Carrot Loaf for Kids

I tried this recipe as yet another attempt to find another breakfast or mid-morning snack my almost-two-year-old would enjoy. Today's Parent is always a good source for kid-friendly recipes. I liked this loaf a lot -- and my daughter ate a whole piece. That's no guarantee she will ever eat it again, but it's a start!

1/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup amaranth flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 packed cup grated carrots (2 medium or 1 large carrot)
1/2 cup very well-drained crushed pineapple
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a loaf pan.

In a large bowl, whisk flours and starches with flaxseed meal, xanthan, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt.

In a medium bowl, whisk carrots, pineapple, yogurt, sugar, veg oil, and eggs until well-blended.

Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir until just combined. Pour into the greased loaf pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the loaf tests clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a rack to cool. Cool completely before slicing to serve. (Or, if serving warm, cut fat, not thin, slices, because the bread is delicate when hot.) This loaf is especially delicious spread with cream cheese.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Like most cakes with fruit or vegetable content, carrot cake adapts very well to gluten-free flour. The carrot adds lots of moisture and evens out the texture. You can also add 2 tbsp flaxseed meal to the recipe. For a slightly lighter cake, there's always the option of separating the eggs, beating the whites until stiff, and folding them in after folding in the carrots.

Gluten-free carrot cake rises best (though still not hugely) in a sheet pan (9x13”) rather than a tube pan.

1 cup rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup potato starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 cups white sugar
2 rounded tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
3 cups grated carrots

Whisk together dry ingredients. Add oil and eggs and fold until just mixed. Fold in carrots. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake 45 to 50 minutes or until the cake tests done. Allow to cool before icing.

Cream-Cheese Icing:

6 oz cream cheese
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 to 2 tsp grated orange rind (optional)
1 1/2 cup icing sugar

Soften and blend cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and orange rind. Stir in icing sugar until smooth.

Morning Muffin Bites

Adapted from a recipe for six full-sized muffins in Canadian Living, these are perfect little muffin bites when cooked in mini-muffin tins.

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/3 cup potato starch flour
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
3 tbsp tapioca starch
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
dash salt
1/4 cup dried cranberries or raisins or currants
1/4 cup medium unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas) or sliced almonds
1 large egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup plain, unsweetened yogurt (soy yogurt works fine)
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup grated carrots (2 small to medium)
1/2 cup grated peeled apple (1 small to medium)

Grease 24 mini muffin cups. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours and starches, flaxseed meal, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt. Stir in dried fruit, coconut, and pumpkin seeds, allowing each fleck to be coated by a bit of flour or starch.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg, brown sugar, yogurt, and oil until well combined. Stir in carrot and apple.

Stir wet ingredients into dry, mixing just until moistened. Spoon batter evenly into prepared mini-muffin tins and bake, testing doneness after 12 to 15 minutes. Time might depend on your oven and the moisture of the carrot and apple you used.

Makes 24 bite-sized muffins.

Gluten-Free Morning Glory Muffins

I keep meaning to make a more low-fat version of these muffins, which are much too much like carrot cake for breakfast in the incarnation described below.

However, every time I set out to make the muffins, I find I have all kinds of vegetable oil and absolutely noto a scratch of the plain yogurt I would need for the low-fat version). And then I think of the lovely crunch to the muffin top in the not-even-close-to-low-fat version, and somehow, I've made carrot cake for breakfast. Again.

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl:
3/4 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup amaranth flour (or another 3/4 cup brown rice flour)
1/2 cup tapioca or potato starch
1/4 cup flaxseed meal (optional)
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar (or evaporated cane sugar)
2 tsp cinnamon

Stir in evenly:
2 cups grated carrot
1/2 cup nuts or pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries or other chopped dried fruit
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 apple, peeled, cored, and grated

In a separate small bowl, beat:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla

Stir the wet ingredients into the flour-fruit-nut mixture until just combined.

Dollop into well-greased muffin tins.

Bake at 375F for 20 minutes. Makes 15 nice, fat muffins.