
Yields:
12
Prep Time:
10 mins
Total Time:
30 mins
I’ll be honest: A few years ago, I fell out of love with carrot cake and never looked back. That is, until I developed these carrot cake blondies. When it came to meshing the two worlds—carrot cake and blondies—I prepared to make even the carrot cake haters (myself included) fall deeply in love with this combination. Long story short: I’m a carrot cake convert again. The combination of a fudgy blondie and the lightly spiced, carrot-forward cake (topped with cream cheese frosting, of course) results in the ultimate dessert bar that I bring to every Easter potluck.
My top tip for these bars? Make sure you finely grate your carrots using the smallest hole on a box grater. You don’t want to bite into strands of carrots, but instead they should almost melt into the batter.
The best part of this recipe is that you can make the blondies up to 2 days in advance and ice them when you are ready to eat. Store them with icing in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Made this recipe? Let us know in the comments below!
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Ingredients
- 1 cup
(2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 cup
(200 g.) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup
(53 g.) packed light brown sugar
- 1
large egg
- 2 1/2 tsp.
spiced rum (optional)
- 1 1/2 tsp.
pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups
(180 g.) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp.
ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp.
ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp.
kosher salt, divided
- 1 cup
(100 g.) finely shredded carrots (from about 2 large carrots), plus more for serving
- 1/2 cup
(60 g.) coarsely chopped toasted pecans, plus more for serving
- 4 oz.
cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup
heavy cream
- 2 Tbsp.
confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tsp.
finely grated orange zest
Directions
- Step 1Arrange a rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°. Line an 8" x 8" baking pan with parchment, leaving an overhang on 2 opposite sides.
- Step 2In a medium pot over medium heat, cook butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted and sugars are dissolved, 5 to 7 minutes. Let cool slightly, then whisk in egg, rum (if using), and vanilla.
- Step 3In a medium bowl, whisk flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 3/4 tsp. salt. Pour butter mixture into dry ingredients and whisk until no streaks of flour remain. Fold in carrots and pecans. Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top.
- Step 4Bake blondies until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool.
- Step 5Meanwhile, in the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or in a large bowl using a handheld mixer), beat cream cheese, cream, confectioners’ sugar, orange zest, and remaining 1/4 tsp. salt on medium speed until medium peaks form.
- Step 6Using parchment overhang, lift out blondies and transfer to a cutting board. Spread cream cheese mixture over top. Top with more pecans and carrots. Cut into 12 pieces.
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