Carrot Cake Cookies – Deliciously thick and chewy cookies that are loaded with carrots, perfectly spiced, and topped with a cream cheese frosting!
Carrot Cake Cookies
It is the season for all things carrot cake! Let me introduce you to my Carrot Cake Cookies.
These cookies are soft and chewy (not at all cakey), they’re loaded with grated carrots, full of warm spices, and topped with a sweet cream cheese frosting.
I believe cookies should be chewy, and not cakey, and this recipe achieves just that.
There’s no eggs, and the grated carrots have been squeezed to remove excess moisture. Too much moisture can cause a cakey cookie.
Looking for more carrot cake recipes? See my Carrot Cake Muffins, Carrot Cake Loaf, and my Carrot Layer Cake.
Ingredients you’ll need
Here’s a list of ingredients you’ll need to make these cookies. You can find my recipe card at the bottom of this post for the complete list with their amounts.
- Plain/all-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Cornflour/cornstarch
- Ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Grated carrots
For the cream cheese frosting:
- Cream cheese
- Unsalted butter
- Icing/powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
How to make Carrot Cake Cookies
To make these chewy carrot cake cookies, simply start by whisking together the flour, baking soda, cornflour, spices, and salt. Set aside.
In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugar until combined. Add the vanilla, and whisk until combined.
Add the dry ingredients, and fold in until just combined. Fold in the grated carrots.
NOTE: Be sure to squeeze the moisture from the grated carrots beforehand. You can do this using a tea towel, or some kitchen paper.
Roll the dough into 1oz balls, and place them onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Bake for about 10 – 12 minutes.
Allow to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
While the cookies are cooling, let’s make the frosting. Beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.
Add the icing sugar and vanilla, and beat until smooth and spreadable.
You can do this step with a hand mixer to make it easier, but it’s definitely not necessary.
Spread the frosting over the cooled cookies, and if desired, top with finely chopped walnuts or pecans.
The printable recipe card with the full list of ingredients, their measurements, and instructions can be found at the bottom of this post.
NOTE: For best results, I highly recommend using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup measurements. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough, and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them.
These Carrot Cake Cookies are:
- super quick and easy to throw together
- deliciously thick, soft, and chewy
- loaded with grated carrots
- perfectly spiced
- topped with a cream cheese frosting
How long will these carrot cake cookies last? These cookies will stay fresh, kept in an airtight container, at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 1 week.
For freshly-baked cookies every time, you can keep the cookie dough balls in the fridge for up to 5 days, or you can freeze them for up to 3 months. Bake straight from frozen.
Tried this recipe?
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram and hashtag it #simplybakeblog. I’d love to see!
Try these delicious cookies next!
- Condensed Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Homemade Gingernut Cookies
- Mint Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
Craving more sweet treats? Subscribe to my newsletter to receive recipe updates straight to your inbox. You can also keep up to date on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Carrot Cake Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 1 ½ cups (190g) plain/all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cornflour/cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (115g) unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup (150g) light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (100g) grated carrots
For the Frosting
- ½ cup (115g) cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter, softened
- 2 ½ cups (312g) icing/powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4, and line a baking tray with parchment paper, or a silicone mat. Set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cornflour, spices, and salt. Set aside.
- Whisk together the melted butter and sugar until combined. Add the vanilla, and mix until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Fold in the grated carrots (squeeze the moisture from the grated carrots beforehand).
- Roll the dough into 1oz balls, and place onto the prepared baking tray. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes.
- Allow to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Frosting
- Beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Add the icing sugar and vanilla, and beat until smooth and spreadable.
- Spread the frosting over the cooled cookies, and top with chopped walnuts or pecans (optional).
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information:
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious cookie! I made one batch exactly like the recipe is written and made a second batch using almond flour, coconut flour instead of corn starch and coconut sugar instead of brown sugar. Incredibly moist!!!
I’ve made these twice now and they turn out just great as is, no need to adjust the recipe, except for one thing…it doesn’t make many cookies so I doubled the recipe. I did not double the frosting.
I had the same sandy results as mentioned in a previous review. I fixed it by adding in milk and one egg and reducing the cooking time- it took three trials to fix the original batter by adding in different amounts of milk/heavy cream, etc. Also, the butter on the icing needed to be double the amount otherwise it was just powdered sugar with lumps of cream cheese and butter in it.
These turned out super nice. Tasted amazing! Loved it! I wasn’t sure that it was going to be good by looking at it but i’m so glad i tried it. Will definitely be looking at more recipes on this site.
Is there no eggs in those cookies?
If you read the post, you’ll know I purposely don’t include eggs in this recipe.
I made this recipe and it didn’t work at all. The amount of ingredients is really off. I watched the video and my cookies dough didn’t even resemble the video. I had enough ingredients to do it again and the second time around was a failure too. The amount of ingredients is way off.
Hi Natalie, may I ask what your cookie dough was like?
Really sandy and dry.
I’m so sorry your mixture turned out like that. You can bring it back to a more manageable dough by adding milk, 1 tablespoon at a time. Unfortunately, my ideal amount of ingredients will sometimes not work for everyone due to different circumstances. For example, someone who uses cups instead of weighing ingredients out using scales (which is more accurate), or someone in a different climate or higher altitude. I hope you get to try these again with more success 🙂
Hi! I have the same issue with having sandy mixture but I was running it through a machine. When I actually put my hands into the mixture it became a soft dough and my cookies came out incredible. I would recommend not using a mixer.
Hi Cynthia! I’m so glad they turned out well for you 🙂
Hi Marsha,
My doubt is concerning the quantity of the grated carrots we should use. The 100g is it before or after squeezing the moisture?
Thank you.
Hi Rita! It is weighed before squeezing out the moisture.
Why unsalted butter?
Because the recipe already calls for salt, using unsalted butter gives us control on how much salt is being added.
Your bakes look good and my granddaughter loves baking so this will be something different from making fairy cakes and she might just get some veg.