A simpler way to do carrot cake, these carrot cake cookies are chewy, oatmeal-based cookies crowned with a swirl of cream cheese frosting. They taste like a slice of carrot cake, but are so much easier to make! Recipe includes a how-to video!
5 Reasons to Try These Carrot Cake Cookies
- Easier than making and decorating a whole cake. Carrot cake cupcakes certainly have their place as a handheld alternative to the classic cake, but these are even less hassle and fulfill the craving with half the work!
- Distinct carrot cake flavor. I aimed to perfectly encapsulate true carrot cake flavor with this recipe. Between the carrots, carefully balanced spices, and perfect texture, I’d say I nailed it. Add that to the cream cheese frosting on top and you have
- No chilling the dough! Though you can certainly make it in advance or even freeze it–I talk more about this in the FAQ section below.
- Built on an oatmeal cookie base, these have a hearty, yet moist, soft, and chewy texture (similar to my zucchini cookies).
- Tried and true. I first shared this recipe back in 2015 and it’s truly stood the test of time. They’ve received plenty of 5 star ratings and despite trying to improve on it this year, I found no changes were actually needed. Like the coconut cake I just reshared, this one is a proven winner!
Carrot cake cookies are one of my kids’ favorite cookies, even if they are made with vegetables. I’ll admit though, I think a lot of their love for them has to do with the cream cheese frosting piled on top!
A lot of thought and care went into developing this recipe all those years ago. I wanted cookies that were soft and moist, but still sturdy enough to hold copious amounts of frosting. They also needed to have enough flavor to be delicious even on their own, without a frosting crown.
It took a few tries to get them just right, but here we are!
Ingredients
I’ll highlight a few of the main ingredients in the cookies, and then we’ll briefly go over the frosting.
- Carrots. Just like when making carrot cake cupcakes, I recommend peeling your carrots before grating them. This will prevent them from imparting a greenish hue on your cookie dough. And yes, I recommend buying whole carrots and grating/shredding them yourself; I elaborate on this in the FAQ section below.
- Sugar. A combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar gives these cookies a chewy texture and rich flavor. Light brown sugar would work fine, but I actually like to use a combination of dark and light brown sugar.
- Nuts. I like using walnuts, but you could also use pecans (or skip the nuts entirely!). Whatever you use, make sure they are chopped small enough to fold into the cookie dough nicely. Also, if you’d like to toast your nuts beforehand, check out my post on how to toast pecans. If you want to leave out the nuts that’s totally fine, just know that the cookies to tend to spread a bit more.
- Spices. Including cinnamon and nutmeg. These warm spices largely make up the flavor profile of these cookies (and they pair so well with the brown sugar and nuts!). A pinch of ginger would also be lovely here too!
- Oats. Quick-cooking oats could work in a pinch, but I recommend old-fashioned rolled oats for best results and texture (just like when making my oatmeal raisin cookies!).
SAM’S TIP: If you’d like, you can absolutely add ½-1 cup of raisins to your carrot cake cookies. Personally, I don’t like raisins, so I don’t add them.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream cheese. Just like when making my cheesecake, I recommend using full-fat, brick style cream cheese for this cream cheese frosting. Using the low-fat or spreadable kind sold in tubs would make for a runny frosting, and we really don’t want that with a handheld dessert like these carrot cake cookies!
- Cornstarch. To make our frosting even more sturdy and thick, we’ll add just a little bit of cornstarch. There’s already cornstarch in the powdered sugar, but adding this amount ups the ratio and helps keep the frosting stable on the cookie.
- Butter. I use salted butter in the frosting; this helps balance the sweetness and round out the flavor. If you only have unsalted butter on hand, add a heaping ¼ teaspoon of salt to your frosting.
- Sugar. Yes, that is a lot of sugar, but we are frosting nearly three dozen cookies, after all! Note that reducing the sugar will affect how sturdy your frosting is, so stick with the recipe on this one.
- Vanilla. Just a splash of vanilla gives the frosting a subtle depth of flavor. If you have some homemade vanilla extract left over from the holidays, feel free to use it here!
This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Carrot Cake Cookies
- Grate your carrots. You can do this with a grater, but I like to use my food processor. I start with the shred blade, then switch to the normal blade and chop my carrots until they are in fine pieces. Just don’t go too far or you’ll have carrot puree!
- Make the dough and add your add-ins until everything is evenly incorporated. I find it’s easier to switch to a spatula for this step (preferably an orange one, since it matches the carrots! 😉).
- Roll 2-tablespoon sized scoops of dough between your palms, then bake on parchment lined sheets. Note that the dough is very sticky, so it may stick to your palms when rolling. You can always skip the rolling and just drop the dough directly on the sheets if this bothers you, the cookies won’t be as uniform but will taste just as good.
- Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet. They may seem a bit underdone in the centers and this is totally fine. Letting them to stay on the warm baking sheet will will allow them to finish baking outside the oven and maintain their chewy texture. Once cool, you can move them to a cooling rack while you prepare your frosting.
- Add frosting to your cooled cookies. You can either spread this on with a knife or offset spatula, or pipe it on (my preference). I used an Ateco 846 for these photos.
SAM’S TIP: While not completely necessary, some orange and green sprinkles will give your carrot cake cookies even more of a carrot cake look! I just picked up green and orange sequin sprinkles a few years ago from my local grocery store, but colored sanding sugar would be really cute, too!
Frequently Asked Questions
I don’t recommend using pre-shredded or “matchstick” carrots. While fine for adding to broccoli cheddar soup, they are too thick, too long, and much drier than freshly shredded carrots and don’t work well here. Shredding your own carrots is easy and will give you the best results, so it really is a must here. If you don’t have a food processor, just use a cheese grater!
Yes, if you plan to enjoy them for a few days. They’ll be fine at room temperature in an airtight container for a day, but after that they should be stored in the fridge.
Yes, you can! I recommend you follow the instructions for drop cookies in my how to freeze cookie dough post. You can also freeze the baked cookies too (with or without frosting)!
Love baking with carrots? I have a carrot muffin recipe coming for you very soon!
Enjoy!
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Carrot Cake Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature preferred
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cup (215 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 cups (295 g) old-fashioned oats
- 1 cup (120 g) grated/shredded carrots
- ¾ cup (120 g) chopped walnuts or pecans
- ½-1 cup (80-160 g) raisins optional depending on preference
Frosting
- ¾ cup (170 g) salted butter softened
- 12 oz (340 g) cream cheese softened
- 4 ½ cups (565 g) powdered sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoons corn starch (this helps the frosting to maintain its shape – it’s less likely to make a mess your hands this way!)
Recommended Equipment
- Piping bag optional
- Ateco 846 piping tip optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C).
- In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and sugars and use an electric mixer (or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) and beat until creamy, light, and fluffy (about 1-2 minutes).1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 cup (200 g) light brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- Add eggs and vanilla extract and stir well. Pause occasionally to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.2 large eggs, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt.1 ¾ cup (215 g) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, ½ teaspoon salt
- Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet, pausing periodically to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
- Stir in oats until completely combined.3 cups (295 g) old-fashioned oats
- Add carrots and walnuts/pecans (and raisins, if using).1 cup (120 g) grated/shredded carrots, ¾ cup (120 g) chopped walnuts or pecans, ½-1 cup (80-160 g) raisins
- Drop cookies by 2-Tablespoon-sized scoops (43g) onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, spacing cookies at least 2" (5cm) apart. For more uniform cookies, roll the dough into a smooth ball between your palms (dough is sticky!). Bake 11-12 minutes on 350F (177C). Cookies may appear slightly underbaked at their centers still.
- Allow cookies to cool completely on baking tray before decorating with icing.
For Frosting
- Combine butter and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl (or bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment) and beat until smooth and creamy,.¾ cup (170 g) salted butter, 12 oz (340 g) cream cheese
- Gradually add powdered sugar, about half a cup at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.4 ½ cups (565 g) powdered sugar
- Stir in vanilla extract.1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Add corn starch and stir.1 Tablespoons corn starch
- Spread frosting onto cookies or transfer frosting into a piping bag fitted with a Ateco 846 tip and pipe on top of cooled cookies.
Notes
Carrots
I recommend peeling carrots before grating, it will make the carrots look nicer. To grate your carrots you may just use a box grater. My preferred method is to use the “shred” blade on my food processor to shred the carrots, then use the standard blade and pulse several seconds until the carrots are a fine consistency (don’t go too far or you’ll have carrot puree!).Storing
Store frosted cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 24 hours or in the refrigerator (tightly sealed) for up to 5 days. I personally do enjoy the taste of these cold, but if you prefer them at room temperature just let them sit out of the fridge for about 15-20 minutes before enjoying.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
This post was originally published 4/13/2015, recipe is unchanged.
Jan Salazar
Can crushed pineapple be added to the recipe? I love a bit of pineapple in my carrot cake when I make that!
Sam
Hi Jan! I haven’t personally tried it so I can’t say for sure how it would work.
Janna Ochap
Another perfect cookie! These are great for Easter, I made sandwich cookies out of them!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Janna! 🙂
Kayla
I’m so excited to try this recipe out!! planning on making it tomorrow actually! what can I do since I don’t have cornstarch??
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Kayla! The icing will be messier, but it will still work.
Melissa
Can these be made gluten free?
Thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes! Just make sure you are using a 1:1 gluten free flour 😊
Marilyn McCluskey
Hi Sam, I made these yesterday. Total hit. Yummy frosting, Needed a little muscle incorporating the oats. I also piped my frosting. Perfect amount, I did leave these out on the counter overnight with foil covering. Should these still be ok? I totally forgot to put in fridge. Love all your recipes and I use a lot!
Sam
Hi Marilyn! While I believe the guideline is to always refrigerate cream cheese frosting and that would be my official recommendation, I can tell you that I personally am comfortable with leaving these out at room temperature for up to 2 days. So personally I would eat them and feed them to my family, but please do what you are most comfortable with.
Carrie
Hi Sam!
We love your recipes! I my husband and I go through your page each week of cookies and decide what we are going to make that week! We started off with your oatmeal cookies, and then the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. Last night we made the carrot cake cookies. This one was my husband’s all time favorite! We are going to do the german chocolate cake cookies next! Thank you for sharing your recipes, you are truly talented to come up with all of these.
Sam
Thank you so much, Carrie! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Shelly Swanger
Hey Sam, I did refrigerate the dough for about 5 hours and they turned out sooo delicious!! They were a total hit at our bake sale.
The (few) leftovers stayed moist for days! (But NOT mushy or anything). 10/10. 🙌🏻
Sam
Thank you for the feedback! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Cathy Davisson
Absolutely delicious!! Even better than carrot cake.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so glad you like them, Cathy! 🥰
Jenn
Decided to make these for a neighborhood gathering because I have several neighbors who love carrot cake. Got to the frosting stage and realized my husband had broken into the cream cheese for his bagel! Pressed for time I opted to make only a half batch of the icing and it was just enough to spread on all 34 cookies (probably would not be enough if I had wanted to pipe it). They were amazing and a huge hit! Thank you so much for this incredible recipe <3
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy they were still a hit, Jenn! Sounds like you need to find a new hiding spot for your cream cheese 😉
Rani
These are sooo very delicious! I had been looking for a carrot cake recipe to make for my bf as an anniversary presie and came across this instead. He LOVED them, and so did I! Plus, we froze the extras, and they definitely hold up well and taste exactly the same. I’m going to be baking them again tomorrow!
Only thing – you can probably get away with making only half the amount of the frosting. I had so much extra that the amount of frosting matched the size of the cookie! It’s pretty rich, so yes you could do with half the amount, esp since cream cheese isn’t so cheap in NZ
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Rani! 🙂
Sydney
My 3 year old requested we try to make these, and I’m so glad we did! Everyone in the family enjoyed them very much. They’re fun to make and even though we omitted the frosting, they were delicious!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Sydney! 🙂
Shelly Swanger
Can you refrigerate the dough and bake in the morning? I made a double batch and I’m pretty wiped out.
Sam
Hi Shelly! I think it could work, but there is potential for the carrots to cause some issues. Let me know how it goes if you do try it. 🙂