Carrot and Zucchini Bars with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting xxx :)

photo from Real Mom Kitchen - my frosting looked.....a little different

I found this recipe on Pinterest and was really excited to make it.  I love carrots, I love zucchini, I love cream cheese frosting and I love anything lemon!  So, when I found this recipe I just had to make it.  The recipe is from Real Mom Kitchen which is a wonderful food blog.  There is even a special place just for zucchini recipes (sorry, a little excited here, but zucchini would have to be my all time favourite vegetable).

The best thing about the recipe was that I actually received a compliment from the hubster "this is the best thing you have ever made."  Not a bad compliment if I do say so myself.  Normally I hear "what slop are we eating tonight?" so to hear BEST EVER was very exhilarating for me.  Just so we are clear, this wasn't his main meal, I did serve him some sort of slop that I can't remember before his best ever dessert.

P.S.  Fart Features Hubby thought it was a carrot slice, he had no idea it was also full of zucchini :)

What you will need :

• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil - I used olive oil (only oil I had)
• 1/4 cup honey - I used golden syrup (don't like honey)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrot
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger - I didn't add ginger (don't like it)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 225g reduced fat cream cheese
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest

I think next time I will only do half of the frosting.  I had heaps left over and sadly, had to throw it out.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Not sure what that is in C, but I have a weird oven and just use 150C all the time.

In a large bowl, whisk : eggs, sugar, oil, honey (syrup) and vanilla

Fold in : carrot, zucchini and walnuts

Dirtying another smaller bowl, combine : 

flour, baking powder, ginger and baking soda

**whisk to blend together - no sifter needed**

 Add flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir until just combined

(2 separate shots here, cause I'm all arty-farty and all)

Spread batter into an ungreased baking pan - 13 x 9 x 2 inch (I just used whatever pan I had of similar size) and, wait for it, put it in the oven

another awarding winning photo while in the oven

Bake for about 25 mins or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.  Once cooled, prepare the frosting.

In another bowl mix, beat, thrash, punch, or kneed (whichever method you prefer) the frosting ingredients.  I used an electric mixer and it did the beating for me.

Lastly, spread or pipe the frosting over the cooled bars.  

I told you my frosting looked a little different

The white stuff on top of my frosting isn't some sort of white mould, it's just a little extra icing sugar. It really isn't necessary and it disappeared into the frosting anyway - won't be doing that again.

The recipe says that it makes 36 bars - I cut mine up into 36 pieces and they were tiny bite sized pieces worth 3 Pro Points each or 2 Pro Points each without icing.  I think I will add it up again cause 3 points for a tiny bite seems a little much.

The bars were delicious and they also freeze really well.  I put over half of it into an airtight container and straight into the freezer.  They defrosted nicely and were still really fresh and moist.