Carrot Cake Cookies are so delicious, and so easy to make. They have all the great flavors of a carrot cake, and they have a tangy cream cheese frosting, which just makes them doubly good.
Admittedly, it took me a while to really be able to appreciate how good carrot cake desserts really are. Our Carrot Cake Cheesecake Cake is absolutely incredible! After you make these cookies, go check out our Carrot Cake Roll, too.
Carrot Cake Cookies
These cookies are like tiny carrot cakes you can eat with your hands. I love treats that need to plate and fork! They’re tasty alone, but add the frosting and they are just incredible.
Ingredients:
- Carrots
- Butter
- Brown Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- Flour
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
- Cloves
- Oats
- Pecans
How To Make Carrot Cake Cookies
First, blend your carrots in your blender or food processor to get them chopped very finely.
Then, mix together the wet ingredients and your sugars until it’s blended.
In a separate bowl, combine all of your spices with flour and baking soda. Slowly add that dry mixture to the wet ingredients.
Finally, add in the carrots, oats and pecans and stir it all up.
Bake your cookies for about 15 minutes or until they’re browning on the outside. While they cool, you can move onto the frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
- Cream Cheese
- Butter
- Vanilla
- Powdered Sugar
Make sure the cream cheese and butter have softened to room temperature. The best thing to do is simply go ahead and sit these ingredients on the counter prior to making the cookie batter.
Mix together the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until it’s nice and creamy. Add a little powdered sugar at a time, slowly mixing it up.
If your frosting gets too thick you can add a little milk to thin it out.
You can add a little sprinkle of cinnamon on top of these for extra flavor. It also just looks really pretty! Enjoy your cookies.
Carrot Cake Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 cup shredded fresh carrots not pre-packaged
- 2 cups quick cooking oats
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 4 tablespoons butter softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- Milk or half and half as needed
Instructions
Directions:
- Set the oven to 375 degrees, and line two cookie sheets with Parchment paper, and set aside.
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add the softened butter, brown sugar, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on low until blended, scrape down sides of bowl with a spatula, and mix on high speed until light and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves, and sift together, until completely blended, and well mixed.
- Add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl, a little at a time, mixing between additions, until all the flour has been added.
- Peel two or three carrots, and cut them in large pieces. In a large blender, place the carrot pieces, and blend on high, until the carrots are shredded into small pieces.
- Measure the carrots in a 1 cup measuring cup, and add them to the mixing bowl.
- Add the quick cooking oats, and chopped pecan, and blend until the cookie dough is completely mixed.
- Scoop the cookies out onto cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart.
- Place some sugar in a shallow dish, and with the flat end of a glass, dip the glass in a small amount of water, and then into the sugar. Lightly press the cookies with the glass, smashing the tops slightly.
- Bake for 15 – 18 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.
- Set on a wire rack to cool.
Frosting Directions:
- In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, add the softened cream cheese, butter, and vanilla, and mix on medium speed until well blended.
- Turn mixer to high, and mix until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl, and mixing again.
- Add powdered sugar a little at a time, and blend until all powdered sugar has been added.
- Add a few drops of milk or half n half to the cream cheese frosting and mix until light and fluffy.
- When cookies are completely cool, frost cookies with cream cheese frosting.
- Sprinkle cookies with a little cinnamon, or garnish tops with chopped pecans if desired.