The Case of Too Many Carrots

The Case of Too Many Carrots: Solved

 Make Carrot Cake Bars. 

I love fresh produce. I hate throwing out fresh produce. So, I noticed I had a lot more carrots in my fridge then I could eat in the next few days. I shredded those carrots and put on my thinking cap. Carrot Cake Muffins were definitely going down... but what else could I make. With a family gathering coming up, I went sweet and decided on these carrot cake bars.  They were really easy and tasted so yummylicious!!! 

                                    

Not paleo, not healthy, but man.. they were good. I have been trying to use up all the dairy, flour and sugars I bought for the holiday family recipes I make. And when you know that your home eating is still on track, it's okay (at least to me) to splurge and indulge at times.

Also exciting, I used my KitchenAid Mixer for the first time in years. Maybe 3 years. It's been just collecting dust in the corner of my kitchen. I just prefer the ease of grabbing my hand mixer and a bowl.  Okay, enough blabbing... let's get to the good stuff.

Carrot Cake Bars:

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup freshly shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped pecan, walnuts or sunflower seeds
• 1 can (16 ounces) cream cheese frosting or homemade Cream Cheese Frosting

Step One: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dust off old mixer. Or just get out a bowl and hand mixer  

Step Two: In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, oil and eggs until light.

Step Three: Stir in the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt until well combined. Gently stir in the carrots and nuts/seeds. (I just continued to use the mixer on low speed, worked fine!)

           

Step Four: Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool completely. 

 

Step Five:  Spread the bars with enough of the frosting to cover completely. You can drag a fork through the frosting on a diagonal to decorate. I just spread on a nice thick gooey layer and called it a day. Cut into 2-inch squares and remove from the pan. 

Step 6: Try not to eat them all!!! 

 

I also had extra cream cheese from another holiday recipe I did, so I went for the homemade frosting. I usually don't like cream cheese frosting so I altered the recipe & added a little more vanilla and sprinkled in a little lot of cinnamon. 

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I did 2 teaspoons)
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon (my addition)

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract and cinnamon. Then use for your recipe... mmmm mmmm good.

I may have changed my own mind about cream cheese frosting. Wowzer!