Brown Sugar Carrot-Zucchini Bread

A fellow member of The Weekly Delicious, the wonderful Anna, shared a recipe with me recently that I had to try. It came from here at Food People Want originally, but merits its own post here due to my seeming inability to follow any recipe without making modifications. Hey, I have my preferences, and my spare ingredients that need using up.

The original recipe was for a carrot bread (okay, essentially carrot cake in a loaf pan without the frosting) with a little fresh ginger, lots of brown sugar, and orange zest. Mmm, tasty. But I didn't have quite enough carrots on hand, and I had some zucchini that needed using up, so I shredded in about half a medium zucchini along with the two carrots I had in the fridge. And I left out the white sugar, because I just won't use white if I can get away with using brown instead. And I subbed in some whole wheat flour because my mom does that for her fabulous-beyond-all-reason carrot cake, so I figured it couldn't hurt. And last, I used half applesauce, half oil instead of oil alone because I had just about a fourth of a cup of applesauce left in my fridge, and I was starting to worry I wouldn't use the rest before it went bad.

The recipe was a definite success. I brought it to my girlfriend's house hoping to impress her with my culinary prowess, and I think I did. We sliced it up for breakfast and it was lovely. We were especially impressed by how well it held together.

Make sure to include the orange zest, by the way. I could really taste it in each bite and it was...well, zesty.



Brown Sugar Carrot-Zucchini Bread
INGREDIENTS:

* 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 large eggs
* 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
* 1/4 cup canola oil
* 1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened
* 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (I used bottled minced ginger)
* Grated zest of 1/2 orange
* 1 heaping cup shredded carrots and/or zucchini (this was two medium carrots and half a zucchini for me)

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Coat one 8 by 4" loaf pan with cooking spray or oil.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the brown sugar . Add the oil SLOWLY in a thin stream, beating constantly, until the batter has doubled in volume and oil is well-incorporated. Beat in the applesauce, vanilla, orange zest and ginger. Fold in the shredded carrots and zucchini. Beat in the dry ingredients in 3 batches, mixing well between additions.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the middle of the oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes 1 8 by 4" loaf