Carrot Cake

I recently picked up carrots from Winter Moon Roots Farm with the objective of making a carrot cake for my mother’s upcoming birthday.  While this recipe calls for only 2 cups of grated carrots, which is approximately ½ pound, it’s a safe bet I’ll always end up with more than this amount.  When the carrots come in a pre-weighed 1 pound bag, I just make a double batch.  Thankfully, this recipe freezes well and is a favorite amongst friends and family and not just my mom.

For some reason, though, this time I purchased the exact amount of carrots without asking the clerk the weight of the carrots prior to purchase.  Truly amazed was I.    

Like my Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread recipe, I prefer to make mini-loaves as this cake freezes well and the small mini-loaf size guarantees a quick defrost when company drops by.  And, yes, as with the Pumpkin Bread, there have been times when slices have been cut from frozen loaves and immediately deposited into the toaster oven with no complaint and complete satisfaction.  For freezing, I suggest wrapping each loaf in plastic wrap and then placing the loaves in a freezer safe ziploc bag.  

I like this recipe because it does not require pineapple, shredded coconut, raisins or walnuts to make a decent cake.  The carrots can be grated 1 – 2 days before baking and then stored in the refrigerator in an air tight container until ready to use.  Outside of grating the carrots this recipe is quick to put together using just one large mixing bowl and less than 30 minutes of prep time.    

While I’ve included the recipe for cream cheese frosting that came with this recipe which I received from my step-Aunt, Debbie, it’s rare this cake is served with frosting or cream cheese. 

Mini-loaf carrot cake 
wrapped in plastic wrap
and ready to be frozen for
later enjoyment 

Carrot Cake   yield - two 8" round cakes, 5 mini-loaves, 12 – 30 muffins

1 1/2 cups canola oil

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

2 cups grated carrots (approx. 1/2 lb. carrots)

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

1 cup chopped walnuts  (optional)

non-stick cooking spray

Place oven rack in middle position.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cake pans with no-stick cooking spray.  If making muffins, line muffin tins. 

In a large bowl, mix sugar, oil and vanilla extract with beaten eggs.

Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.  Mix until stiff batter thickens. 

Add Carrots and mix.  Batter will thin as you mix. 

Add nuts and raisins (optional).  Mix.

For cake or loaves, pour equal amounts of batter into cake pans or loaf pans.  Bake 35-70 minutes or until toothpick/cake tester comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool on cooling rack for 5-10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely before frosting, serving or storing.  

For muffins, fill bake cups ½ - 1/3 full with batter.  Bake 25-45 minutes or until toothpick/cake tester inserted in center muffins comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool on cooling rack for 5-10 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool completely before frosting, serving or storing.  

Cream cheese frosting:  6 oz. cream cheese softened mixed with 3 cups confectioner's sugar.  Add a few drops of milk as needed. 

Almond Biscotti or “Can't they get these in New York?”

As an adult, I developed an allergy to dairy. Now, before you say, “Can't you take a pill?”, “What about lactaid?” it's not that type of allergy. For me consumption of dairy results in sinus congestion, sinus headaches, wheezing, throat congestion. You get the picture.

Therefore when my girlfriend, Sally, developed a dairy free recipe for biscotti and fed me the results, I immediately asked for the recipe.

I would be a liar if I said I didn't approach this recipe with trepidation. Drop cookies and bar cookies are my forte. Where biscotti all seem to have a uniform shape, making these for the first time was a bit nerve-racking for me. The second time was much easier as the mystery of getting these cookies into the right shape was solved.

This has become a beloved recipe amongst friends, family and colleagues from as far as away as New York City. Thankfully, this cookie travels well even if the clerk at the local post office quizzically asks, “Can't they get these in New York?” “Yes,” I reply. “However, they're not as good.”

Almond Biscotti

Almond Biscotti - yield: approximately 18 cookies.

¾ cup sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups flour

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup almond slivers (I recommend Trader Joe's unsalted, dry toasted slivered almonds)

Place oven rack on middle setting. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.

Cover 15” x 10” or larger cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Dust foiled cookie sheet with flour. Set aside.

In a medium size bowl, combine sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Add flour, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. When partially mixed, add almond slivers. Continue mixing. Batter should become very stiff.

Halve batter while still in bowl. Roll or shape dough into two logs, approximately 10” long and 1” thick on prepared cookie sheet.

Two logs of biscotti batter, 

ready for baking

Bake in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for up to 10 minutes. Cut logs into ¾-inch diagonal slices, setting each slice on its side. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove biscotti from oven. Turn each cookie on its other side. Bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool, serve and store.

Cutting log on diagonal 

 Biscotti ready for more baking

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread

I love it when I find a recipe where the amount of the canned ingredient is evenly divisible by the number of cans,--for example 15 ounces of canned pumpkin, three 28 ounce cans of kitchen-ready tomatoes, one 19 ounce can of black beans.  You get the picture.  While the unused portion can refrigerated or frozen, I am usually at a loss on what to do with this leftover amount.  Strange, I know, but true. 

Pumpkin bread is a favorite here from the wonderful aromas of pumpkin, nutmeg and cinnamon which fill the house as this bread is baking to every slice which is toasted, re-heated and slathered with some form of cream cheese, butter or vegan non-dairy spread.

This recipe makes about 5 mini-loaves, 2 medium height 9” loaves or 1 large 10” loaf.  I prefer to make mini-loaves as this bread freezes well and the small mini-loaf size guarantees a quick defrost when company drops by.  Although I will admit there have been times when slices have been cut from frozen loaves and immediately deposited into the toaster oven with no complaint and complete satisfaction.  For freezing, I suggest wrapping each loaf in plastic wrap and then placing the loaves in a freezer safe ziploc bag.  

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Bread

¾ cup canola oil

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 15 ounce can pumpkin puree or 1 ¾ cup pumpkin puree

5/8 cup water

2 ¼ cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/8 teaspoon nutmeg

3/8 teaspoon cinnamon

3/8 teaspoon allspice  
1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1/3 cup dried cranberries (optional) 

Place oven rack in middle position.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the oil, eggs and sugar.  Add pumpkin and water.  Mix.  Add the flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice.  Stir gently but do not mix too thoroughly. Add nuts or dried cranberries. Once again, stir gently but do not mix too thoroughly.

Pour into greased loaf pan, approximately 5 mini-loaves, 2-9 inch loaf or 1 large 10 inch loaf.  Bake 30-60 minutes or until a straw inserted in the center comes out clean.  Turn bread out of the pan and cool on a rack. 

Irish Soda Bread in five ingredients

This was one of the twelve new recipes I tried in 2011 and have made again and again.  I recently made another loaf and realized this recipe would be one worth sharing.  I like this recipe as it comes together quickly, requires ingredients which I always have around the house and not for just this recipe, requires no yeast, no kneading and produces a lovely loaf of bread. 

This is a slight variation of the Irish Soda Bread recipe which appears in the 13^th edition of the Fanny Farmer's cookbook.

Irish Soda Bread  (yield: one loaf)

2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice

2 scant cups milk (dairy, soy or rice)

4 cups flour (all-purpose, whole wheat pastry or spelt)

1 ½ teaspoons salt or 1 1/8 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Place oven rack in middle position.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit.

Place the vinegar or lemon juice in the bottom of a 2 cup liquid measuring cup and fill the cup with milk to equal 2 cups.  Set aside to allow milk to “sour”.

In a large mixing bowl, stir and toss together the flour, salt and baking soda.   Gradually add the “sour” milk, stirring until the dough holds together in a rough mass.  (Note, you made need to blend with your hands to get one mass as the dough comes together.)

Shape dough into 8-inch round about 1 ½ inches thick and place in the center of medium-sized non-stick baking sheet.

(optional) With a sharp knife, slash a large ¼-inch deep X across the top. 

Bake for about 45-50 minutes or until bread is nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 

Transfer bread to rack to cool, then wrap in damp paper towel.  Let bread cool completely before serving or storing. 

Almond Sugar Cookies or what to make when your company is on a food allergy elimination diet

To determine the source of a potential food allergy or intolerance, one of my girlfriends chose to eliminate dairy, gluten, corn and soy from her diet for three weeks. Having dealt with food allergies for over a decade these dietary restrictions were not a problem. In fact, it was the nudge I needed to try the Vanilla Almond Sugar Cookie recipe which appears on Bob'sRed Mill Organic Coconut Flour package.

I discovered coconut flour about 5 years ago when it was listed as an ingredient in a reduced sugar frosting recipe. While I did not have much success with the frosting recipe, I was intrigued by the cookie recipe which appeared on the package of coconut flour.

I needed to substitute the margarine for organic shortening and the soy milk for rice milk to meet my girlfriend's dietary restrictions. Even with the changes, the end result was a nice chewy treat.

Almond Sugar Cookies

1/2 c. Sliced Almonds

1/2 c. Organic Shortening

1/3 c. Unsweetened Rice Milk

3/4 c. White Rice Flour

1/3 c. Organic Coconut Flour

2 Tbsp Potato Starch

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1 c. Organic Sugar


Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream together sugar and shortening with an electric mixer and beat for two minutes. Add rice milk and beat for an additional minute. In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients, except Almonds. Add dry mix to wet ingredients and briefly mix, then add the almonds. Continue mixing until just blended. The batter should have a moist and fluffy consistency. Place by rounded tablespoon on a greased cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Apple Pie with Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Flaky Pie Crust

Having had success with a spelt piecrust recipe I found on the Bob's Red Mill website, I attempted to make an Apple Pie using the Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Flaky Pie Crust recipe. This recipe, using kosher salt in lieu of sea salt and organic shortening in lieu of butter became my pie crust recipe for years. However, and as detailed in earlier post, in 2011, I began to have problems with my pie crust. It would break apart when transferring to the pie plate. It would crack and not drape over the filling. It was dry. It had no flavor. “Patchwork” became standard process to top the fruit filling.

Determined to re-gain my mastery of this pie crust recipe and flush with my recent victory with a spelt pie crust, I decided to make an apple pie for my Mom's birthday as this is one of her favorite treats. The bottom crust transferred to the pie plate without issue, the top crust did not break apart while draping over the filling. With the extra crust, I got fancy. 

Apple Pie

From the revised 13^th edition of The Fanny Farmer Cookbook.

2 – 9” pie crusts

¾ – 1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

½ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

1 ½ tablespoons flour

6 – 8 large, firm, tart apples (about 10 cups) – Cortland apples recommended

2 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 425 degrees farenheit. Line a 9” pie plate with one pie crust. Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. Peel, core and slice the apples and toss them into the flour mixture, coating them well.

Pile apples into the lined pan and dot with the butter. Roll out top crust and drape over the pie. Crimp the edges and cut several vents in the top. Bake 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 degrees farenheit and bake 30-40 minutes more or until the apples are tender when pierced with a skewer and the crust is browned.

Bob's Red Mill's Whole Wheat Flaky Pie Crust Recipe: http://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes.php?recipe=841