My family really likes breakfast breads and I really like that. It makes mornings much, MUCH, MUCH easier to have something ready when both the 4 year-old and the 2 year-old come down the stairs with growling tummies, wailing “I’m HUNGRY!” to a mommy who hasn’t even poured water into the coffee pot yet.
Banana chocolate chip muffins are everyone’s favorite – hands-down – but the cranberry almond muffins are a close second place. The kids even love moist cranberry orange scones, which tend to be a grown-up only pastry. My only breakfast failures have come from one culprit – vegetables. I’ve tried several breakfast recipes that use vegetables, but one bite and they got the thumbs down.
When I saw a recipe for spiced carrot bread on Good Cheap Eats, I was skeptical yet hopeful. Could it be a recipe that had vegetables, and the kids ate it?! This would be a wonderful answer to the “What do I do with the remaining 8 pounds of carrots I just bought?” question that goes through my head when I’m at Costco.
The taste-test results were unanimous – empty plates and a “can I get more” from the 4 year-old. YES! Both Mr. Crumbs and I liked it too, although next time I’ll made it with a bit less sugar and a bit more spice. I think the *love* that I added may contributed to the sweetness and possibly lessened the impact of the spices. Either way, I started with seven loaves in the morning and was down to two by the end of the day. I think we found a winner!
Spiced Carrot Bread with Vanilla Chips (makes 2 large loaves, or 7 mini-loaves – 14 cups of batter, to be exact)
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon juice (or the zest of half of one lemon)
2 cups sugar
2 cups shredded carrot
4 cups flour
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1 cup vanilla baking chips *love*Optional glaze: 1/2 cup powdered sugar mixed with 1-2 tablespoons of milk until a glaze is formed (use less milk for thick, more milk for thin)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray your pan(s) with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the oil, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and lemon juice (if you used it). Add the sugar until mixed well. Stir in the carrots.
3. In another large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, lemon zest (if you used it), baking soda, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. Wisk to blend well.
4. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix to combine well.
5. Pour the batter into your pan(s) – dividing evenly if you used more than one – and bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs. This is about 1 hour for a 8.5″ x x4.5″ loaf pan and 30 minutes for mini-loaves. Since every oven is different, check often to ensure the bread isn’t over-baked!
6. Drizzle the glaze over cooled loaves. Wrap in plastic wrap and store in a freezer bag if desired.
The total cost of this recipe, as written, is $5.37. That’s $0.77 per mini-loaf and that one loaf fed myself and both kids this morning! If you made muffins instead, they’d be overflowing and only $0.26!
Why pay $2.95 at Starbucks when you can have a much better version at home for a fraction of the cost!
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These were delicious. I’m usually not a fan of carrot bread, but this was fantastic.
I’ve been looking for a great way to get carrots into my son’s diet. He doesn’t like to taste or texture of raw or cooked carrots. But I think he will like this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Blessings,
Kristy
Coming over to visit from Kids in the Kitchen. This looks absolutely delicious! Feel free to join us over at “Try a New Recipe Tuesday.” I’d love to have you join us!
Thanks Lisa! I linked up my recipe, but I don’t have any of the accounts required for comments.
Thanks so much, Tiffany!
Hope you join us each week!
Oooh…I like how you added the chips, makes it a real treat. I recently made a similar bread with pears- yum. Will post it to my blog soon…hopping by from the eye heart hop
This looks so good! I was just introduced to cinnamon chips and now vanilla. I need to try this. I’d love it if you would like up to Fantastic Thursday. Hope to see you there.
Can’t wait ti try this recipe!! So glad you linked this to Things I’ve Done Thursday!
That looks so good! Thanks for sharing at the Pomp Party! Pinning to our Pomp Party board on Pinterest!
Hi Tiffany,
Your Carrot Bread looks so delicious, sure wish I had a slice to go with my afternoon tea. Hope you have a great week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
Looks delicious! I love carrot cake, I bet this tastes similar. Thanks so much for sharing at Terrific Tuesdays.
Rachel
adventuresofadiymom.blogspot.com
Thanks for linking up at Fantastic Thursday at Five Little Chefs! Hope to see you there next week!
It definitely sounds like you have a winner of a bread there!! Sounds like carrot cake…which I love…I can’t wait to try it out!!!
It probably is more of a cake, but calling it a “bread” makes us feel less guilty for eating a whole loaf at a time, lol.
Tiffany,
This looks delicious! I love all the spices with the carrot bread. Thanks so much for stopping by Creative Thursday last week. I couldn’t do these parties without you. Can’t wait to see what you link up this week. Have a great week.
Michelle
This bread looks so delicious! I like how it makes a bunch of mini loaves, so that you can make it for gifts too. Thanks for sharing at Showcase Your Talent Thursday!
Gorgeous! I love carrot anything and yours looks amazing! Thanks so much for sharing at Mom On Timeout!
Oh my this looks amazing! I will be featuring this tomorrow morning at our party. Thanks for sharing with us at Link It Up Thursday.
Oooooo…Carrot bread…we love carrot bread…this will be a hit at our house!
Thanks for linking up to Showcase Your Talent Thursday, you have been featured!
This sounds delicious and I would like to try it. I don’t know if I am blind or not, but in the prep directions, I cannot find when you add the vanilla chips.
Maybe someone can help me with this.
You know what, I don’t think I mentioned that part! They should be the last thing you add, after everything else is combined well. I hope you enjoy the bread as much as we do!
This looks so awesome I’ve printed it off to try this week. Pity we don’t have vanilla baking chips here in Oz.
Aw, that is a pity Jodie! I’ve mixed in dried cranberries before as a treat, but the bread really is delicious on its own. Enjoy!