Chewy carrot cake cookies with cream cheese frosting are loaded with all your favorite parts of a classic carrot cake, but they’re so much quicker to make! You’ll love the warm, fragrant spices, sweet and juicy carrots, and crunchy nuts. I love making these homemade cookies as a special Easter treat. They always disappear in a flash!
Carrot cake cookies are a convenient option if you need a make-ahead dessert that everyone will love. The cookie dough will keep in the refrigerator for a few days, and you can also store the unfrosted cookies at room temperature for up to 3 days! For more Easter recipes, check out my carrot cake cupcakes, hot cross buns, or Easter bread.
Ingredients
These are the key ingredients you need! For the full list, hop down to the carrot cake cookie recipe.
Baking soda — helps the cookies spread and contributes to their chewy texture.
Spices — ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground nutmeg add a warm, cozy flavor and an incredible aroma.
Butter — this recipe contains salt, so opt for unsalted butter to prevent the cookies from turning out salty.
Sugar — both granulated sugar and light brown sugar are used for sweetness. Instead of using only granulated sugar, I added brown sugar for the subtle molasses flavor and to help make the cookies chewy.
Carrot — you need 1 cup of freshly grated carrot, which is about 2 medium carrots.
Oats — old-fashioned rolled oats add to the cookies’ chewy texture.
Pecans — while optional, I love including toasted pecans for a crunchy element.
Cream cheese frosting — to make my rich, slightly tangy cream cheese frosting, you will beat cream cheese, unsalted butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Make sure the cream cheese and butter are softened to room temperature before starting the frosting.
Carrot Cake Cookies Recipe
Video
Equipment
- Mixing Bowls
- Electric mixer
- Baking Sheets
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour (270g)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened (226g)
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (220g)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup grated carrot (about 2 medium carrots/ 90g)
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (80g)
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans (optional) (80g)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature (226g)
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened (113g)
- 2 cups powdered sugar (240g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Scrape the bowl down.
- With the mixer on low speed, add the dry mixture and mix until almost combined. Add the shredded carrots, oats, and pecans (if using), and mix on low until just combined.
- Scoop the dough into 1½ tablespoon-sized dough balls (about 35g each), and place on the prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for about 12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. The centers will still be soft, but you can bake for 2 to 3 more minutes for a crispier cookie. Let the cookies cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- In a large mixing bowl using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until very smooth, about 1 minutes. With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar. Once combined, scrape down the bowl, add the vanilla, and beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 1 minutes.
- Spread the cream cheese frosting on top of each cooled cookie before serving.
Notes
- Weigh the flour. A kitchen scale is the best tool to accurately measure flour. If you don’t have one, fluff the flour in its container and spoon it into your measuring cup. Use a knife to level off the top.
- Use freshly grated nutmeg. Its flavor is so robust compared to the pre-ground kind! Nutmeg’s flavor comes from oils, and once it’s grated or ground, those oils start to lose potency fairly quickly, so fresh will always taste better than jarred ground nutmeg.
- Use room temperature ingredients. Set the refrigerated ingredients out about an hour or so ahead of time so they are not completely cold when you start baking. This makes them easier to blend. If you forget, see my post on how to soften butter quickly (the tips in that post work for cream cheese, too!).
- Don’t over-mix the cookie dough. This will cause the cookies to turn out tough instead of tender. Mix in the flour just until no dry spots remain, and be brief when mixing in the carrots, nuts, and oats. You can even do that by hand with a rubber spatula if you prefer!
- Let the cookies cool completely before frosting them. If the cookies are still warm, the frosting will melt and drip off the cookies.
- Frosting style options: I like the rustic look of frosting spread over the top of each cookie with a butter knife. But you can also pipe the frosting on top of each cookie in a swirl or decorative pattern if desired!
Nutrition
How To Make Carrot Cake Cookies
1. To prepare, line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside to use later. Add the all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg to a medium bowl and whisk. Set the flour mixture aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar using a hand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. You can also use the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
3. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until combined, and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
4. Reduce the mixer to low speed. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix to combine.
5. Add the grated carrots and rolled oats to the mixing bowl.
6. Follow with the pecans (if using), and mix them until well distributed throughout the dough.
7. Scoop the dough into 1½ tablespoon-sized dough balls and arrange them on each prepared baking sheet. Bake the carrot cake cookies at 350°F for about 12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Let the chewy cookies cool on the pan for a few minutes before cooling on a wire rack.
8. For frosted carrot cake cookies, make a batch of cream cheese frosting by beating room temperature cream cheese and softened butter until very smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Spread each cookie with the fluffy frosting and serve.
Grate Fresh Carrots For This Recipe
Use the large holes of a box grater or the grater attachment on your food processor to shred the carrots. Do not use pre-shredded carrots, which are thick, hard, and dry. They will not soften properly when baked and will drastically change the texture of the cookies.
Can I Chill The Dough Before Baking?
Yes! If you want to prepare the dough in advance, feel free to make the dough up to 2 days ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator. I recommend scooping the dough into balls before chilling so you can bake them off when ready.
Variations
There are lots of ways to make carrot cake cookies your own! Here are a few ways to change them up:
- Use different nuts: If you like nutty cookies but don’t enjoy pecans, you can use chopped toasted walnuts or pistachios instead.
- Add chocolate chips: Leave out the nuts and stir in an equal amount of mini chocolate chips.
- Add extra mix-ins: If you like a lot of mix-ins in your cookies, add ½ cup of shredded sweetened coconut or toasted coconut, dried cranberries, raisins, or chopped candied ginger to the cookie dough when adding in the carrots.
- Use different frosting: Cream cheese frosting is the classic option, just like you would use on carrot cake! So go with that if you’re really looking for carrot cake in cookie form. However, you can swap it with delicious results for chocolate cream cheese frosting or a classic buttercream frosting.
Pro Tips For Making This Recipe
- Weigh the flour. A kitchen scale is the best tool to accurately measure flour. If you don’t have one, fluff the flour in its container and spoon it into your measuring cup. Use a knife to level off the top.
- Use freshly grated nutmeg. Its flavor is so robust compared to the pre-ground kind! Nutmeg’s flavor comes from oils, and once it’s grated or ground, those oils start to lose potency fairly quickly, so fresh will always taste better than jarred ground nutmeg.
- Use room temperature ingredients. Set the refrigerated ingredients out about an hour or so ahead of time so they are not completely cold when you start baking. This makes them easier to blend. If you forget, see my post on how to soften butter quickly (the tips in that post work for cream cheese, too!).
- Don’t over-mix the cookie dough. This will cause the cookies to turn out tough instead of tender. Mix in the flour just until no dry spots remain, and be brief when mixing in the carrots, nuts, and oats. You can even do that by hand with a rubber spatula if you prefer!
- Let the cookies cool completely before frosting them. If the cookies are still warm, the frosting will melt and drip off the cookies.
- Frosting style options: I like the rustic look of frosting spread over the top of each cookie with a butter knife. But you can also pipe the frosting on top of each cookie in a swirl or decorative pattern if desired!
Frequently Asked Questions
You can freeze unbaked cookie dough balls for up to 3 months. Flash-freeze them on a lined cookie sheet until solid, then transfer them to a freezer bag or airtight container. Bake from frozen as directed, adding 2 to 3 minutes of baking time.
Unfrosted carrot cake cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Once frosted, leftover carrot cake cookies should be refrigerated because of the dairy in the cream cheese frosting. They will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
I don’t recommend using quick-cook oats in this carrot cake cookies recipe. For the best texture, use old-fashioned rolled oats.
If you’ve tried this carrot cake cookies recipe, then don’t forget to rate it and let me know how you got on in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
I made the whole batch but froze all but four cookies.
I plan on having them this Easter and will frost then. We had to try a couple first to umm, make sure they are good enough for company! LOL
Anyway, even unfrosted they are delicious!
Thank you for the recipe. I added some cardamon ’cause it’s my second favorite spice.
Delicious! Much easier to make than what I thought they would be. Were a winner at work 😊