Carrot Bread with Toasted Pecans, Coconut, and a Cream Cheese Glaze

It was early morning, and I was sifting through the fridge in a desperate attempt to rid it of any expired oddities. I soon realized I had an entire package of organic carrots which had gone untouched. I grimaced and began to wonder "why on earth did I ever buy all of these carrots?". Now the problem was, what exactly was I going to do with all of them? I know what you are thinking, and yes, I was attempting to avoid the guilt associated with throwing them away. This is when it hit me to scrap the boring banana bread, which I was currently making for breakfast, and attempt a carrot bread. Not to mention, I may, in fact, even be able to trick my four year old into eating carrots. Did I mention, it totally worked!

This specific recipe was adapted from the food network magazine volume 4, number 4 2011.

I must post this disclaimer before you attempt this recipe: If you love carrot cake as much as I do, you may be serving yourself the entire loaf to compliment your morning Cup O' Joe. You may also try to hide the bread in a desperate attempt to avoid sharing a single bite. After all, this bread can easily be mistaken for dessert.

Ingredients:

1 cup freshly shredded carrot

¼ cup toasted pecans finely chopped

1-cup sweetened shredded coconut

1¼ cups flour

¾ cup of sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. cinnamon, preferably freshly grated

½ tsp. nutmeg, preferably freshly grated

2 eggs

½ cup melted butter, cooled to room temp.

½ cup plain sour cream

1½ tsp. vanilla

1-cup confectioners sugar

3 tbsp. cream cheese, room temp.

2-3 tbsp. milk

Directions:

1.   Preheat oven to 350.

2.   Grease 9x5 loaf pan.

3.   Shred carrot using a food processor (or by hand) and grate nutmeg and cinnamon. Set aside.

4.   Mix 1 ¼ cup of flour, ¾ cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and ½ teaspoon nutmeg in a large bowl.

5.   Add pecans, and coconut to the large bowl.

Dry Ingredients

6.   In another medium size bowl, whisk 2 eggs, ½ cup butter, ½ cup sour cream, and 1teaspoon of vanilla.

7.   Add carrot to other wet ingredients, and then fold wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.

Wet Ingredients

8.   Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for approximately 55 minutes. Cool for thirty minutes in pan on a wire rack. Then remove the bread from the pan and place it back on the wire rack until completely cooled.

Cooling Bread

9.   While bread is cooling in a small bowl combine 3 tablespoons of cream cheese, 1-cup confectioners sugar, ½ teaspoon of vanilla, 2 tablespoons milk with hand mixer (may need to add more milk for a thinner consistency, add by the teaspoon). Blend until smooth. Once bread is cooled pour cream cheese glaze over top and serve.

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