Better Homes And Gardens Zucchini Carrot Cake

Healthy Carrot Zucchini Bars

• August 24, 2020

These Healthy Carrot Zucchini Bars are so easy to make, are a nutrient-dense snack and made without any refined sugars! They're gluten-free but nobody will know it! Make these now for the perfect way to use up any excess garden veggies!

Gluten-Free Carrot Zucchini Bars

A gluten-free cake batter made from almond flour holds together shredded zucchini, carrots, and raisins to make for the sweetest, yet healthy, Carrot Zucchini Bars. Whether you want to call these bars or snack cake, they're the perfect treat to eat midday as a pick-me-up. These bars are dressed up with a glaze too, so they can easily be served at a celebratory family dinner! Do you know what else we love about these veggie bars? They're simple to make and a fun project to do with the kids.

Ingredients Needed

• Carrots + Zucchini
• Raisins
• Eggs
• Coconut Sugar
• Coconut Oil
• Maple Syrup
• Almond Flour
• Tapioca Starch
• Ground Flax Seed
• Baking Powder + Soda
• Ground Ginger

Substitutions

You can substitute maple sugar for the coconut sugar. We can't recommend swapping it out with a liquid sweetener.

You can use another oil for the coconut oil, such as avocado oil or melted butter.

We don't recommend substituting the eggs for this cake, as the recipe already calls for flax seed.

We haven't tested this recipe with any other flour, other than almond flour and tapioca. If you'd like to attempt to substitute it out, you'll have to experiment.

Other frosting options:

We've opted to top this with an easy cream cheese glaze, but you can feel free to use either a dairy-free cream cheese or instead top it with our a dairy-free cashew glaze, which can be found on this Overnight Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole. This cake is also delicious by itself and can be served alone, but this gluten-free carrot cake uses less sugar than most carrot cakes so you may notice it more without a frosting.

Tips for Making these Gluten-Free Bars

• Peel the zucchini if you want to hide that they are in the bar a bit more from picky kids.
• Sift your almond flour and coconut flour first if they are lumpy. It makes it easier to fully incorporate.
• Use an electronic kitchen scale if you have one. It makes it easier to measure the gluten-free flours, and we've included grams in the ingredient list.
• Gluten-free baking is a little tricker to check when the baked good is done. Some signs to look out for: the bars are nice and golden, the bars have completely puffed up throughout, cracks are not uncommon, when you stick toothpick it it should come out clean, and when you gently press in the center of the cake it will spring back as opposed to leaving a dent (which is a sign it is underdone).
• Let the bars cool completely before frosting.
• The bars can be made up to two days in advance. Leave it at room temperature covered until ready to frost.

How to Store and Serve It

Serve these frosted bars on a plate with a fork! While you can pick them up and make them hand-held, they can get  messy due to the frosting.

Once they are frosted they need to be stored in the refrigerator.

Watch the video here:

---

---

If you like this healthy sweet snack recipe, check out these others:

• Peach Fruit Leather
• Nut Free Energy Bites
• Chia Honey Lime Fruit Salad
• Creamy Peppermint Coconut Cups (Keto-Friendly)

Print

Healthy Carrot Zucchini Bars

These Healthy Carrot Zucchini Bars are so easy to make, are a nutrient-dense snack and made without any refined sugars!

• Author: Lexi
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 9 1x
• Category: Snack

• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup coconut sugar or maple sugar
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups (200 grams) almond flour
• ½ cup (60 grams) tapioca starch
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup shredded carrot
• ½ cup shredded peeled zucchini
• ½ cup raisins
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened (see note)
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Prepare a 8 x 8″ square baking dish by coating with cooking spray and making a parchment paper sling. Set aside.
2. Add the eggs, coconut sugar, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla to a large bowl and whisk together until fully combined.
3. To the bowl add the almond flour, tapioca, flax seed, baking powder, ginger, and baking soda mix it together until it's fully combined.
4. Place carrots and zucchini in cheesecloth or a clean, thin kitchen towel and squeeze out any excess moisture.
5. Fold in the carrots, zucchini and raisins to the batter.
6. Transfer the batter into the prepared baking dish and smooth down the top with an offset spatula.
7. Baking in the middle rack for 30-35 minutes, or until the top is puffy and it springs back when lightly pushed down in the middle.
8. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
9. Add softened cream cheese, maple syrup and vanilla extract to a bowl. Whisk together vigorously until the frosting is smooth. Drizzle over the zucchini bars.
10. Cut into slices and serve!

Notes

1. Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens
2. To make this fully dairy-free either use dairy-free cream cheese, or use this Vegan Cashew Vanilla Glaze for a frosting instead.
3. This recipe was originally published in 2015 and updated with a new recipe and photos in 2020.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1/9 recipe
• Calories: 317
• Sugar: 30g
• Sodium: 146mg
• Fat: 15g
• Saturated Fat: 8g
• Carbohydrates: 40g
• Fiber: 2g
• Protein: 5g
• Cholesterol: 54mg

20 comments
August 24, 2020

Click to edit CSS

Click to edit CSS

Browse By Category

PIN THIS POST!

You Might Also Like

Join The Discussion

This website may at times receive a small affiliate commission for products that we shared with you in our posts. Although we may receive a commission for linking certain products, there's no additional costs to you and all of our opinion and suggestions are 100% our own and unbiased. That's our promise to you!

Subscribe to get our FREE clean eating guide!

Join our email list TODAY to start recieving our newsletter weekly, access to exclusive content and deals, *and* a FREE complete 24-page clean eating guide!

Better Homes And Gardens Zucchini Carrot Cake

Source: https://lexiscleankitchen.com/carrot-zucchini-bars/

Posted by: jeffriesdiveture.blogspot.com

Share this post