Carrots add an extra bit of sweetness to the already-moist zucchini bread foundation in this recipe for Carrot Zucchini Bread. Hiding vegetables in a delicious, flavorful quick bread smothered in a luscious maple cream cheese glaze is pretty genius, and will make your breakfast (and morning) a little more special.
Confession: I’m kind of obsessed with these pictures.
Also, zucchini.
Also, carrots are my favorite vegetable.
Oh, and quick breads are my favorite things to bake.
This post is basically the culmination of everything I love.
So we – or, I – don’t overload on all these wonderful things, I’ll take them one at a time. Let’s start with these pictures. Aren’t they so pretty? I love the lighting in the one above this. It was sunrise and it gives it that lovely golden look. The one below is pretty because of the glaze effect.
I thought this Carrot Zucchini Bread was pretty homely in the moment, but the right lighting and setup can make anything look good. I mean do we really think Emma Watson looks that good all the time? Bad example.
Next order of business: zucchini. I love zucchini. I love it in bread. I love it shredded. I love it chopped. I love it in eggs. I love in mixed into veggies. I love it I love it I love it.
So now if you combine zucchini and baking that’s great, but then you add CARROTS to make Carrot Zucchini Bread and it’s the best thing ever. I eat carrots daily. I probably eat too many carrots. You know those big bags of baby carrots you can buy at the grocery store? I once looked at the Nutrition Facts, and it said there were ten servings in the bag. I had just finished eating half of it.
Quick breads are one of my favorite things to bake. There are endless possibilities with them, and they are the most simple recipes ever. It’s always just mix dry ingredients, then wet ingredients, then put the dry in the wet and you are done. (And you can do stuff like add bananas and carrots and zucchinis and it works.)
If I ever feel the need to stress bake and calm myself down my thoughts normally turn to quick breads. They’re so easy and home-y and hearty that it just calms me right down.
I think quick breads are the most fundamental baked good to learn how to bake. Like, if you could only learn how to bake one thing, it should be quick breads. They can be sweet or savory, they can be called bread or cake, and they are so versatile they can work for any occasion. All the possibilities would make sure you were never bored. Like this Carrot Zucchini Bread. Maybe you’re into it, maybe you’re not, but it isn’t boring, is it?
They’re also just really pretty in a girl-next-door kind of way.
And, speaking as a girl-next-door myself, I think that’s pretty awesome.
-Audrey
Prep Time:
Yield:
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PinIngredients
Carrot Zucchini Bread
- 1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
- 2 bananas, mashed
- 1 cup grated zucchini (1 medium zucchini)
- 1 cup grated carrots
- 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used 0% Fage)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Maple Cream Cheese Glaze
- 7 oz. softened cream cheese
- 3 tbs milk
- 1 tbs vanilla extract
- 3 tbs maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan, or line with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together sugars and eggs. Add coconut oil, mashed bananas ,grated zucchini, grated carrots, Greek yogurt, and vanilla. Mix to combine.
- Fold in flour mixture.
- Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.
- For the glaze: whisk together in bowl until you reach your desired consistency. If you get chunks, blend it.
- When the bread is completely cool, pour or spread the glaze over it.