Make soft and pillowy Carrot Cake Cookies and top them with a rich cream cheese frosting. They are the perfect spring treat to serve for Easter or Mother’s Day!
Make-ahead
Beginner-friendly
You’ll Learn: How to prep the carrots for maximum impact
Worth It: Full dessert with half the effort
Bonus: Scales up well for crowds and potlucks
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Fun twist on a classic – I love a classic carrot cake, but I don’t always have time or patience to make a layer cake. These carrot cake cookies have all of the classic carrot cake flavor, but in a bite sized cookie form!
- Perfect for parties – These cute cookies are perfect for spring parties. Add them to your dessert spread for Mother’s Day or Easter! They’d even be great for a baby shower or wedding shower.
- Great for sharing – need to bring a treat to school or to a friend? Bring a batch of these festive carrot cake cookies. They are sure to be a crowd pleaser!
Serving Suggestions
Carrot cake cookies are the perfect sweet ending to a spring meal. Start with something like this lemon herb spatchcock chicken and a side of cheesy scalloped potatoes for something decadent or strawberry quinoa salad for something lighter.
Then, for a spring dessert spread serve these pillowy soft cookies with coffee and tea. If you want to serve another hand held dessert, try these mixed berry crumb bars.
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter – all good cookies start with a base of softened butter creamed together with sugar
- Granulated sugar and brown sugar – I like to use two types of sugar for the best texture
- Egg – one egg helps bind all of the ingredients together
- Vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste – adds a deep, rich flavor to the cookie dough
- All purpose flour – plain all purpose flour mixes with the wet ingredients for a texture that is soft but also chewy
- Baking powder – gives the cookies a nice rise without them spreading out too much
- Ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves – this blend of warm spices gives these cookies that classic carrot cake flavor.
- Shredded carrots – freshly shredded carrots get mixed into the dough to add texture and moisture. I like to shred the carrots on the small side of a box grater, but you can also use a food processor. Squeeze out any excess moisture in a tea towel or paper towel
- Softened cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract – mix these together to make a sweet cream cheese frosting to spread on top of the cookies.
Ingredient Substitutions
To make these cookies gluten free, use a gluten free flour blend in place of all purpose flour. I do not recommend using a whole wheat flour as it will dry out the cookies.
To save time you can use a store bought cream cheese frosting instead of the homemade cream cheese frosting. You could also make a brown butter cream cheese frosting. That would require browning melted butter then allowing it to cool before making the frosting.
I topped each cookie with a little carrot shaped gummy, but you can also top them with chopped walnuts, chopped pecans, toasted coconut, colorful icing or even sprinkles.
I recommend using fresh carrots for best results. Pre-shredded carrots can be too thick and chunky in the cookies.
How to make
Step 1: Mix wet Ingredients
Mix softened butter with sugars in a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. Mix with paddle attachment of stand mixer over medium speed or hand mixer until soft and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla extract to the bowl and mix again.
Step 2: Mix in dry ingredients and shredded carrot
In a medium bowl combine all purpose flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Pour mixed dry ingredients into bowl with wet ingredients and mix on a low speed until a smooth dough forms.
Mix shredded carrots into the dough. It is best use freshly grated carrots that are grated on the small side of a box grater with any excess liquid squeezed out into a tea towel.
Step 3: Chill dough and bake cookies
Cover dough and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour. While the dough chills, preheat oven to 325F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
Scoop dough for each cookie, roll into a ball and place on the prepared baking sheet with space between each dough ball – you may need to bake in two batches. Bake at 325F for 17 minutes. You want the cookies to be golden brown.
Step 4: make cream cheese frosting and ice cookies
Allow the cookies to cool completely on a wire rack and make the cream cheese frosting. Mix cream cheese and butter with a hand mixer or whisk attachment of a stand mixer until fluffy. Mix in the powdered sugar and then the vanilla extract until a smooth frosting remains.
Top each cooled cookie with frosting and then decorate with sprinkles, icing, pecans, walnuts or toasted coconut. I put a carrot shaped gummy on top of each coookie.
Storage
Store leftover cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. If storing in the refrigerator, I like to let the cookies come to room temperature for serving for best taste.
Check out these other Spring Desserts
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
Email Recipe for Later
Recipe
Carrot Cake Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter 8 tbsp, softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1 cup grated carrots freshly grated on small side of box grater, extra liquid squeezed out in a tea towel
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place softened stick of butter in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer bowl. Add sugar and brown sugar to bowl. Mix with paddle attachment of stand mixer or hand mixer until soft and fluffy.
- Add egg and vanilla extract to the bowl and mix again.
- In a separate small bowl combine all purpose flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Pour mixed dry ingredients into bowl with wet ingredients and mix until a smooth dough forms
- Mix shredded carrots into the dough – it is best use freshly grated carrots that are grated on the small side of a box grater with any excess liquid squeezed out into a tea towel
- Cover dough and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour. While the dough chills, preheat oven to 325F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Scoop out about 3 tbsp of dough for each cookie, roll into a ball and place on a baking sheet with space between each dough ball – you may need to bake in two batches.
- Bake at 325F for 17 minutes.
- Allow the cookies to cool completely. While they cool make the cream cheese frosting. Mix cream cheese and butter with a hand mixer or whisk attachment of a stand mixer until fluffy. Mix in the powdered sugar and then the vanilla extract until a smooth frosting remains
- Top each cooled cookie with frosting and then decorate with carrot gummies, sprinkles, icing, pecans, walnuts or toasted coconut.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
Leave a Reply