Good recipe for a cold day 2: Carrot raisin bread

If you've ever visited Mimi's Cafe, you've probably had their delicious bread assortment that's brought to every table. I started making this bread from a recipe I found online a few years ago tweaking it a bit so it's a a little better for the consumer. The recipe originally called for a lot of oil! Yes, the oil makes it so very moist and you're more than welcome to substitute 1/2 cup of oil for the apple sauce but I prefer the applesauce.

Ever wonder what to do with molasses?  Here's the ticket! Quite frankly though, I love molasses and I won't buy brown sugar any longer (brown sugar= white sugar with molasses). Molasses is multipurpose and I love multipurpose.

For those of you who do not cook and/or cannot improvise, I advise not to use my recipes. If I ever write a cookbook it will have find print with cautionary words letting people know not to expect exact measurements or cooing times and to expect a lot of extra opinions from me.

Oven: 350 degrees

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (and I LOVE cardimum so if you can get it and like it, this would be so so so good! If you're a fan of ginger this would be good too (I am NOT unless it's in tea or chinese food.)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2-3/4 cup apple sauce
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1- 1 1/2 cup(s) shredded carrot
1- 1 1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts  (optional)

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and carrots.Mix.

In another medium bowl combine sugar, eggs and molasses. Blend well. Add vanilla, apple sauce, oil. Blend well. I add the dry ingredients to the wet but it can be done either way. Mix until blended but DO NOT over mix! It will make your bread/muffins dense and tough. If there's a little flour on the bottom of the bowl, this is okay.

Add your raisins and nuts (if you're using them) and stir just a few times to incorporate. Pour into one large greased loaf pan or 2 smaller ones or 8 mini-loafs or muffin pans.

Now, this is where I am kind of bad about writing recipes. I don't know how long to cook it for. I don't normally time things. I'd say for a loaf perhaps 45-60 minutes but ovens are different. I've gone from a gas stove that I've cooked on my whole life to electric for the first time ever and things cook faster in it. The mini loaves took about 30 minutes, muffins may take 15-20, . My best advice is to check them when they start to look puffy and the edges a light brown, they may be done. If you gently touch the top and it springs back, they're done. If it doesn't spring back so well it's not and if it's raw in the middle, well, I hope you know what to do.