These Carrot Cake Oat Squares with a simple yogurt glaze are full of so much flavor and wonderful texture while being healthy enough for breakfast. Vegan and oil free with a gluten free option.
With everything going on in the world right now concerning Covid-19, baking is something that brings me a small bit of peace so as you can imagine I've been doing a lot of it. The latest to come out of the kitchen are these Carrot Cake Oat Squares and they are so yummy, even more so than I expected. I love it when that happens.
These little squares are full of flavor and surprisingly healthy too. Besides being vegan and loaded with carrot obviously, they're also oil free, refined sugar free (without the yogurt glaze) and can easily be gluten free if needed.
These Carrot Cake Oat Squares are delicious all on their own, but you can also dress them up with a super simple yogurt glaze for a bit of decadence. I say decadence because I used a bit of powder sugar as the sweetener here. You can also use maple syrup to sweeten the yogurt if you're avoiding refined sugar.
I really wanted to keep things as easy as possible without the use of any special equipment or difficult to find ingredients. Just typical things you'd find in most pantries especially those with little ones in the house. That's where the raisins come in, which can be a source of disagreement when it comes to carrot cake. I normally don't include them in the cakes that I bake, but we loved the texture they add to these bars so I might have to start. If you are strictly against the addition of raisins to carrot cake simply omit them. We like walnuts for even more texture, but you can easily omit them if you have an allergy or just don't have any on hand.
I hope you enjoy this recipe!
And if you like carrot cake as much as we do here are a few more recipes to try:
Healthy Vegan Carrot Cake Waffles
Vegan Whole Wheat Carrot Cake Muffins
If you make a recipe, I would love to know how it turns out! You can leave a comment and rating below or snap a pic and tag it @weelittlevegans on Instagram so I’ll be sure to see it!
- 2 flax eggs ( 2 tablespoon ground flax seed + 4 tablespoon water) see below for notes
- ½ cup applesauce
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- 2 carrots, finely shredded about 1 cup packed
- ½ cup quick cooking oats
- ½ cup flour I use white whole wheat
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ cup walnuts, optional
- ¼ cup raisins, optional
- 3 tablespoon nondairy yogurt, plain and unsweetened
- 2 tablespoon powder sugar
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 8 X 8 or 9 X 9 pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
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To prepare flax eggs whisk together 2 tablespoon ground flax seed and 4 tablespoon water. Set aside for 5 minutes to thicken.
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In a large bowl combine applesauce, maple syrup, flax eggs and shredded carrot. Stir to thoroughly incorporate.
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Add oats, flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir just to combine.
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Fold in walnuts and raisins if using.
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Transfer mixture to prepared pan and spread in an even layer.
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Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and baked through.
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Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then lift squares from pan using the parchment paper. Allow to cool completely before cutting into 16 square and glaze.
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Store in airtight container in the refridgerator.
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In a bowl combine yogurt, powdered sugar and vanilla extract and stir to combine.
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Spread the glaze before cutting into squares or spoon a small amount on the top of each square and spread, if you would like to leave some without.
- For more information on preparing flax eggs see here.
- Chia seeds can also be used instead of flax seeds. Use the link above for reference on preparing chia eggs.
- Gluten free flour can be used, if needed. Also ensure oats are GF certified.
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