I am a carrot cake snob, put a good piece in front of me and I will savor every bite; unfortunately it isn’t too often that I meet a carrot cake that qualifies.  I didn’t even like “that vegetable cake” before I had the mouth-watering bite in Jacksonville about 9 years ago, and since then I’ve looked for its match, only to be disappointed.  Carrot cake is tricky to make, many are too dry, too sweet, too much spice, too much icing, the wrong icing…I don’t judge, I am not a pastry chef, I just want that stinking good carrot cake again! 

Carrots straight out of the dirt

As an amateur baker, with huge expectation regarding carrot cake, I have decided I am just not to up to carrot cake making, so when I got these carrots from my neighbor’s garden I had to think outside the box, which led me to blondies.  Vegetable in desserts…

Chewy Carrot Toffee Blondies

Ingredients

• 8 oz butter, melted
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon fresh ground ginger
• 4 eggs
• 2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cup finely grated carrots, about 3 large carrots
• 1/2 cup toffee pieces

Method

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Combine melted butter, sugars, vanilla, cinnamon and ginger in large mixing bowl and blend.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.  Slowly add flour and salt, until incorporated.  Mix in carrots and toffee pieces.   Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the batter evenly.  Bake on for 45-50 minutes, until golden in color.  Allow blondies to cool before cutting into squares.

Makes about 32-40 squares.

Vegetables in Dessert- Think of it as an efficiency!

Carrot and toffee are a complementary combination, add a pinch of salt in and there is the icing on the cake! 

Chewy, Salty and Sweet- Perfection

Happy Eats!!!