- Carrot cake is a surprisingly versatile cake. The flavor profile is great and translates well into cookies and other desserts. 101 Cookbooks recently made a carrot cake spinoff in the form of Carrot Oatmeal Cookies. Heidi’s cookies are vegan – so they don’t use butter or eggs – and use maple syrup instead of sugar as a sweetener. She says they taste like a cross between a coconut macaroon and carrot cake, with a chewy texture and a spicy sweetness.
- Another interesting take on carrot cake is Piggy’s Cooking Journal‘s Carrot Cake Shortbread. At first it seems like it might be difficult to combine the two elements, but it looks like one of the tricks to doing so is to use a relatively small amount of shredded carrot, and using brown sugar, cinnamon and a cream cheese filling to round out all the flavors into the cookie version of a carrot layer cake. I particularly like the walnut half used as garnish on top of the shortbread sandwiches, as it really gives them a great look in addition to adding a little crunch to them.
- While I often bake for friends, and I have created specific dishes for people, I’m not sure I ever dedicated a recipe to someone. Beginning with Bread sweetly dedicated Annie’s Bread to a good – and bread-loving – friend. The loaf is a hearty multigrain loaf with a thick, crunchy crust. It’s the kind of bread that you can easily make a meal with, since it’s so satisfying that you will probably munch through the whole thing (maybe with some wine and cheese) without saving room for dinner.
- If you like lemon bars but are looking to get a little variety into the routine, Grapefruit Squares are a unique way of dressing up an otherwise commonplace treat. The recipe comes from The Crepes of Wrath and uses both lemon and grapefruit, giving the bars a bright and zesty flavor. Pink grapefruit will add a little tinge of color to the bars, but if you stick with yellow grapefruit your tasters should be pleasantly surprised when they bite into something a little more complex than what they anticipated.
- The best way to think of bran muffins is not as some kind of health food, but as a muffin with a lot of texture from the bran. Bran muffins aren’t always all that healthy, and this recipe is no exception because it includes quite a bit of butter. The Banana Bran and Toasted Walnut Muffins from Andrea’s Recipes, aside from being buttery, are also loaded with fiber-rich wheat bran, more than 2 cups of mashed banana, brown sugar and walnuts. They’re rich and flavorful, the kind of bran muffin you want to have with your breakfast.
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Eliana
April 1, 2009I absolutely love carrot cake and can’t believe how many variations for it I have come across recently. Thanks for posting this useful knowledge.
CakeSpy
April 1, 2009Your links are always the best!! Love that this one has a lot of carrot cakery. What a great resource for one of my favorite types of cake!
noble pig
April 1, 2009Carrot cake is a fave so I’m excited about these links!