These carrot cake blondies are unlike anything you have ever had before and are sure to satisfy the pickiest sweet tooths around! If you make these for your family and friends, you will be asked to make them all the time. If someone doesn’t like carrot cake, I’d still argue that they would probably like these. You will for sure be remembered by this dessert. Alright, so let’s get into it!
These carrot cake blondies are legit out of this world. I am so proud of this recipe. Guys, it really is THAT good. It is decadent, packed full of flavor, unique, sweet, dreamy, and dare I say…..moist? (sorry not sorry, they ARE THAT GOOD!) and they deserve the awkward cringe you get from that word.
These carrot cake blondies are full of spices and flavor, topped with a silky-smooth cinnamon cream cheese buttercream and topped with toasted coconut to really finish it off! Three layers of legitimate heaven in a dessert bar that leave your taste buds speechless.
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Ingredients
These blondies are made with what may seem like a lot of ingredients, but I would personally consider them all to be common ingredients that you likely already have or maybe you only need to shop for a few – but trust me, it’s worth it! Now there are a couple of ingredients that could be optional, although I personally think they’re best loaded with them all. See below for all the ingredient details!
Carrot Cake Blondies
- Unsalted Butter: You may also use salted butter, just omit the salt. For this recipe, we are using MELTED butter.
- Granulated Sugar: a must, for sweetness of course.
- Brown Sugar: helps to add moisture and flavor because brown sugar contains molasses. You may use light or dark brown sugar, but I prefer light brown sugar in this particular recipe.
- Eggs: be sure to use room temperature eggs so that they combine and emulsify the batter properly. Tip: For quick room temperature eggs, placed eggs straight from the refrigerator in a bowl full of luke warm water for 3 – 5 minutes.
- All Purpose Flour: There is no doubt that this is an indulgent recipe and so it calls for regular all-purpose flour. However, you could use a 1:1 gluten free all-purpose flour if you wish, just make sure that you are using a 1:1 that has xantham gum in it. Not all gluten-free flours are made equal and without xantham gum, your blondies could lose structure due to the lack of gluten which xantham gum makes up for.
- Carrots: Carrots are a must. I recommend either grating your carrots or shredding them in a food processor for best results. I do not recommend using pre-shredded carrots that you can buy from the store as the moisture output, size and texture would not be the same. Trust me on this, it only takes 10 seconds in a food processor if you have one!
- Vanilla Extract: Vanilla is always a good idea. It adds flavor and balances it all at the same time.
- Spices (cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, salt): These blondies are filled with warm spices you would expect out of a carrot cake flavored treat. It really packs these blondies with all the unique flavors. Don’t skip the spices!
- Walnuts: I love walnuts in anything carrot cake. They pair perfectly with the spices and add a unique crunch to the treat. You can leave these out if you would like.
- Toasted Coconut: We add in half (1 cup) of the toasted coconut directly into the batter. It adds a nutty coconut flavor and even some texture. You can skip this if you’d like, but I would recommend including it!
- White Chocolate Chips: These really help balance the texture and add the perfect balance of flavor with the blondie batter. You can skip if you must, but I would highly recommend including them!
- Cornstarch: Helps to create the ultimate thick and soft blondie.
- Baking Powder: Helps the blondies rise.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream Cheese: Be sure to use full fat room temperature cream cheese so that is blends smoothly.
- Unsalted Butter: You may also use salted butter here, but I prefer controlling the amount of salt I add so I like to use unsalted butter and then add salt. If you use salted butter, omit the extra salt here.
- Powdered Sugar: This is a must for a sweet frosting. Sift your powdered sugar to avoid lumpiness. I find that with certain brands I do need to sift and others I do not. If you see any clumps, go ahead and sift to avoid clumps of sugar – no one wants that in their frosting.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds flavor.
- Cinnamon: This warm spice is a must in carrot cake flavored items in my opinion and adding a little bit to the frosting really just puts the icing on the cake (no pun intended…or is it?)
- Salt: Rounds out the flavor and tones down sweetness. Remember to omit if you use salted butter.
Topping – Toasted Coconut
- Toasted Coconut Flakes: It is important to get some high-quality unsweetened coconut flakes. I like using larger flakes and find they toast the best so be sure to look for coconut flakes and not shredded coconut. If you use sweetened coconut flakes, you risk this dessert being TOO sweet. I know that sounds crazy because of course it is an indulgent sweet dessert, but if you have tried different coconut flakes – you would know there is a substantial taste difference between sweetened and unsweetened. These blondie bars are sweet enough and they certainly don’t need the extra sweetness from sweetened coconut flakes. They also do not toast the same in my experience I actually think toasting unsweetened coconut flakes ensures that the flavors in this dessert are balanced because the crunch of the toasted coconut adds texture and cuts some of the sweetness to make for a truly delicious and unique treat. I instruct on toasting coconut in several different ways in this post, but in this particular recipe I recommend just using the microwave because it’s the quickest, easiest, and fail proof method but you can toast them however you’d like! Just remember, coconut FLAKES not shredded coconut. 🙂
Instructions
Making these blondies is not as hard as you would think. The hardest part is letting them cool COMPLETELY once they are done baking before adding the toppings.
Whisk melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla together.
Add eggs and whisk until thoroughly combined.
Batter should be uniform and smooth.
Fold in dry ingredients – flour, all the spices, cornstarch, and baking soda.
When there are still a few streaks of dry ingredients left in the batter, stop mixing.
Add in carrots, white chocolate chips, toasted coconut, and walnuts.
Fold in all of the mix ins just until combined. Avoid overmixing!
Prepare a 9×9 square metal pan lined with parchment and sprayed with nonstick spray. Place batter into prepared pan.
Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan ensuring to smooth the batter into each corner of the pan.
Once the blondies are baked, it is VERY important to let them cool completely and leave them in the pan.
Once the blondies are fully cooled, spread the cream cheese frosting in an even layer while leaving the blondies in the pan.
Frosting should be smooth and level to create a nice thick layer.
Add the remaining 1 cup of toasted coconut in an even layer on top and gently pat down. Place in the refrigerator to firm.
Once chilled, for a minimum of 30 minutes, use the parchment paper to pull out the blondies in one piece and place on a flat surface to cut.
Slice blondies into 16 squares and ENJOY! Be sure to store in the refrigerator in an air tight container.
Hint: For nice clean cuts, clean your knife in between each slice.
Substitutions
I recommend trying the recipe as stated which is the indulgent way it was created. However, if you have dietary restrictions that prevent the use of some ingredients such as the ones below, you should be able to create an equally delicious indulgent treat with these swaps.
- Gluten Free – You can make these gluten free by swapping out the all purpose flour for a gluten free 1:1 all purpose flour that has xanthan gum in it. Be sure to check the ingredients as all gluten free flours are not created equally.
- Dairy Free – To make these dairy free, you can swap the regular butter out for a dairy free butter.
- Nut Free – You can leave out the added nuts if needed.
Equipment
This recipe does not need any fancy equipment to make it. Although I HIGHLY recommend this 9×9 USA metal pan because not only does it bake beautifully but it also has nice tall sides so you can create a nice thick layer of frosting on top of the blondes. I also love how squared off this pan is. Many square pans have curved edges, but this pan gives you a perfect square edge!
Storage
Store the blondies in an air tight container in the refrigerator. They should stay good for up to 1 week but they have never lasted that long in my house!
If you’re loving these carrot cake blondies, be sure to check out my other dessert bar recipes for more fun bar ideas!
If you made this recipe, BE SURE TO tag me on Instagram @bakingguilty AND please leave a comment OR star rating below! We so greatly appreciate it and hope you love this recipe!
Toasted Coconut Carrot Cake Blondies with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- 9×9 square metal pan
- parchment paper
- stand mixer, electric mixer, or whisk and spatula for mixing
Ingredients
Carrot Cake Blondies
- ½ cup butter (melted (1 stick))
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs (room temp.)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 ½ cups grated carrots
- ¾ cup white chocolate chips
- ¾ cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup toasted coconut
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese (room temp.)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (room temp.)
- ¼ cup canned coconut cream
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 t vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Toasted Coconut
- 2 cups toasted coconut ((1 cup mixed in the blondie batter, 1 cup for the topping))
Instructions
Toasted Coconut
- The quickest and easiest way to toast coconut flakes is in the microwave, but you can also do it in the oven or in a skillet. We're going the easy route and doing it in the microwave. Start by placing 2 cups of unsweetened coconut flakes on a microwave safe plate. Microwave in 45-60 second increments, stirring the flakes between each increment until flakes are golden and toasted. It will take a total of 4-5 minutes. Once toasted, set aside to fully cool.
Carrot Cake Blondie Batter
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare a 9×9 metal baking pan by lining it with parchment paper.
- Mix together melted butter, both sugars, and vanilla. Then whisk in eggs until fully combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients including the spice (flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground gloves, ground ginger). Then fold the dry mixture into the wet mixture until a thick batter forms. Then fold in the grated carrots, white chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, and 1 cup of the toasted coconut.
- Place in prepared baking pan and bake for 22 minutes or until baked through. Allow blondies to cool COMPLETELY in the pan. They will continue to bake in the pan so be sure not to overbake. It will take an hour to fully cool.
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, cream together room temperature butter, cream cheese, and canned coconut cream until combined and light in color. Add in powdered sugar in 1 cup increments, beating until combined. Add in vanilla extract and salt, whip together until frosting is fluffy and smooth.
Assembly
- Once the blondies are completely cooled, leave them in the pan and spread over the frosting until smooth. Add the remaining 1 cup of toasted coconut on top of the frosting and pat it down lightly. Place the pan in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to chill. Once chilled, slide a spatula or butter knife around the edges to loosen the blondies and pull the assembled blondies out in one piece by using the parchment paper overhang on the sides. Place on a flat surface, then slice into 16 individual blondies. Enjoy!
