Carrot Bread

When I was first married, I had this fantasy about how my life would go:  my dear hubby would go to work and I'd have the perfect house and cook these amazing meals.  The only problem with that was I was never one for housecleaning and I couldn't cook.  Well, that's not exactly true, I could cook, just not well and certainly not varied.  My grandmother used to say I didn't have the recipe for ice cubes.  I took exception to that because I could most certainly could make ice cubes, but you get the picture.

So I decided to learn how to cook.  And along the way I discovered baking.  Now I could already follow the instructions on the box of cake mix and I could handle the recipe on a bag of chocolate chips--but I'm talking about real baking--the flour and sugar kind.  I started with bread.  Yeast breads, quick breads, muffins, biscuits.  Mmmmm!

One of the first cookbooks I bought myself (I had received several as wedding gifts from concerned friends in an attempt to keep my husband from starving) was the Sunset Cook Book Of Breads (10th Edition, Lane Books).  This wonderful cook book transported me to an amazing world filled with all the fantastic things flour and yeast can create.  I literally made most every item in the book.

One of our favorites was the Carrot Bread.  A simple quick bread redolent of cinnamon, moist and sweet, studded with finely shredded carrots, a crisp crust--perfect with a cup of coffee or tea.  And if that wasn't enough, it was baked in 1 pound coffee tins!   I was never as proud of anything as when my hubby had his first bite and smiled.  Eureka!  And that's how I got hooked on baking--seeing the pleasure people got from eating something I had made.  

Sadly, the Sunset Cook Book Of Breads is out of print.  Check your local library or scour yard sales for it.  If you can find it on Amazon or ebay, snap it up, it's worth it's weight in gold. 

But in the meantime, here is the recipe for Carrot Bread.  I added raisins that were plumped in hot water.  If you're not a fan of raisins, feel free to leave them out.  As for those coffee cans, we're now a Keurig family so there aren't coffee cans in the house, but I've made this in loaf pans, decorative loaf pans, soup cans of varying sizes as well as the standard coffee can.  Feel free to experiment.  Note that today's coffee cans hold less than a pound of coffee but don't let that stop you, fill the cans 2/3 of the way up and you'll be just fine.  

I used 4 mini disposable loaf pans and one 5.5 X 7.5 loaf pan.  That's the magic of this recipe, want one for you and gifts to give?  Done!  Want mini's to freeze so you won't do as I would and eat it all in one sitting--got you covered.  But mostly, it's knowing that if you fill the pan 2/3 of the way, you can bake it in any shape and number you want.  Of course, adjust the baking time if you make this bread in, say a cake, bundt or springform pan--just test it.

The Orange and Honey Whipped Cream Cheese takes this delicious bread a notch up and is a quick and easy.  With Easter on the horizon, this would be perfect on the brunch table--something made ahead and oh so very good.  Enjoy! 

Carrot Bread  

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/4 cups Canola Oil (I prefer Canola Oil because it's flavorless, but if you have vegetable--also flavorless, or corn oil, feel free to use that)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 cups finely shredded raw carrots (about 3 large carrots)
• 1  cups raisins, plumped

Prepare your baking pans and set them aside.  When I cooked professionally, we would melt shortening and using a pastry brush, brush inside each pan to reach every nook and ridge inside the pan.  Now at home, I use a cooking spray.

Boil 1 cup of water and pour over the raisins.  Leave to plump until ready to drain and add to recipe. 

Scrape and grate the carrots.  Using the fine shred blade to your food processor, grate the carrots until you have 2 cups.  

In a large bowl, beat eggs, gradually adding the sugar and beating until thick.  Add the oil and continue to beat until thoroughly combined.  Stir in flour, baking powder and soda, salt and cinnamon until the mixture is smooth.  

Stir in the carrots.  Drain the raisins and add them to the bowl, stirring until the carrots are blended well. 

Turn into the prepared pans, filling the pans no more than 2/3 full.  Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 1 hour for large loaf or 45 minutes for smaller loaves for until a cake tester comes out clean.  Cool and remove from pans.  Enjoy with cinnamon or honey whipped cream cheese.

Makes 2 5 X 9 inch loaves or 4 coffee can sized loafs.

Orange and Honey Whipped Cream Cheese

• 1 package cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 tablespoons honey (or more to taste)
• 1 heaping tablespoon orange zest 
• 1 tablespoon orange juice

In mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, honey and zest.  Mix until combined.  Slowly add the orange juice, whipping to incorporate.  Spread will be soft, but will hold shape and isn't runny.

Not only is this spread wonderful with this bread, but give it a try with bagels, graham crackers or even as a quick filling for a mini tartlette topped with a fresh strawberry.   

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Peanut Butter Caramel and Chocolate Chex Bars

This is a recipe that has been sitting on my desk waiting for me to try for some time now.  I'm not sure what took me so long to finally make it.  It has so much going for it!  I love caramel.  Offer me anything peanut butter and chocolate and I positively swoon.  Put them all together, and really, I ask you, what could possibly be better?  Add to that the fact that this recipe was easy and fast, it was perfect for a day when I was craving a sweet and salty, caramely, chewy, sticky, chocolatey treat.  

A classic caramel this is not, it's quick and easy and doesn't require you to pull out a candy thermometer.  Peanut butter is the 'cream' that pulls it all together in a warm, glossy pool of  creamy goodness.  The Chex cereal is gluten free, and an added benefit of it being rice means it stays crisp when mixed with the peanut butter caramel mixture.  

 
Ribbons of milk chocolate finish off these bars, adding to the whole peanut butter, caramel, chocolate theme.  I added nearly a cup of the same milk chocolate chips to the cereal mixture to add little pockets of chocolate in the bars.  The hot mixture did melt them, but little pools of chocolate found themselves nestled up against the salty peanuts. It also adds a bit of interest to the look of the bar since the colors of the cereal, peanuts and peanut butter caramel mixture all pretty similar. 

The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.  If you're looking for a real salted caramel effect, add all the salt.  Should you be watching your sodium or you don't like that real sweet and salty flavor combo, by all means, cut the salt back.   You could add 1/2 a teaspoon of salt to balance the brown sugar and corn syrup and allow the peanuts to pack that little extra salted prize when you bite into one.  I'm a fan of the flavor contrast found with all the salt added and made these bars with all of the salt. 

A note on storage:  You can store these in the refrigerator, but the chocolate finishing will bloom in the cold.  You could give them a quick warm-up in the microwave to re-gloss the chocolate, but leaving them at room temperature should pose no problems.  Trust me, they won't be sitting on your kitchen counter or table for long!

Recipe:  Peanut Butter Caramel and Chocolate Chex Bars (adapted from Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients)

• 6 cups plain rice cereal squares   (I used Rice Chex) 
• 1 1⁄2 cups salted peanuts, coarsely chopped  (the original recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups of peanuts, I like more!)
• 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips  (I used Nestle's)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar  (I used light brown, the original recipe calls for dark which would give a deeper caramel flavor)
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt  (If you want less sodium, reduce the amount of salt)
• 6 ounces milk chocolate, melted.  

 
Prepare a 9 x 13 inch pan.  I prefer to line with parchment, but feel free to spray with cooking spray or use butter to prepare the pan.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, add the cereal squares, peanuts and 3/4 cup of milk chocolate chips.  Mix and set aside.  

In a medium saucepan, add the brown sugar and light corn syrup.  Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 1 minute.  Take off the heat and add the peanut butter, vanilla and salt.  When peanut butter is incorporated, pour over the cereal mixture and stir with large spoon or spatula to coat.  Turn into the prepared pan and with greased hands, press into pan.  Careful--the mixture is going to be hot!  Allow to cool to room temperature.  If you're in a hurry, you can pop them in the refrigerator until cooled, about 5 minutes.

When the bars have cooled, melt the remaining 6 ounces of milk chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 15 seconds until melted and smooth.  Drizzle chocolate over the bars or if you're feeling fancy, put into a piping bag with a small round tip and finish.  I prefer to pour the chocolate from a spoon.  Allow chocolate to cool before cutting.  If you lined the pan with parchment paper, remove the bars from the pan using the overhang as handles and cut into squares.

Store at room temperature for 3 days in an airtight container.  May be stored longer in refrigeration. 

Approximately 24 bars.  

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