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Here is my O Foods recipe. If you have not heard about the O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness month contest, please check the details on my last post!
Quick breads are like cake to me. I am not a big fan of icing and so for me the subtle sweetness that quick breads offer is perfect for me. I love the idea of banana bread and there are variations on banana bread wherever you turn, but I am not a lover of bananas. For some reason I just never really got into them. I find that their taste overpowers everything and for me they mess up and overwhelm and ruin the flavor of smoothies to quick breads. I understand that they add sweetness and bulk, and are great for binding ingredients together. But I am still plagued by childhood memories of the banana in my lunch box that made my turkey sandwich taste like bananas, and my chips too!
So when I came across a recipe for oatmeal date carrot mini muffins, I knew that I wanted to experiment with making it a quick breakfast bread. It is chock full of great ingredients that are healthy and delicious! I changed it up a bit using what I had and it turned out moist, flavorful and filling. This is a great bread for breakfast or snacking and perfect for an afternoon spot of tea (or coffee).
This is adapted from floridagirlinsydney’s blog Deviously Delicious
Don’t forget to start coming up with your O Foods recipe! 
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 cups quick cooking oats or rolled oats
1 1/4 cups milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup hazelnut oil (or rice bran oil)
1 carrot finely grated
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup of chopped dates and raisins mixed
3/4 cup white chocolate chips (leftover from a DB challenge - figured they wouldn’t be as offensive in a bread)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
METHOD:
Combine oats and milk in a large bowl and let stand for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F . Grease the bread pan. Into oat & milk mixture bowl, add egg, oil, brown sugar, grated carrot, chopped dates, raisins, white chocolate chips, pine nuts and coconut.
In a separate bowl combine regular flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix to combine.
Add the bowl of dry ingredients to the large bowl of wet ingredients and stir only until everything is moist (do not over stir). Pour batter into bread pan.
Bake at 400 degrees F for about 55-65 minutes . Stick a toothpick in the center, if it comes out clean- it is done. Remove from oven and let cool - remove from the pan.
Cook times for other types of breads/muffins:
(this is floridagirlinsydney’s standard guideline chart she use for all bread/muffins)
10-12 minutes for mini muffins
30-40 minutes for mini-loaves
55-65 minutes for regular loaves
10-15 minutes for mini-muffins
25-35 minutes for regular size muffins
(Stick a toothpick in the center and if it comes out clean, they are done).
48 Responses to “O Foods: Oatmeal Carrot Date Bread, the Banana Bread Alternative!” »
Looks like we were on a pretty similar wavelength, only I *love* banana baked goods…although I also love carrot things too. This looks fabulous Jenn!
what a great alternative… Can NOT wait to try it
Jenn, you’re a genius. This is an excellent alternative to the regular banana bread. Sounds so good. The pine nuts is a surprise. What a lovely addition. Thanks.
Ugh. Banana anything. Thank you so much for posting this. It looks like a delicious alternative to the dreaded “B” word. I can’t stand bananas in any shape or form and my family loves them and loves banana bread.
I’ll definately be trying this, and I’m sure they will love it just as much!!
Lovely bread and yo are fast with the post
This is a great twist to the classic banana bread and it definitely is much healthier. Have never heard of hazelnut oil. Is it absolutely essential to the recipe or can it be substituted with something more common?
That sounds so good and so healthy. I may have to try this with a zucchini substitute. T. is a carrot hater!
I love quick breads - it was one of the first things I learned to bake. The combination of coconut and carrots sounds amazing. I’ve never tried hazelnut oil - that sounds great.
Ooohh this is right up my street. I eat breakfast in the office ( I get in for 7:30 am usually) so this would be the prefect thing to take in with me me
Great recipe Jenn! I’m not a big fan of bananas myself, but I do like carrots and dates. I will have to give this a try.
That bread looks wonderful. I’m also a huge fan of quick breads!
Ha! I love how you said you didn’t think the white chocolate chips would be as offensive in a bread. It looks great though!
Love the recipe, Jenn. I’m the same way with quick breads, I’ll take them over a chocolate cake (shhh don’t tell). I really like the oatmeal, and… well just about everything in there… it’s just tasty
LOL at your childhood memories of bananas and what they did to your lunch box! I really love this bread Jenn…lots of healthy goodies inside it!
This looks really delicious Jenn! I am the same way about bananas. I do like them in quickbreads/muffins, but I don’t like them in smoothies or on their own all that much. I can take them or leave them. I have been a quickbread fool myself lately. I swear that’s all I’ve been making. This one looks so tasty so I don’t think I can pass it up! This is a great event, so I will definitely try my best to participate.
Hey, I am happy to see you mention rice bran oil. It is a great oil to cook and bake with and you get health benefits as well!!
Oh my god, the lunch box thing! Totally!! This post gave me horrible flashbacks of opening my She-Ra Princess of Power lunch box and being rendered nasious from the odor of old rotten banana.
The memories are so painful that the only way I will eat a banana is if it’s under ripe to the point of being green. And then it just gives me heartburn.
Such a tasty looking alternative you’ve got there!
Oh yes, girl, bananas! Bleck! My grandma used to make me eat tons of them at her house to fatten me up, but gosh, I don’t have that problem anymore - two kiddiewinks later!
Since I can’t get rice brain oil/hazelnut oil, white choco chips, or dates here in Japan, can you recommend some substitutions? ‘Course, the best date I’ve ever had is my hubby.
Woops - not rice “brain” oil - must’ve had oil on MY brain!
wow! mouth watering bread yar! it loks delicious and yum!
That beautiful bread looks incredibly good! A healthy treat!
Cheers,
Rosa
yum–it’s like a healthy carrot cake. (but not really, because for me, carrot cake is all about the cream cheese frosting. but i digress…) i love quick breads too, and this is a fabulous contribution to the contest.
I love baking banana bread but sometimes I just need something different. This looks awesome!
Haha, I packed us lunches for the trip to IL last weekend and forgot about the banana overpowering everything, so we ate banana-flavoured PBJs and banana-flavoured cookies the whole way.
I love quick breads, too. Zucchini bread is a favourite of mine, but this oatmeal one looks promising! I haven’t heard of hazelnut or rice bran oil, though…can I use any kind of oil? I’m not very good at knowing how to substitiute things. lol.
I love simple cakes/quick breads like this one here, Jenn - they are perfect to go with a cup of tea, coffee or hot cocoa!
What a delicious mix of flavors!
I loved date muffins when I was a kid but haven’t baked with them as an adult. Guess it’s time to change that. The bread looks fabulous!
This looks absolutely wonderful. I think I’ll omit the white chocolate chips, though, and maybe add some zucchini for color contrast?
Lovely recipe!!!
Perfect bread for a fall breakfast.
SO true on the fact that the banana smell would take over everything — lunchboxes, lockers, everything. I can’t wait to try this recipe — i’m thinking i’ll use dried cranberries instead of dates/raisins. Yummy
That looks so good - I love that its getting into baking season! I would make bread in my oven all year round if it didn’t get 110 degrees in my kitchen in the summer!
Adding it to my list to try.
Hmmm…I’m on the lookout for new stuff to bake these days and this looks perfect. Yay to O foods! yay to this bread! Now, rice bran oil? I have never seen/heard of this. I must do some research. And would soy nuts be OK for the pine nuts? Or toasted almonds?
It is funny, my son tells me the same thing…..”Mom. the bread tasted like banana and it had ham on???”
This loaf looks so yummee, we love carrot cake around here!!!!
I wish I had found this last year - despite being a big fan of bananas I have been allergic to them for years… and only just started to eat them again!
I love semi-sweet baked goods, so adding this to my list
You cracked me up! I remember that banana in my lunchbox too! I would be cursing Julie {my Mom} for ruining everything! Hilarious, you brought back some good school days memories here.
I love this O recipe Jenn. I have a recipe planned but just needs to be realized beginning with O. What first came to mind was Jell-O and then everything Rachel Ray with Yumm-O. I will always think of this event now whenever I see a commercial.
Hah! I just used up the last of my leftover DB white chocolate too!
I love a good quick bread for breakie, yours looks so healthy and satisfying.
I am a serious banana lover! If I don’t have one everyday something doesn’t feel right. I hear where your coming from especially with the lunchbox! This bread is a welcome break from the same old, same old. Now that the weather is getting cooler, I see lots more baking on the horizon, including this yummy bread!
Hey Jenn, Just a little FYI -Laura’s blog is now called ‘Deviously Delicious’ and it is found at http://www.deviouslydelicious.blogspot.com. Recipedia is no more!
Hi Leftover Queen,
That’s so cool that you made these, I like your modifications!
Yep, I changed my blog to Deviously Delicious, (www.deviouslydelicious.blogspot.com I thought it better represented the whole sneaking healthy stuff into everyone’s food thing.
I agree, I love this kind of bread because it tastes like cake… and of course anything that tastes like cake is fantastic.
Thanks!
Laura
Thanks for the heads up Laura and Natalie!!!
For the questions about oil - I would use whatever you have on hand. Laura suggests Rice Bran Oil in her recipe, I didn’t have it, so I used hazelnut oil. I am sure you could use any veggie or nut oil that you would normally bake with! The healthier the better!
Abigail - in terms of substitutions, I am not sure what is readily available in Japan. But I would suggest any dried fruits that lend sweetness to replace the dates, and any kind of other goodies that you can throw in there to make it flavorful and fun! Have fun with it! That’s the most important thing!
Quick breads remind me of cake, too. I prefer them somewhere in between sweet and savory so this is kind of what I’m looking for.
Jen,
I HATE bananas in anything. Can’t even stand the smell!
I LOVE dates! and have a box of dates sitting here.
Will make this today, and have it for breakfast with cream cheese all week!
Stacey
I like banana bread so much and I use rice bran oil in my recipe. I also substitute bananas and throw in pumpkin-so good.
I like banana bread … but this looks really yummy!
[...] Oatmeal Carrot Date Bread at The Leftover Queen [...]
I’m not a baker, but my sister is, and this recipe is something she might want to try.
However, I really appreciate your original creation because banana is not one of my favorite fruits either. It’s a wonderful fruit, but something about the texture and the aftertaste really turn me off. But it is so common that you find it in everything from juices to barbecue sauce.
So it’s great to have a moist looking quick bread which doesn’t call for bananas. And the white chocolate chips is an interesting addition. The best recipe creations really do come when you just use what you have on hand.
This looks so yummy! I’m having a recipe roundup on my blog for carrot recipes (free carrots at Target this week!! LOL)… I would love it if you would come over and link your recipe!
[...] Oatmeal Carrot Date Bread - Like the Spiced Rum Sweet Bread above, this quick bread is chocked full of goodies. If you made this recipe into muffins, they would make for a filling breakfast treat. [...]
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