Recipe: Frosted Carrot, Coriander, and Ginger Bread

Frosted Carrot,
Coriander, and Ginger Bread

Makes 2 loaves

With ingredients from the Midwinter prairie larder, this sweet and spicy bread, warm from the oven, revives flagging spirits. Frosted with spiced cream cheese, it's an even better treat. Serve it on your best china, make a fresh pot of aromatic tea, and invite friends over so you can catch up with one another's lives. Festively wrapped, the bread also makes a delicious hostess gift.

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons corn or canola oil
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs beaten
2 cups finely grated carrots
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon peeled and grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon ground coriander

For the Frosting:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pans and set aside. In a large bowl, with a wooden spoon or a hand-held electric mixer, beat together the oil, sugar, eggs, and carrots. Beat in the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and coriander.

2. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans on a wire rack, then invert onto the rack and turn right side up.

3. Make the Frosting:
Combine the cream cheese, sugar, ginger, milk, and vanilla in a medium bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth and spreadable. Frost the tops of the cooled loaves.

Buy the Book!

Prairie Home Breads
150 Splendid Recipes from America's Breadbasket
By Judith M. Fertig
Harvard Common Press, 2001
Hardcover, $ 18.95
ISBN: 1-55832-172-1
Recipe reprinted by permission.