A tasty and healthy carrot cake granola bar that is reminiscent of the classic cozy dessert and makes for the perfect breakfast or even an on the go snack! This recipe is vegan and free of gluten, oil, and soy + sweetened naturally with Medjool dates. 
This recipe actually came into existence because we wanted to put together healthy and easy snacks for our family on our plane ride to Hawaii last summer. If you have been following us on YouTube for a while, this recipe might look familiar 😉 If you want to check out the original video along with the other easy & healthy snack ideas we shared, 
The cream cheese frosting is definitely optional…but very highly recommended. To us, carrot cake ain’t carrot cake without it! This cream cheese frosting is adapted from our 
Although this recipe made 10 bars and we were sure we were going to be set for the week, somehow they only lasted two days…. 😛 I don’t blame us though, is it is so hard to restrain ourselves around these! 
If you make this recipe, let us know what you think in the comments below! + If you post any photos on Instagram, make sure you tag us 
Description
A tasty and healthy carrot cake granola bar that is reminiscent of the classic cozy dessert and makes for the perfect breakfast or even an on the go snack! This recipe is vegan and free of gluten, oil, and soy + sweetened naturally with Medjool dates.
Ingredients
Dry
- 2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
- ¼ cup peanut flour
- ¼ cup walnuts, chopped
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
Wet
- 1 chia “egg” (1 tbsp chia seeds + 3 tbsp water)
- 1/2 cup organic Medjool dates, pitted and packed
- ¼ cup organic unsweetened applesauce
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- ¾ cup grated carrots
- 2 tablespoon raisins
Cream Cheese Frosting (optional but recommended)
- 1/2 cup organic powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons vegan cream cheese (we used Kite Hill)
- 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tablespoon unsweetened almond milk (+ more as needed to thin)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven 350°F and line a small 8×6″ baking dish with parchment paper.
- In a small cup or bowl, prepare the chia egg. Mix together the chia seeds and water and set aside to thicken, about 15 minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients until uniform and set aside.
- In a food processor, add the dates, applesauce, vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar. Process until everything is well combined. Add the dry ingredients and the chia egg and process it until uniform. (see notes)
- Add the dough back into the large bowl that the dry ingredients were in and mix in the shredded carrots. Using wet hands, mix everything together until uniform. It will become a cookie dough-like consistency.
- Transfer the dough to the lined baking dish and press it in tightly with a spatula or wet spoon, evening out the top as much as possible.
- Place it in the oven and bake for 22-24 minutes. Remove and cool completely.
- In the meantime, prepare the frosting. Sift the powdered sugar into a medium-sized bowl and add in the remaining ingredients. Whisk everything together until smooth and add more almond milk as needed to reach your desired consistency. Set aside.
- Once the bars have cooled, transfer them to a cutting board and cut it into your desired size of bars. We cut ours into 10 small bars. Drizzle it with the cream cheese frosting as desired.
- Transfer it to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 5-7 days.
Notes
- If you would like the bar to be more chunky (as pictured), refrain from adding the dry mix into the food processor. Instead, add it to the large bowl and proceed with the remaining steps.
- We used a 6 cup Pyrex dish for baking.
- The nutrition facts for this recipe take into consideration all of the frosting.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 24 minutes
Homemade snacks are the best kind! I definitely need to improve my snack game and start creating more homemade snacks rather than buying the store-bought bars, chips bags, and all those other packaged grazing foods. I just love trying new protein bars! Anyhow, these vegan carrot cake granola bars look even better than any of those conventional oatmeal or granola bars I’ve seen. Never would have thought of using peanut flour–I can only imagine how amazing of a flavor that would add to the bars!
We hope you can try these out, Cassie! 🙂
Hello, could i use almond flour instead of peanut flour? Or reduce peanuts in flour in a blender?
Hi Julie! You can try our reducing the peanuts in the blender if you would like. Peanut flour is made by grinding the roasted nuts into a thick paste and then pressing out most or all of the oil, so when you do that it will be of a higher fat content and may not be identical to the exact recipe so I cannot guarantee results, but I would try it out! Also, I think you can also swap in almond flour 🙂