Carrot Bread with Cider and Olive Oil

I tried these cranberry, orange, and fennel buns, but they didn’t live up to my expectations, and I even threw a few away. Too bad, because I like the flavor combination! Then, because I hadn’t used my waffle iron in a while, I made these banana brownie waffles, but the kids were surprisingly unenthusiastic about them. For what it’s worth, they’re low-sugar, low-fat, and high-fiber, and you can’t go really wrong with chocolate.


I found my groove again with Smitten Kitchen’s carrot bread with cider and olive oil. (I started following the Instagram account, and since I haven’t seen *every* blog post, I get new inspiration from the recipe archives.) The original recipe called it a carrot cake, but to me, it’s a bread like banana bread is a bread, and perfectly acceptable for breakfast, especially toasted and smeared with (lactose-free) butter or butter spread.

The apple cider here is what is sometimes sold as cloudy or unfiltered apple juice, though honestly I’m sure it would be good with regular apple juice too. This carrot bread stays moist for a few days at room temperature. I’ll be sure to make it again!

2 1/3 cups (290 g.) all-purpose flour (I used white whole wheat)
¾ tsp. (5 g.) table or fine sea salt
2 tsp. (10 g.) baking powder
1 ¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
½ cup olive oil
¾ cup (145 g.) dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup apple cider (see note above)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 ½ cups packed coarsely grated carrots, from about 9 oz./255 g. (2 to 2 ½ large or 4- 5 slim) carrots

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan; line it with parchment paper, leaving some overhang on the long sides, and grease again.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

In a medium bowl, whisk together olive oil, brown sugar, eggs, cider and vanilla. Stir grated carrots into wet ingredients until evenly coated, then stir wet ingredients into dry just until no floury bits remain.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out batter-free. Let cool in loaf pan for 20 to 30 minutes, then remove from pan and cool the rest of the way on a rack. Loaf should keep at room temperature for a few days, and longer in the fridge. It’s even moister on the second day.