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Carrot Ring Recipe

OK, this is my first (and potentially only) recipe post — I’m not much of an innovator in the kitchen, but anyway…

Every year for Thanksgiving I make my version of a family recipe for “Carrot Ring”

Carrot ring is pretty much a quick bread, like zucchini bread made in the top of a bundt cake pan (hence the “ring”.) It’s sweet and a great compliment to the other foods on the Thanksgiving menu.

Here are the ingredients:

  • 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour (I use unbleached organic)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 3 cups grated carrots (I like the stubby ones from the bulk section, they are the juiciest!)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil (approx)
  • 3 tbsp water
  • cinnamon (I don’t measure)

Most of the time, I’ll make 2 carrot rings in succession — mostly because it makes sure that the avocado doesn’t go to waste also so that I can better guesstimate how many carrots to buy!

I use the food processor to make this…

  1. Fitted with the grater attachment, grate all the carrots.
  2. Place 3 cups (packed, but not too tight) carrots into a bowl. Place the rest of the carrots aside for the second carrot ring.
  3. Place the steel blade attachment into the Cuisinart.
  4. Scoop 1/2 avocado into a 1/2 cup measure and pack down. Fill the rest of the measuring cup with coconut oil. (Sometimes I have just over 1/2 cup, depending on the size of the avocado)
  5. Place all ingredients into Cuisinart and turn on.
  6. Let it run until mixture is well combined.
  7. Spray bundt pan with cooking spray.
  8. Scoop mixture into pan.
  9. Moisten fingers with water and press the mixture into pan and flatten the bottom.
  10. Sprinkle top (which will be the bottom) with cinnamon and sugar (I use the cinnamon & sugar spice grinder from Trader Joe’s)
  11. Cook at 350 for 45 minutes

The biggest modification from the “original” recipe is that I removed the Crisco (solid vegetable shortening, ick!) and replaced it with the avocado and coconut oil.

The modification came from a conference I went to a few years ago… I listened to a nutritionist talk about good fat substitutions and she indicated that avocado was a great substitute for shortening — although it doesn’t work well in recipes that cannot mask the green color. So, that’s where the aha moment came from, I knew that the orange from the carrots would mask the green avocado tinge and that it was a great place to try this substitution.

I hadn’t wanted to make the carrot ring once I learned what Crisco was all about and came home from the conference and announced to Sam that I was going to try it. He was skeptical until he tasted it — no difference in his mind.

In those first few carrot rings, I used canola oil to bring the full fat quotient to 1/2 cup. It’s only been the past few years, where I regularly have coconut oil in the house that I’ve made the additional change.

Check out the results:

Carrot Ring x2

OK, this is my first (and potentially only) recipe post — I’m not much of an innovator in the kitchen, but anyway…

Every year for Thanksgiving I make my version of a family recipe for “Carrot Ring”

Carrot ring is pretty much a quick bread, like zucchini bread made in the top of a bundt cake pan (hence the “ring”.) It’s sweet and a great compliment to the other foods on the Thanksgiving menu.

Here are the ingredients:

  • 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour (I use unbleached organic)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 3 cups grated carrots (I like the stubby ones from the bulk section, they are the juiciest!)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 avocado
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil (approx)
  • 3 tbsp water
  • cinnamon (I don’t measure)

Most of the time, I’ll make 2 carrot rings in succession — mostly because it makes sure that the avocado doesn’t go to waste also so that I can better guesstimate how many carrots to buy!

I use the food processor to make this…

  1. Fitted with the grater attachment, grate all the carrots.
  2. Place 3 cups (packed, but not too tight) carrots into a bowl. Place the rest of the carrots aside for the second carrot ring.
  3. Place the steel blade attachment into the Cuisinart.
  4. Scoop 1/2 avocado into a 1/2 cup measure and pack down. Fill the rest of the measuring cup with coconut oil. (Sometimes I have just over 1/2 cup, depending on the size of the avocado)
  5. Place all ingredients into Cuisinart and turn on.
  6. Let it run until mixture is well combined.
  7. Spray bundt pan with cooking spray.
  8. Scoop mixture into pan.
  9. Moisten fingers with water and press the mixture into pan and flatten the bottom.
  10. Sprinkle top (which will be the bottom) with cinnamon and sugar (I use the cinnamon & sugar spice grinder from Trader Joe’s)
  11. Cook at 350 for 45 minutes

The biggest modification from the “original” recipe is that I removed the Crisco (solid vegetable shortening, ick!) and replaced it with the avocado and coconut oil.

The modification came from a conference I went to a few years ago… I listened to a nutritionist talk about good fat substitutions and she indicated that avocado was a great substitute for shortening — although it doesn’t work well in recipes that cannot mask the green color. So, that’s where the aha moment came from, I knew that the orange from the carrots would mask the green avocado tinge and that it was a great place to try this substitution.

I hadn’t wanted to make the carrot ring once I learned what Crisco was all about and came home from the conference and announced to Sam that I was going to try it. He was skeptical until he tasted it — no difference in his mind.

In those first few carrot rings, I used canola oil to bring the full fat quotient to 1/2 cup. It’s only been the past few years, where I regularly have coconut oil in the house that I’ve made the additional change.

Check out the results:

Carrot Ring x2