Carrot cake bars are soft and chewy cake bars filled with shredded carrots and lots of sweet spices. Top these carrot bars with a sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting for a fun and modern twist on the classic carrot cake. Make these carrot cake cookie bars to serve at all your spring holiday gatherings.
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Why Make This Recipe
When spring hits, my mind drifts to sweet spring carrot and to carrot cake. My Carrot Bundt Cake, Carrot Loaf Cake, Carrot Cake Muffins, Carrot Cake Cookies and Carrot Bread are all carrot cake recipes I love. I know you’ll love these cozy and flavorful carrot cake bars just as much as my other carrot cake recipes.
- You love cozy variations on classic desserts. These chewy carrot cake bars are such a fun twist on carrot cake when you don’t feel like making cake or cookies, but still want the flavors of classic carrot cake.
- Layers of flavor and texture. These carrot bars are incredibly soft and chewy with all the cozy flavors of carrot cake. The cream cheese frosting really makes these bars shine.
Ingredients and Substitutions
This carrot bars recipe requires only a handful of pantry basics to make. Here’s what you’ll need.
- All purpose flour: To make these carrot cake bars gluten free, use a good 1-1 gluten free flour. I recommend using the one from Bob’s Red Mill and measure based off of weight (150 g) versus cup to cup.
- Ground Spices: This carrot cake bar recipe is full of the perfect blend of aromatics to make these cookies really shine. Feel free to use 2-3 teaspoons of Pumpkin spice, chai spice or any spice blend you like in this recipe.
- Unsalted Butter: Vegan butter or plant based can also be used in place of regular unsalted butter.
- Light Brown and Granulated Sugars: A blend of both sugars is what is recommended for these chewy cake cookie bars. This recipe hasn’t been tested using alternative sugars. However, I love using maple sugar as a refined sugar free option in my other cookie recipes. Maple sugar bakes very similarly to light brown sugar.
- Eggs: This recipe has not been tested without eggs.
- Vanilla Extract: This gives a lovely background flavor to these cake bars.
- Grated Carrots: I highly recommend grating carrots instead of buying ones that are already grated. I like to use the smaller holes on a cheese grater to grate the carrots for these easy carrot cake cookies.
- Cream Cheese: The tangy flavor of cream cheese is hard to match. If you don’t have cream cheese, use an equal amount of mascarpone cheese.
- Powdered Sugar: I like using Wholesome Organic powdered sugar. If you need a lower sugar powdered sugar alternative, I recommend Swerve or Lakanto.
- Milk: This is used to thin the frosting as needed. Feel free to use an equal amount of heavy cream or milk of choice.
How To Make
Learn how to make carrot cake bars in a few easy steps.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C). Line an 9 x 9 (23 cm) pan with parchment paper along the bottom and two sides. Whisk the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt together until well combined. Set aside for now.
- In another large mixing bowl whisk the melted butter with the sugar and light brown sugar until well combined. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract until well combined. Once all the wet ingredients have been mixed together, whisk in the dry ingredients, followed by the shredded carrots until just combined.
- Evenly spread the carrot cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake the carrot bars for 20 - 22 minutes. Cool the cake bars in the pan until room temperature. If you would like, transfer the carrot cake to the fridge to chill before topping with the cream cheese frosting.
- Cream together softened butter with the room temperature cream cheese until creamy and well combined, about 3 - 4 minutes on low speed. Stop and scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in the sifted powdered sugar ½ cup (60 g) at a time, mixing each addition of powdered sugar until incorporated. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl as needed. Once all the sugar has been added, mix in the vanilla extract and salt. Mix on medium- high speed until the cream cheese frosting is fully incorporated and desired consistency. If the frosting is too thick, add an 1 - 2 tablespoons (15 - 30 ml) milk of choice, mixing until well incorporated.Using a small offset icing knife, spoon or piping bag with piping tip of choice, apply the desired amount of frosting to the top of the carrot cake bars. Sprinkle chopped nuts on top if you like.
How To Make Ahead, Freeze, Thaw and Store
- Serve: Enjoy these cream cheese frosted carrot bars straight from the fridge or let them sit at room temperature for 15 minutes and then enjoy.
- Store: Once the carrot cake bars have cream cheese frosting, they need to be stored in the fridge in an airtight container.
- Freeze: Cut the bars into your preferred amount of pieces. Individually wrap each piece of carrot cake in plastic wrap and place in a ziplock bag. Store in the freezer for up to 2 months.
- Thaw: The easiest and tastiest way to thaw your moist carrot bars is to let them sit overnight in the fridge.
M’s Expert Tips
- Cool the melted butter. Melting the butter gives these carrot cake bars a blondie cookie like texture. Make sure the melted butter is room temperature or a bit warm to the touch before using in the recipe.
- Grate the carrots. Carrots taste and bake so much better when they are grated right before baking with them rather than using pre-shredded carrot from the store. I like to use the sides of a box grater that’s meant to grate fine cheese.
- Bring cold ingredients to room temperature. This allows the ingredients to mix together more evenly which requires less mixing, resulting in deliciously carrot bars.
- Look for the signs the bars are done. Use the baking time as a guide rather than a strict rule. Signs the carrot cookie bars are done baking are set edges that have slightly pulled away from the edge of the pan and a fully baked center.
- Cool the bars in the pan. These chewy carrot bars need time to fully cool before coming out of the pan. Cool the pan on top of a cooling rack until the bars are room temperature.
- Wait to top with frosting. The cake bars need to be fully cooled before topping with frosting. If you prefer to top with a different frosting, I recommend cinnamon cream cheese frosting or mascarpone frosting with a drizzle of salted caramel or honey and chopped nuts.
FAQs
Can you use pre-shredded carrots in this carrot cake cookie recipe?
It’s so tempting to use pre-shredded carrots in carrot cake recipes. However, the carrots taste and bake so much better when they are grated right before baking with them. I like to use the sides of a box grater that’s meant to grate fine cheese.
Can I make carrot cake cookies with this recipe?
These carrot cake cookie bars are more like a dense carrot cake, meets blondie cookie bars. I do not recommend using this recipe to make actual carrot cake cookies. If you would like to do that, I recommend trying my carrot cake cookies recipe.
Can I make these carrot cake bars with brown butter?
If you would like to use brown butter to make the cake bars and the cream cheese frosting, melt 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (255 g) unsalted butter over low - medium heat. As the butter melts, it will start to foam slightly as the water evaporates and brown bits will form at the bottom of the pan. Once the butter begins to foam, stir continuously. The butter will smell very nutty and the light brown bits will turn a more golden brown. As soon as this happens, remove the butter from the heat and pour the browned butter into a heat safe bowl. Cool the butter for 20 minutes. Scoop out ¼ cup brown butter into another bowl and transfer to the fridge. This is for the frosting. Once the remaining brown butter is cooled to slightly warm, follow the rest of the recipe for carrot cake bars as written.
Other Dessert Bar Recipes To Try
- Date Bars
- Chocolate Chip Banana Bars
- Snickerdoodle Bars
- Brown Butter Blondies
- Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
If you try this Carrot Cake Bars recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! Happy Baking! - M
Carrot Cake Bars Recipe
Soft, chewy, perfectly spiced, and wonderfully sweet— these carrot cake bars bring all the cozy flavors of a classic carrot cake in an easy, sliceable treat. Topped with a tangy cream cheese frosting and choppd nuts, they’re impossible to resist.
Equipment
- 1 9 x 9 (23 cm) pan
- 1 sheet parchment paper
- 1 whisk
- 1 vegetable peeler
- 1 box cheese grater
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Bars
- 1¼ cups (150 g) all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon all spice
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (180 ml) melted butter
- 1 cup (200 g) light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract
- 1½ cups shredded carrots (about 2 medium carrots)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ¼ cup (57 g) room temperature butter, sliced
- 4 oz. (113 g) cream cheee, room temperature
- 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup chopped nuts for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (177 C). Line an 9 x 9 (23 cm) pan with parchment paper along the bottom and two sides.
- Whisk the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt together until well combined. Set aside for now. Peel and shred the carrots. I like to use the smaller holes on a box cheese grater. Set aside for now.1¼ cups (150 g) all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon all spice, ¼ teaspoon cloves, ¼ teaspoon salt
- In another large mixing bowl whisk the melted butter with the light brown sugar until well combined. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract until well combined. Once all the wet ingredients have been mixed together, whisk in the dry ingredients, followed by the shredded carrots until just combined.¾ cup (180 ml) melted butter, 1 cup (200 g) light or dark brown sugar, 2 large eggs, room temperature, 2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla extract , 1½ cups shredded carrots
- Evenly spread the carrot cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake the carrot bars for 20 - 22 minutes. The sides of the carrot cake bars will pull slightly away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center of the carrot cake will have a few wet crumbs. If there is wet batter or streaks of batter mixed with some crumbs, the bars need 2 - 5 more minutes to bake.
- Cool the cake bars in the pan until room temperature. If you would like, transfer the carrot cake to the fridge to chill before topping with the cream cheese frosting.
- Cream together softened butter with the room temperature cream cheese until creamy and well combined, about 3 - 4 minutes on low speed. Stop and scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in the sifted powdered sugar ½ cup (60 g) at a time, mixing each addition of powdered sugar until incorporated. Once all the sugar has been added, mix in the vanilla extract and salt. Mix on medium- high speed until the cream cheese frosting is fully incorporated and desired consistency. If the frosting is too thick, add an 1 - 2 tablespoons (15 - 30 ml) milk of choice, mixing until well incorporated.¼ cup (57 g) room temperature butter, sliced, 4 oz. (113 g) cream cheee, room temperature, 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract , ⅛ teaspoon salt
- Using a small offset icing knife, spoon or piping bag with piping tip of choice, apply the desired amount of frosting to the top of the carrot cake bars. Sprinkle chopped nuts on top if you like.¼ cup chopped nuts for topping
Notes
Store: Once the carrot cake bars have cream cheese frosting, they need to be stored in the fridge in an airtight container.
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