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Friday, April 26, 2013

Carrot Bread or Carrot Muffins

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 A few weeks ago I came home from the grocery store with lots of extra carrots. I was craving carrot cake, but didn’t have the time to make and frost a layer cake, nor did Ryan and I need a giant cake sitting around. Instead, I decided to fulfill my craving in a slightly healthier way—via carrot bread and muffins.
I used the same recipe for both and baked them in the different pans to see which we liked better. While we liked both (enough to finish everything in record time!), the muffins were the clear winner. I’m not sure if I baked the bread a few minutes too long or if the smaller size of the muffins yielded a moister muffin, but if you’re trying to decide, I vote muffin!
There’s no trying to hide the vegetables in these, as the shreds of carrot are visible with each bite. Carrots are a naturally sweet vegetable meaning these didn’t need a ton of additional sugar included. I kept them pretty plain but they’d be good with shredded coconut or chopped nuts mixed into the batter as well. If you really wanted to, you could top them with cream cheese frosting and find yourself with a much lighter carrot cake than most recipes!

One Year Ago: Salty Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
Two Years Ago: Chili Glazed Pork with Sweet Potato Hash
Three Years Ago: Caprese Sandwiches

Carrot Bread / Muffins
from food.com
*Makes one 9 x 5 inch loaf of bread or 12 muffins

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 cups grated carrots
-1/2 cup vegetable oil
-1/4 cup brown sugar
-2 eggs, beaten
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
-1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp nutmeg

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a mixing bowl, combine the vegetable oil with the sugar. Beat in the eggs, followed by the vanilla and grated carrots.
2. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the carrot mixture and mix just until combined.
3. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan or muffin pan. Bake bread for 45-60 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Bake muffins for 15-20 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Let the loaf or muffin pan cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before removing from the pan to cool completely.