Carrot cake loaf (GF/DF)

Imagine your favorite banana bread but replace the bananas with carrots and you have this loaf. Even my cooked carrot hating kids ate this so no worries about it being to healthy for your palate. Add a (full dairy) cream cheese frosting shmear and it's a little piece of heaven.

Carrot Cake Loaf (GF/DF)

Ingredients: 

2 1/3 c. all purpose flour (gluten-free)
3/4 tsp sea salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 c. olive oil
3/4 c. coconut sugar (or dark brown sugar)
2 eggs
1 c. unsweetened coconut or almond milk (if you have apple cider on hand it's a fabulous swap in place of the milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. packed coarsely grated carrots 
Olive oil or nonstick cooking spray for baking pan

Optional Cream Cheese Frosting (if you can stomach dairy): 4 oz. softened cream cheese, 2 Tbls softened unsalted butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract & 6 Tbls powdered sugar (or honey)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. 

2. Mix together olive oil, sugar, eggs, cider and vanilla. Add in grated carrots and mix until evenly coated.

3. Add flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and mix until combined.

4. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 60 to 70 minutes (until a skewer inserted into the center comes out batter-free.) Let cool in the pan for 20 to 30 minutes, then remove from pan and cool the rest of the way on a rack.