Shortcut Carrot Bars With Cream Cheese Frosting

One of our family’s favorite desserts is homemade carrot bars with cream cheese frosting, and this recipe has a nice little shortcut that makes the process even easier without losing amazing flavor and consistency!

Now, here’s my shortcut (and stay with me because this one might raise a few eyebrows): Instead of taking the time to shred and/or puree your own carrots, this recipe uses baby food. That’s right, baby food. Now wait, don’t click away just yet! Let me explain!

The baby food I purchase when making this recipe is made up of two simple ingredients: carrots and water. That’s it. No sweeteners, no food dyes, no artificial flavors, etc. Just pureed carrots and a bit of water.

Essentially, when you use baby food for this recipe, you are getting pre-pureed carrots that are already at the perfect consistency for baking and turning into delicious carrot bars. No extra work is needed on your part.

Yes, you can still puree your own carrots for this recipe if you’d like. But this simple shortcut makes the baking process even easier for a busy family! The result is moist, flavorful carrot bars that aren’t full of 20,000 different spices or loads of time spent on your part!

How To Make Shortcut Carrot Bars With Cream Cheese Frosting

*Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the full recipe, including exact measurements and amounts. You can also print out the instructions. I go into a bit more detail about the recipe here first, just in case you need it.

Ingredients

Unlike some carrot bar recipes, this one isn’t loaded down with a ton of different spices. To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of some of the traditional carrot cake spices. A little cinnamon and sugar go a long way with this recipe.

You can of course always increase the spice level if you’d like, adding ingredients like ginger, nutmeg, and allspice. However, this bare-bones recipe is perfect for our family’s tastebuds. (If that makes us simple, then so be it!)

Carrot Bars Ingredients:

• Eggs – Use room temperature large eggs for best mixing results.
• Sugar – Use granulated sugar and not powdered sugar here.
• Pureed Carrots – For the shortcut version, use baby food carrots (but you can also puree your own if you’d like). We purchased our baby food from Target (it’s their Good & Gather brand). However, you can use whatever brand you’d like. Just make sure that the only ingredients are carrots and water. Avoid any with extra colorings or flavorings. (If there are any baby foods that contain those ingredients . . . It’s been a while since we’ve needed baby food in this house other than this recipe!)
• Oil – We use regular vegetable oil for this recipe but feel free to experiment using applesauce or another oil. Just note that the flavor profile and consistency of the bars might change slightly.

• Flour – All-purpose flour is perfect for this recipe. Our favorite is King Arthur Unbleached Flour, but any all-purpose flour works fine. (Product Link – King Arthur Unbleached Flour)
• Baking Soda – This is the rising agent for the bars. The recipe doesn’t result in sky-high bars, but they do rise some while baking.
• Cinnamon – This warm spice helps to add a little bit of flavoring to the carrot bars.
• Salt – The salt helps to cut down a bit on the sweetness from the sugar.

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

• Melted Butter – You can use salted or unsalted for this recipe. We usually use salted just because that is what I most often have on hand. If using unsalted, also add a small pinch of salt to the frosting before mixing.
• Cream Cheese – You want the cream cheese to be nice and soft and easy to work with. Allow it to come to room temperature before using. (I just set mine out right before I start making the bars.)
• Powdered Sugar – Also known as “Confectioners Sugar”, this is what adds sweetness to the frosting.

Instructions For Shortcut Carrot Bars

Begin by preheating your oven to 350º Fahrenheit. Also, measure and set out your cream cheese for your frosting to allow it to come to room temperature while you work on the carrot bars.

Next, you want to prepare your baking dish. I use a glass Pyrex 9 x 13 baking dish for this recipe. The final bars end up being around an inch tall, which provides you with a perfect ratio of “cake” to frosting. (Product Link: Pyrex 9×13 Glass Baking Dish)

Using butter or a cooking spray of your choice, grease the baking dish. Be sure to get the bottom, corner, and sides well. After, add a thin layer of flour to prevent sticking even more. Set the prepared baking dish aside.

Make The Batter

Using two room-temperature eggs, crack each one into a medium-sized bowl or your stand mixer bowl. Stir until they are nice and thick (like you would for scrambled eggs). Then add in the sugar, pureed carrots, and vegetable oil and blend until smooth.

Next, add the remaining ingredients. Stir gently until everything is well combined. The batter will be slightly runny and not as thick as a typical cake batter. That is normal.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and even out the top. I like to give the dish a few pats on the bottom to help remove any of the trapped air bubbles.

Bake the shortcut carrot bars for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean in the middle of the pan. Try to avoid overbaking since this can cause the bars to become dry. Place the baking pan on a cooling rack and set aside.

On To The Frosting

In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, the cream cheese you set out earlier, and the powdered sugar. I like to use a hand mixer or even my stand mixer for this part just to ensure that the frosting gets nice and smooth.

Once the carrot bars have cooled completely, you can frost the cake. Otherwise, you will end up with a melted mess – Trust me on this one!

Use an offset spatula or regular spatula to evenly spread out the frosting over the bars. You should end up with a decent layer. Try to avoid going over the frosting too much since this can bring up the top of the cake some. If it does, no big deal. It will still taste delicious!

Store any leftover shortcut carrot bars with cream cheese frosting in an airtight container in your refrigerator. The cooled bars are almost as good, if not better than the freshly baked ones in my opinion! I hope you enjoy!

For other simple dessert recipes, check these out:
–Fudgy Chocolate Chip Brownies With Homemade Frosting
–Shortcut Pumpkin Bread – Also Includes A Homemade Recipe
–Cinnamon Roll Muffins – All The Best Flavors Without All The Work!

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!
– Chelsea

*This post may contain affiliate links. These are products I have used personally and highly recommend. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases if you purchase items through my links. These links and the ads on this page help to support my family and our semi homestead, so Thank You!