These carrot cake blondies are lightly spiced and topped with a rich, sweet frosting flavored with bourbon!
These blondies came about for one reason.
I had carrots to use up. You probably know this if you read about those Cauliflower Potato Enchiladas with Chipotle Carrot Sauce I posted recently.
This frosting came about for another.
I was out of dairy. And I couldn’t think of anything other liquid in the house that would be good in it…besides bourbon.
Turns out bourbon saved the day once again.
The blondies are slightly spiced with ginger, cinnamon, and black pepper with specks of soft, sweet carrot. Forget cream cheese. There are few things better to pair them with than this bourbon frosting.
This dessert super simple, straightforward, and mighty tasty so I won’t spend a long time describing them.
It’s the kind of dessert that you can throw together, say, if there is a holiday or celebration that snuck up on you and you didn’t prepare well.
Perfect.
You’ll need bourbon to make the brown sugar syrup, but if you’d rather not add a second dose when the frosting is mixing feel free to substitute some milk or cream. This will work fine and help you get the frosting for the carrot cake blondies to the right consistency.
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup shredded carrot
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- Pinch of cinnamon
- 1 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon bourbon
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8-x-8-inch baking pan with parchment paper, or spray it with non-stick cooking spray.
- To make the blondies, stir together the melted butter and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Mix in the egg. Stir in the vanilla, shredded carrot, ginger, salt, pepper, and cinnamon until in all ingredients are combined and smooth. Finally stir in the flour until fully incorporated into the batter.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake for about 28 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool before frosting.
- To make the frosting, melt the butter, brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons of bourbon together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and allow to boil without stirring for 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Once cooled, add the brown sugar bourbon syrup to the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar. Turn to high and mix for 30 seconds. It may be crumbly. With the mixer on low add the vanilla. Then add the 1 teaspoon of bourbon (or you can substitute milk for the second round of bourbon). Mix on high for 20 to 30 seconds, until the frosting is smooth and spreadable.
- Frost the blondies once cooled and cut into 9 squares to serve.
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