Apple Carrot Bread

After making my new favorite Spiced Carrot Muffins one day, I had a bit of grated carrot left over - not quite enough to make a full batch of anything though.  I was feeling adventurous and decided to throw it together with some grated apple to make a combination of my favorite muffin, and favorite bread.

Carrot Apple Bread

Ingredients:
1 cup carrot, grated fine
1 cup apple
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cardamon
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

Grate the carrot and set aside.  Then pulse the peeled apple in the food processor, and add to the carrots.  

Preheat the oven to 350-degrees and grease two loaf pans.

Combine the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  I cut the oil in half, substituting applesauce for the other half.  It's one of my favorite baking tricks for making something a teeny bit healthier, and sneaking a bit more nutrition into something.

When the mixture is smooth, carefully spread the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 50-55 minutes.  Turn out onto a cooling rack.

Since this makes two very large loaves, it's well worth freezing one of the loaves for later.  You can wrap it in plastic wrap and tuck it into a gallon sized freezer bag, or just double freezer bag it.  (Note, add the glaze to the thawed loaf for best results).

Lemon Glaze

Combine 2 cups confectioner's sugar with about 3-1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of lemon zest.  Then I drizzled the glaze of over the loaf after it had cooled completely.  If you wanted to play up the apple flavor, you could substitute apple juice for the lemon juice.