They are everything you love about carrot cake in cookie form! Carrot Cake Cookies are packed full of textural flavor.
Carrots, sugar and spices set the foundation and are topped with a fluffy cream cheese frosting.
Carrot Cake Cookies are the perfect blend of cake, muffin and a cookie. They are oh so soft and fluffy! They’re topped with my delicious cream cheese frosting, which makes them absolutely irresistible!
These bakery style cookies are such a delicious combination of texture and flavor, you can have your cake and eat it this Easter! Find my favorite 25 easy Easter dessert ideas in this fun recipe collection!
Carrot Cake Cookies
Soft, fluffy, and the perfect cross between muffins, cookies and cake – you’ll have all the texture and sweet flavor you could ever want!
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
Soft + Fluffy – These are so decadent, and delicious with or without frosting, and with or without nuts on top.
Feeds a Crowd – Yielding approximately 24 cookies, this recipe is great for parties, or packaging as gifts!
Perfect for Easter – The fresh shredded carrots make these delicious for your Easter celebrations and beyond.
Carrot Cake Cookie Ingredients and Substitutions
- Butter – Salted or unsalted, softened to room temperature.
- White Granulated Sugar – A mix of white and brown sugars make these cookies slightly chewy.
- Brown Sugar – Adds depth a hint of caramelized molasses flavor. Use light brown sugar for subtle flavor and dark brown sugar for even more molasses flavor.
- Eggs – Large eggs.
- Vanilla Extract – Homemade or store-bought.
- Flour – All purpose flour.
- Baking Soda – The leavening agent that gives these cookies their rise.
- Cinnamon – A hint of spice.
- Salt – Brings out all the other flavors in baking.
- Carrots – Fresh shredded carrots are preferred. They pack these cookies full of texture and flavor and offer the best consistency. Grate on smaller holes to achieve the dreamiest texture. To save time and reduce prep, use pre-shredded carrots or add carrots to a food processor and pulse to create small chunks.
Frosting Ingredients and Substitutions
- Butter – Salted or unsalted butter at room temperature. I tend to enjoy salted butter for frosting because it offers a nice balance to the sweet sugar and tangy cream cheese.
- Vanilla Extract – To add just a hint of flavor. Use clear vanilla extract if you prefer a bright white frosting.
- Cream Cheese – Fluffy cream cheese frosting brings these cookies to life! Use full fat for the richest flavor. Learn how to soften cream cheese.
- Powdered Sugar – Otherwise known as confections sugar, it’s so fine, which makes the frosting delightfully light, fluffy and smooth.
Tools to Use
- Mixer (You can also mix by hand)
- Measuring Cups + Measuring Spoons
- Cookie Sheets
How To Make Carrot Cake Cookies
- Prep – Preheat oven and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Make Batter – In a large mixing bowl, combine wet ingredients as directed. Add dry ingredients, mixing until combined. Fold in grated carrots.
- Bake – Drop onto cookie sheets spaced evenly and bake until just set. Allow to cool 1 minute and transfer to a wire cooling rack. Allow to fully cool.
- Frost – In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and cream cheese on high until light in color (about 5 minutes). Add remaining ingredients and beat until fluffy. Spread onto cool cookies.
Tips
- Always bake your cookies in a pre-heated oven.
- Use parchment or a silicone baking mat to prevent sticking.
- Don’t overbake cookies. Watch bake time closely to keep cookies soft.
- Let the cookies fully cool before frosting them.
- This recipe is great for gifting or exchanging with friends.
- Scaling up, down or substituting? You’ll love this printable Measurement Conversion Chart!
Frequently Asked Questions
Cream cheese can sit out safely a little longer than you might think. While the FDA recommended refrigerating any cream cheese product after two hours at room temperature, many home bakers leave cream cheese frosting out for a touch longer than that. 4-6 is generally considered safe because the sugar acts as a preservative.
Generally speaking, frosting is thicker and fluffier than icing. Icing is also glossier, and is often used for glazing or more detailed decorating designs.
How to Store
- Room Temperature – Because of the cream cheese frosting, these cookies are best stored in the refrigerator.
- Refrigerate – You can make these cookies a day or two ahead of time and keep them in an airtight container in the fridge. They are best eaten within 4 days, after that time the texture will start to harden.
- Freeze – Carrot cake cookies are freezable, but it’s easier to freeze the cookies and frosting separately. Flash freeze the cookies on a baking sheet until solid and then wrap them individually and place in a freezer bag. Thaw them at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before frosting them.
More Cookie Recipes
Carrot Cake Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened, salted or unsalted
- ¾ cup white granulated sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar packed
- 2 eggs size large
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon ground
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups carrots grated, about 4 carrots
Frosting
- 1 cup butter softened, unsalted
- 16 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Combine butter and sugars in a medium mixing bowl. Mixture will be dry. Scrape sides and combine until creamy.
- Add eggs and vanilla until just combined.
- Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt until combined.
- Add carrots.
- Drop onto cookie sheet using a cookie scoop or tablespoon. Bake 19-20 minutes. Allow to cool.
Frosting
- In a mixer or large mixing bowl, beat butter and cream cheese on high until light in color (about 5 minutes).
- Beat in vanilla. Gradually beat in powdered sugar on low.
- Beat mixture on high until light and fluffy in texture (about 3 minutes).
Julie’s Tips
- Optional: nuts and raisins
- Always bake your cookies in a pre-heated oven.
- Use parchment or a silicone baking mat to prevent sticking.
- Don’t overbake cookies. Watch bake time closely to keep cookies soft.
- Let the cookies fully cool before frosting them.
- This recipe is great for gifting or exchanging with friends.
Video
Estimated nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is not guaranteed.
Thank you for this special and delicious recipe. I added raisin and wow… . And I wanna know if I can put the dough in the refrigerator for an hour/hours befor baking or not.
Hello!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe. We’ve never refrigerated the dough for these cookies to test that. It sounds like it would work, but let us know if you give it a try- be sure to report back for other bakers!
Enjoy,
Julie
So delicious and special. Thank you for this exciting recipe. I just want to ask if we can keep the dough in the fridge for an hour/hours before baking for a better result?
Hi there,
I haven’t tested this cookie dough in the fridge, so I can’t say for sure.
I hope you enjoy this recipe, they are so good!
Julie
Awesome recipe! My family loved it. It looksd great and it tasted really good.
These are my faaaaaaaavorite cookies!
These cookies were a delicious treat, I am a sucker for a cream cheese frosting, the kiddos even asked me to make them again this weekend. It was such a simple recipe I think I am going to get them involved this weekend.