Carrot Cake Cookies

Quick, tell me, what is your absolute favorite part of carrot cake?

If you said the icing you are in agreement with 100% of the people polled before writing this post (…which may or may not have just been myself and Zachary… but anyway…).

So, when I set out to make Carrot Cake Cookies, I was really setting out to make a tasty vehicle on which to transport copious amounts of cream cheese frosting to my mouth.

Yum.

Ok but seriously, while cream cheese icing = love I’m really not giving these cookies enough credit.  A lot of thought and care really did go into the recipe for this “vehicle”.  I wanted cookies that were soft and moist, but still strong enough to hold said copious amounts of icing. Enough flavor to be delicious on their own (which these totally are) or complemented by the crowning frosting.

It took a few tries to get these just right, but here they are.

As I said, these cookies can be eaten plain (but why would you want to when there’s cream cheese frosting to be made).  They have an oatmeal base and a distinct carrot-cake flavor.  If you’d like, you can absolutely add raisins to your own cookies (a common feature in many carrot cakes), but Zach and I don’t like raisins ourselves (blech) so they have been omitted here.

More frosting & less raisins make me a happy blogger 😀

5 from 1 vote

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Carrot Cake Cookies

Servings 3 .5 dozen

Ingredients

Cookies

• 1 cup salted butter softened, 2 sticks
• 1 cup light brown sugar packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups old fashioned oats
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 cup grated/shredded carrots
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2-1 cup raisins OPTIONAL depending on preference

Frosting

• 1/2 cup salted butter softened, 1 stick
• 8 oz cream cheese softened, 1 brick
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups 10x sugar
• 1 Tbsp corn starch (this helps the frosting to maintain its shape - it's less likely to make a messyour hands this way!)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In stand mixer, cream butter (about 1 minute).
3. Add sugars and cream together until light and fluffy
4. Add vanilla and then beat in eggs, one at a time, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl between each addition.
5. In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.
6. Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet, pausing periodically to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
7. With mixer on low-speed, stir in carrots and walnuts (and raisins, if using)
8. Drop cookies by rounded spoonful (about 1-1 1/2 inch) onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake 11-12 minutes on 350F.
9. Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on tray then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely before icing.

For Frosting

1. In stand mixer, cream together butter and cream cheese.
2. Add vanilla.
3. Gradually add in powdered sugar, about 1/3 cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. Add corn starch and stir.
5. Cut the end off of a Ziploc baggie to desired width.
6. Fill baggie with frosting and pipe onto cooled cookies as desired.