’ve been craving sweet potato bread for the past couple of weeks, which I think sparked this idea, and though it’s not quite the same, I think a lot of vegetable breads serve a similar function. Carrot bread is probably most closely related to zucchini bread, but with more cinnamon, and walnuts instead of chocolate chips.
It’s also pretty similar to just making carrot cake, though I think by putting it in a loaf pan I’ve converted it from a sweet (i.e., something I couldn’t eat during Lent) into a breakfast food (something I can). Maybe that’s a stretch.
To make the bread, start by whisking together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and dark brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping down sides as necessary.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate after each addition.
On low speed, beat in the dry ingredients until just combined.
With a spatula, fold in the shredded carrots, then the walnuts.
Spread batter into a loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350°F for about an hour, until a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow to cool 15 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Or, if you can’t wait, just let it cool a little so that you can cut it without ruining it’s structural integrity. Then you can have it warm!
I think this would be great with a cream cheese icing, but I did want to keep it more in the breakfast category than dessert. Also, you could serve it with some honey and butter. Or whatever you want!
Enjoy!
Carrot Bread
Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 3 eggs
- 3 cups grated carrots
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
- In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, granulated sugar, and dark brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down sides and beating to incorporate.
- Add dry ingredients and beat on low speed until just combined.
- Fold in grated carrots and chopped walnuts with a rubber spatula.
- Spread batter into a loaf pan sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.
