Grandma's Carrot Cake Bars

By Addie

“Have some carrot cake,” Grandma said as she passed around these delightful bar cookies.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup freshly shredded carrots
• ..............................
• 1 can (16 ounces) cream cheese frosting or homemade Cream Cheese

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 13x9-inch baking pan.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, oil and eggs until light. Stir in the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt until well combined. Gently stir in the carrots and sunflower seeds (if using).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool completely.

Spread the bars with enough of the frosting to cover completely. Drag a fork through the frosting on a diagonal to decorate. Cut into 2-inch squares and remove from the pan.

Divide the remaining frosting among 2 small bowls; tint green and orange. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a small star tip with the green frosting; pipe carrot tops on top of each square. Fill a clean bag fitted with a small writing tip with orange frosting; pipe small carrot shapes below each green top.


Grandma's Secret Tip:
If the frosting was too soft to create the design, Grandma placed the pan in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes then tried again. And she was sure to clean the fork often when dragging it through the frosting. 1 can (16 ounces) cream cheese frosting or homemade Cream Cheese Frosting