A couple of weeks ago, I shared some ideas for baking with beets. For folks who start to feel a little stir crazy with seasonal eating toward the second half of winter, changing the way you use common seasonal ingredients can be a life saver. Along that same thread, this week, I’m focusing on baking with carrots.

In our early days with the CSA, we’d sometimes accumulate a large backlog of carrots in our crisper. I’ve always liked carrots more in theory than in reality, so using a dozen or so every week wasn’t my habit. These are the recipes that can save you in those moments. Carrots don’t tend to accumulate around here any more, because they’ve become the best fast, healthy snacks in the house. We don’t peel them or cut them. A whole carrot, just like an apple but without the pesky seeds and core. My husband brings one for lunch at work every day, and it’s the snack my kid know I’ll suggest if they find themselves starving twenty minutes before dinner is ready. I’ve also found that I absolutely adore fermented ginger carrots. Carrots are suddenly in high demand around here. If I ever want to bake with them these days, I kind of have to sneak some into a dark corner of the fridge to keep them from being gobbled up. But this covert measure is worth it. Carrots can do SO much in the baking department. Like beets, they lend themselves to both sweet and savory goods. Wherever possible, I’ve included gluten free recipes as well as traditional options. You may be surprised how quickly you go through your CSA vegetables when you start adding more variety to how you use them. Have fun!

Cake:

Pancakes:

Bread:

Crackers:

Cookies:

Muffins: