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Want a healthy dessert that is easy and quick together? That also includes vegetables?! Well here you go! I aim to please. I stumbled on these Carrot Zucchini Bars years ago and have made them ever since. They are a favorite in our family and I hope they will be in yours too.
Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens cook book
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1 1/2 cups shredded carrot
- 1 packed cup shredded zucchini
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 Tbsp flax seed meal (optional)
- After shredding your carrots and zucchini lightly pat dry with a paper towel if they seem too damp
- Repurpose leftover shredded vegetables. I usually have leftover shredded zucchini from this and I throw it in our scrambled eggs with some cheese the next morning-- everyone loves it!
MOM-notes:
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350* F.
- In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, ginger and baking soda.
- In another large bowl stir together eggs, carrot, zucchini, brown sugar, raisins, oil, honey and vanilla.
- Add carrot mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until combined.
- Spread batter in an ungreased 13x9 inch baking pan. (Optional: sprinkle flax seed meal evenly over the top of the bars before baking-- it makes the bars less sticky and I like the texture. You could also add it into the batter, but we have found we like it on top)
- Bake about 25 min or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean (I usually bake until 20 and then test it from there).
- Cool in pan and then cut into bars, or whatever shape desired. (I have found that plastic knives cut the best... no clue why!)
- Store in an airtight container… couldn’t tell you how long they last since they are always gone within the week!
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Michelle from Creative Food loves to bake and make creative bentos and lunches for her daughter. She shares them over at her blog, Creative Food.
Sounds delicious!! :)
Oh man, do I wish I had carrots right now!
This is perfect for school lunches :)
they sure are!
Looks delicious and i love how healthy it is! :D Definitely going in the kids’ lunchboxes! Thanks! :D
Hi! This recipe looks great. I was wondering if anyone has tried it with whole wheat flour? If so, do the wet ingredients have to be adjusted?
Thanks!
Caroline
yes, with up to 50% whole wheat… otherwise it’s really dense.
YUM! These look awesome!
If you choose to remove excess moisture from the carrots or zucchini, I prefer to wrap them in a clean tea towel or paper towel and wring the excess moisture into a resealable container. Then you can reuse that vitamin-filled water in soups or crockpot dishes, instead of plain water for cooking rice, for baby food purees, etc.
In fact, any time you steam or boil something (even noodles!) and it tells you to drain and discard the excess water, save it instead! Should last at least a few days in the fridge.
We make carrot goodies all the time and zucchini ones, so now we’ll have to try this recipe that combines the two.
Oh Yum – these look so good, can’t wait to make these as a nice treat for my co-workers as we head back to school :-)
Has anybody tried these with pureed veggies? My kids are too smart for their own good and won’t eat them because they could see the green and orange. My son kept trying to pick the carrots out. My friends kids (younger) all liked them though! I thought they were great too.
If not, I’ll give it a try and let you know how they turn out!
Pureed veggies can be substituted instead of the canola oil -mostly. use 1/2cup pureed veggies +2TB canola oil. let us know how they come out!
I made these with all whole wheat flour, 1 egg & 2 egg whites, applesauce instead of oil and just a squirt of honey. They were delicious!
So glad you enjoyed them!! I often times switch up the flours yet it’s delish!
so glad you liked them!
In the oven as we speak! Can’t wait to try them. The batter was very oatmeal like! I hope they weren’t too wet. I tried to pat dry the carrots and zucchini but they were SO wet I didn’t know how dry they needed to be!