Little Isabelle's Carrot Pudding

My kids and I read this fun book about a family that grows a carrot, each person having in mind a specific treat they'd like to have when the carrot is grown. Tall Papa Joe wants a tall glass of carrot juice, wide Mama Bess wants a wide bowl of carrot stew, strong Brother Abel wants a jar of strong carrot relish and sweet Little Isabelle wants little cups of sweet carrot pudding.

When we got to the end of the book, there was a recipe for Carrot Pudding! My kids decided they'd like to have some and since we happened to have most of the ingredients on hand (we had to leave out the raisins and nuts), we whipped up a batch. I happen to be eating it as I'm typing this, and it tastes a lot better than it sounds! I think it would be better with raisins, though, and maybe some chopped pecans.

Here's the recipe straight from the book (I put in parentheses any changes I made):

Little Isabelle's Carrot Pudding

Combine and blend until smooth:

     1 C peeled and grated carrots (I recommend grating big carrots; I only had baby carrots on hand and it took forever to grate them! But at least they were already peeled.)

     1/2 C milk

     2 whole Eggs

     1/2 tsp nutmeg

     1/2 tsp cinnamon

     2 Tbsp melted butter

     1 C honey (I used 3/4 cup, and it was still really sweet!)

When smooth, stir in gently:

     4 slices bread, cut into cubes (I used plain ol' white bread, but I think this bread of Madeline's would be delish.)

     1/4 C raisins

     1/4 C chopped nuts

Pour into greased 9" baking dish.

Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees F.

Serve hot or cold in coffee cups. 

Delicious with ice cream, too.

I had an image in my mind of serving this in mugs with dollops of whipped cream cheese frosting on top. I didn't have any whipped cream to add to my icing, so I just used the following recipe and omitted the whipped cream:

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream together until smooth and slightly fluffy:

     6 ounces Cream Cheese, room temperature

     1/2 C confectioner's sugar

     1/2 tsp Vanilla

When completely smooth, gently fold in:

     1/2 C Whipped Cream

Spread, dollop or pipe, using frosting bag, onto carrot pudding.