Crush Your Cravings With These Carrot Cake Cookie Bars

At first glance, you might think that these carrot cake cheesecake bars are pieces of cake, because they sure look like ’em. However, after a bit more inspection, you will see that they are cookies!

Check out what my pals over at Sprinkle Some Sugar have to say about this:

The cheesecake center is what makes these bars so amazing. It’s like having a piece of carrot cake cheesecake but a MILLION times easier to make! I just love easy, decadent desserts that taste like you’ve put a lot of work into them and this is definitely one of them.

 

This is a recipe that went straight to my box of all-time favorites, and I bet it’s going to stay there forever!

 

 

Ingredients

Carrot Cake Cookie Layers
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted half way
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup quick oats, pulsed to about half their size
1 1/2 tsp corn starch
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
3/4 cup finely shredded carrots
Cheesecake Filling
1 8oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup + 1 tbs granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°. Line and lightly grease an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper, set aside.

For the Cookie Layers

In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, pulsed quick oats, corn starch, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves together. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream butter, sugars and vanilla together until imcorporated. Pour in flour mixture and mix until just combined, don’t over mix. Fold in shredded carrots with a rubber spatula until evenly distributed throughout dough. Dough will be very sticky, that’s okay. Reserve about 1 1/2 cup of the dough in a separate bowl for the top of bars. Press dough into pan making sure everything is even and level.

Place in preheated oven and bake the cookie “crust” for 18-25 minutes or until crust starts to not look “wet” anymore (you’ll see what I mean when it’s baking). It should be very slightly browned. While that is baking, prepare cheesecake filling.

For the Cheesecake Filling Layer

Combine cream cheese and sugar and beat until smooth and sugar is mostly dissolved. Add in egg and vanilla and mix again until smooth. Once cookie “crust” is done, pour this mixture over top of it and smooth out with a rubber spatula to make sure it’s even.

Take your remaining cookie dough and sprinkle it all over the top of the cheesecake layer. No need to be neat here, the dough doesn’t have to completely cover the surface. If there are spots where you can see the cheesecake, that’s fine. Bake the bars again for 25-30 minutes OR until cheesecake layer is firm. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

Cool bars completely in their pans. About 30 minutes, then cut into bars with a wet, hot knife and serve.

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Quick Tip: No carrots? No big deal. Use grated squash or zucchini.

Thank you to Sprinkle Some Sugar for this great recipe.

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