healthy carrot walnut bread
Sweet breakfast breads made with vegetables are really not a European thing…however, carrot, zucchini or pumpkin make yummy brunch cakes and should be used more often! From all the healthy breakfast breads I’ve made, this one has got to be one of my favorites. It’s nutritious, moist, naturally sweetened without being overly sweet, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg and is just so delicious when toasted and topped with nut butter.
As in my favorite pancakes, bananas make a great ingredient to use when you want to sweeten something naturally. This carrot walnut bread mixes 1 grated carrot with 1 mashed banana, providing the perfect balance of sweetness and moistness. I also added 1/2 cup maple syrup as a natural sweetener, but you can also use honey if that’s all you have in your pantry. The carrot brings a nice color to the bread without giving it a “vegetable” flavor — in fact, you probably won’t even notice that it has any carrot in it at all, making a slice of this bread the perfect snack to sneak in more veggies into your family’s diet!
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
- Pinch of salt
- 1 medium carrot, grated (makes 1 cup)
- 1 medium ripe banana, mashed
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- ½ cup milk (almond milk, coconut milk, regular milk)
- ½ cup maple syrup or honey
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons coconut oil or vegetable oil
- Chopped walnuts (for topping)
- Preheat oven to 375°F/180°C and grease and flour a loaf pan.
- Combine whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the grated carrot, mashed banana, egg, milk, vanilla extract, maple syrup and oil. Pour the contents of the bowl into the big bowl with the dry ingredients and mix to combine with a wooden spoon.
- Pour the mixture into prepared loaf pan and decorate the top with chopped walnuts.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the bread comes out clean. Let cool in the loaf pan before inverting the bread onto a plate.
MAKE IT DAIRY-FREE: Use almond milk or any other plant-based milk
Is honey better for you than sugar?