Carrot Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Icing & Teaching Kids About Generosity

One of the things that my family loves is the smell of tasty treats baking in the oven! It is such a warm, comforting aroma to have wafting through the house. And some of our favourite flavors include the colour orange...like orange-cranberry, or this delicious & moist Minute Maid® recipe for Carrot Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Icing because it has both oranges and carrots for a hit of great taste and nutrition.

These Carrot Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Icing take a bit of time to mix, but the reward is well worth the effort! With Minute Maid® Orange Juice providing the delicate orange flavour, these bars are perfect for a treat or snack. Minute Maid® has been a part of our morning routine for years as I keep our freezer and fridge well-stocked with Minute Maid® Orange Juice so we can enjoy a delicious glass any time. This wonderful recipe {along with many others} was developed by Minute Maid®, in partner with the Canadian Living Test Kitchen,  and I am thrilled to be able to share this tasty treat with you.

Carrot Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Icing

{Recipe by Minute Maid® and The Canadian Living Test Kitchen}

~Makes 16 bars~

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1-1/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. salt

Pinch each of ground cloves and ground nutmeg

1 cup grated carrots

1/2 cup Chilled Minute Maid® Original 100% Orange Juice

Cream Cheese Icing:

1/4 cup cream cheese

4 tsp Chilled Minute Maid® Original 100% Orange Juice

1-1/2 cups icing sugar

To Make:

1. In large bowl, beat butter with brown sugar until combined; beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla.

2. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger, salt, cloves and nutmeg. Stir into butter mixture; mix in carrots.

3. Stir in Chilled Minute Maid® Original 100% Orange Juice. Scrape batter into parchment paper lined 8 inch metal cake pan.

4. Bake in 325 F {160 C} oven until cake pulls away from side of pan and cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely.

5. Cream Cheese Icing: In bowl, beat together cream cheese, Chilled Minute Maid® Original 100% Orange Juice and vanilla until smooth; beat in icing sugar, one third at a time until thick but smooth. Spread over cake and cut into bars.

{Note: For a little pretty touch, I added some orange zest on top of the bars.}

These bars are tasty, moist and the cream cheese icing is AH-mazing. Mmm. I believe that cooking and baking are an important life skill and had my children in the kitchen at an early age. My daughter, now 17, can cook or bake almost anything and bakes cookies, bars or muffins as a hostess gift when invited out to dinner at a friend's house. My son, 13, can make homemade pancakes, pasta, cookies and quite a few other dishes, and can easily feed his large appetite when Mom or Dad are not around.

Recently, Minute Maid conducted a poll {see note below} and found that Canadian parents are in overwhelming agreement that raising caring and generous children is one of their top priorities. More than half of parents set a good example of generosity through spontaneous good deeds such as: shoveling a neighbour's driveway, carrying groceries, holding the door open for a stranger, or giving homemade gifts to family and friends such as crafts or baked goods. Our family loves to make and give tasty treats to family & friends. It's our favourite little way of showing appreciation and love. Often, when I make cookies or bars, I simply double the batch so we have some for gifting. These delicious bars are the perfect gift for sharing and would be sure to warm up any one's day.

Minute Maid wants to help Canadian parents with fun, new ways to teach generosity to their children. Minute Maid has developed a collection of recipes that are perfect for gifting...from cookies to squares to cakes, these wonderful recipes are sure to bring a smile to the faces of the people you would like to share them with! And when you bake with your children with the idea of giving and sharing, you are working to instill goodness…one moment at a time.

For more information and amazing recipes, Canadian parents can visit www.minutemaid.ca for a collection of delicious homemade food and drink ideas.

You can also connect with Minute Maid on Pinterest HERE. 

Disclosure: This post was generously sponsored by Minute Maid Canada. As always, I only partner with brands/products that I love and use in my own home. All opinions are my own.

Please Note: Canadian parents are in overwhelming agreement that raising caring and generous children is one of their top priorities. This key insight, along with others, was gathered through the Minute Maid Moments poll conducted earlier this year in partnership with Leger, an independent research firm.  

This post is linked to:
The Creative Collection, Tatertots and Jello, Link Party Palooza, Take-A-Look Tuesday, Time To Sparkle, Wow Me Wednesday, Savvy Southern Style, Inspiration Gallery, Monday Funday, Our Sunday Best Showcase, The Scoop,