Carrot cake barsare a healthy dessert bars recipe you can make in less than 35 minutes! The homemade carrot bars are soft and bursting with fresh blueberries and a boost of protein. Made with gluten free ingredients and natural sugars. And theres a dairy free recipe option for this recipe, too!
Is there such thing as dessert for breakfast? If so, this carrot bars recipe is it! A lightened up gluten free dessert recipe made with wholesome gluten free ingredients! Therefore, suitable for breakfast. In my opinion. 
But I guess I should back up and tell you how these blueberry carrot bars came to fruition, haha literally with the addition of fruit (berries).Okay okay, Ill get serious.
Dessert style Snack bars
These bars are kind of like cookies and milk after a hard day at school. You know, the kind your mom used to make when you needed a little comfort and dessert style snack?
Indulgent without the guilt. Rich but not so it will spoil your dinner. Yes, those type of snack bars. You see, this recipe originally made as a breakfast bar, minus the frosting. I used to whip these up for the kiwi (aka my husband) for a little post workout snack or breakfast. It also helped to me to utilize all our produce in the fridge. I mean, these bars are super macro friendly, balanced in protein, fat, carbohydrates, and not to mention antioxidants from the fruit and vegetables. Yes, I am justifying a dessert bar as antioxidant rich and suitable for a south beach diet. HA! Youre welcome.
P.S whatever happened to the south beach diet? But I digress. Lets continue cake talk!
Well, after a few batches of these carrot bars, I realized I could make them into actual CARROT CAKE BARS. They were they good! All they needed were a topping, such as coconut cream, greek yogurt frosting, or some sort of crumble.
Can dessert bars be eaten as a healthy breakfast?
As mentioned above, yes, yes yes! And heres how!
Because so many of us have busy mornings, I think a healthy breakfast bars recipe is in order. With the addition of gluten free granola and fruit, the carrot cake bars are easy to transition from dessert bars to breakfast bars. Just skip the frosting or add a bit of greek yogurt on top!
And so I did it. Breakfast bars, turned snack carrot bars, turned dessert carrot cake bars!
Its a given that you will need carrots and blueberries to make this recipe. But trust me; there is a lot more delicious, nutritious goodness inside of them.
Ingredients youll need to make blueberry carrot cake bars
Im willing to bet that you have a lot of these ingredients in your kitchen already.
Oat flour Okay, you may not have oat flour on hand, but if you have rolled oats, you can make your own oat flour! Just place a few cups of gluten free rolled oats into a high speed blender or food processor. Run it on high power until a fine powder forms.
Almond flour and Arrowroot or tapioca flour
Baking essentials like Baking powder, Kosher salt, vanilla, cinnamon, and oil, and raw sugar
Non dairy milk Any variety will do the trick
Vanilla Greek yogurt or coconut cream for dairy free option Vanilla yogurt brings a little extra flavor, but plain yogurt or coconut cream will work.
Shredded carrots Shred the carrots using the small holes on a box grater, or go high tech and use the grating blade on your food processor.
Blueberries I like to use fresh berries. But, if the ones you have are frozen, they will work just fine.
These bars are cakey in texture. Can you see it? Instead of using butter to make the cake ultra moist, I use vanilla Greek yogurt. As a result, the bars are higher in protein, too.
NOTE: As always, this carrot cake bars recipe is gluten free. But, for anyone who also needs a dairy free option, there are some simple substitutes. See my notes in the recipe card below.
How to make Gluten Free Carrot Cake Bars to Blueberries!
Sift/whisk the flours and combine with salt, baking powder. Mix in sugar.
In another bowl, mix together your wet ingredients, then combine with your dry ingredients.
Fold in the carrots and blueberries. Pour batter into a lined brownie pan and bake! Remove, let cool for 10 minutes before adding your topping of choice.
For this case, I went with coconut whip frosting and oats/granola. YUM!
Gluten free blueberry carrot bars recipe (video):
Storage and freezing instructions
Like most delicious desserts, these bars disappear in a hurry. So, the odds of you having leftover blueberry carrot cake bars is pretty low.
If you have more willpower than I do (the odds of this are definitely in your favor!), maybe you will have a few bars left over. If so, be sure to store them in an airtight container in the fridge. The risk of leaving dairy products out at room temperature isnt worth it.
If you want to have a make-ahead treat or quick breakfast ready to thaw and serve anytime, freeze some of the blueberry breakfast bars. I do have a couple of tips for freezing cake:
- Cool completely Its not a good idea to freeze anything while it is still warm. The condensation becomes trapped inside the container. As a result, it causes freezer burn.
- Wrap well My favorite technique for wrapping anything for the freezer is to wrap in plastic wrap first, then place a layer of aluminum foil around it. Of course, freezable meal prep containers are another option, and zip top plastic freezer bags work, too.
Now, onto the the recipe! Save it, pin it, print it, make it, then dive in!
Blueberry Carrot Cake Bars (Gluten Free)
- Author: lindsay cotter
-
Prep Time: 10 min -
Cook Time: 35 min
-
Total Time: 45 minutes
-
Yield: 10
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Carrot cake bars are a healthy dessert bars recipe you can make in less than 35 minutes! The homemade carrot bars are soft and bursting with fresh blueberries and a boost of protein!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Oat flour
- 1/2 cup Almond Flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot or tapioca flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 c raw sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup non dairy milk
- 1/3 cup vanilla greek yogurt or dairy free yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp melted coconut oil or butter
- 2/3 c to 1 cup shredded carrot
- 2/3 c to 1 cup blueberries (extra for topping)
- Optional toppings 1/2 c of vegan cashew frosting or vegan coconut frosting and 1/3 cup gluten free granola
Instructions
- Sift/whisk the flours and combine with salt, baking powder. Mix in sugar.
- In another bowl, mix together vanilla extract, yogurt, egg, and milk. Combine with the dry ingredients, then gently mix in your cinnamon and coconut oil.
- Fold in the carrots and blueberries. Pour in a lined or greased 88 brownie pan.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until center comes clean with toothpick.
- Place on baking sheet to cool for 10 minutes.
- Last, add your optional topping before slicing. Evenly smear 1/3 c to 1/2 cup vegan coconut frosting or cashew cream frosting over the carrot cake bars. Sprinkle with extra berries and granola.
- Slice and serve.
Notes
If you cant eat eggs, feel free to try with egg replacer. Baking times and texture will vary.
To Store Wrap sliced bars in plastic wrap first, then place a layer of aluminum foil around it. Of course, freezable meal prep containers are another option, and zip top plastic freezer bags work, too.
-
Category: dessert
-
Method: baking
-
Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bar
- Calories: 225
- Sugar: 6 g
- Fat: 6 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 26 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 7 g
Keywords: breakfast, carrot cake, bar, healthy, gluten free, dessert
Im not a perfectionist when it comes to even cake slices, as you can tell. But I do know this, we have PERFECTLY delicious carrot bars ready for breakfast, snack time, or dessert.
Cheers to starting off the week right!
Whatcha baking up this month?
