These easy carrot cake cookies with cream cheese frosting are packed full of spices, oats, carrots, raisins and pecans! Made in under an hour, they are everything you love about carrot cake in cookie form.
When life gives you the choice between cookies and cake, it’s just not fair to have to choose. Thankfully, these carrot cake cookies don’t make you have to decide. They are soft and a little chewy with all the flavors of carrot cake complete with a thick cream cheese frosting for cookies! They aren’t quite as cakey as these frosted sugar cookies and not as chewy as chewy sugar cookies. Right in the middle!
The little cookies feel almost acceptable for breakfast. I love a good carrot cake coffee cake or carrot cake scone as an excuse to get all the tasty flavors of moist, tender carrot cake (like this one that beat Bobby Flay!) It is a welcome sweet addition to the brunch table for Easter, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day!
Table of contents
Why You Will Love these Carrot Cake Cookies
- Carrot cake flavor without the work! These cookies have melted butter so they are mixed in one bowl with a whisk! None of the fuss and all of the flavor.
- Soft and a little chewy. These simple cookies don’t spread much in the oven and they have almost more mix-ins than batter! There is no baking soda or powder, which makes them soft, a little chewy and a little cakey.
- Quick & easy. Just 30 minutes to chill the cookie dough before baking, means the toughest part of making these cookies is waiting for them to cook before icing! The cream cheese frosting for cookies comes together in under 5 minutes!
- All the mix-ins for the best flavor. Not only are we adding a ton of shredded carrots but we are also adding chopped pecans, oats and golden raisins! The pecans add a little crunch while the raisins add a touch of sweetness. Oats add a lovely texture and chew.
These storage instructions assume you used my cream cheese frosting for cookies, but if you used a more traditional cream cheese frosting, these cookies will need to be stored in the fridge after 2 hours for up to a week.
Professional Tips for Making Carrot Cake Cookies
- Slightly flatten the dough before baking. These cookies don’t really spread during baking so pressing down the tops before baking make for the prettiest cookies.
- Grate your own carrots for the best flavor. It is always best to buy carrots (bonus points for horse carrots) and grate them yourself. The pre-shredded packaged carrots are too dry and thick to make nice cookies. I recommend the same for my brown butter carrot cake.
- Cool completely before frosting. Unless you are going for a glaze, you should let the cookies cool completely before frosting. The easy cream cheese frosting will just melt right off.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Butter: I use unsalted butter for both the cookies and the frosting. The butter for the cookies should be melted but too hot. You also don’t want it to be cool or the cookies really won’t spread at all.
- Brown Sugar: Use dark or light brown sugar for this recipe. Whichever you have on hand will be lovely.
- Granulated Sugar
- Egg Yolk: Using just the yolk keeps these cookies as chewy as possible! You get the fat from the yolk without the additional moisture in the white. Save the white for some of what you need for this strawberry cake or make a traditional bee’s knees cocktail!
- All-Purpose Flour: You could also use cake flour or a gluten free all-purpose flour blend to make it gluten free.
- Cinnamon & Ginger
- Kosher Salt
- Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats: Using old-fashioned rolled oats adds a nice texture and chew to the cookies but quick oats would also work.
- Fresh Grated Carrots: Using fresh carrots (about 3 medium carrots) rather the packaged shredded carrots will add more moisture, flavor and a better texture to your cookies just like in carrot cake cupcakes.
- Golden Raisins: You can use dark raisins or omit them entirely. Golden raisins add a lovely sweetness and a little bit of chew.
- Pecans: Toasting and chopping the pecans before adding to the dough will add a nutty flavor and delightful crunch to the cookies. You could also roll the outside of the cookies in pecans if you don’t want to frost them. Walnuts or macadamia nuts would also be delicious substitutions.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Possible Variations
- Make an ice cream cookie sandwich: Omit the frosting and sandwich a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream or caramel ice cream between two carrot cake cookies for a delicious Summer treat!
- Change up the frosting: Instead of using this cream cheese frosting for cookies, you could use a traditional cream cheese buttercream frosting, but they will need to be refrigerated after 2 hours. You could also make an easy lemon buttercream or traditional vanilla American buttercream. Add a little salted caramel sauce to the vanilla buttercream for a caramel frosting!
- Make thumbprint cookies. This recipe was originally written as a thumbprint cookie recipe. Roll the cookies in chopped pecans and indent with your finger like in these thumbprint cookies or chocolate thumbprint cookies then bake, cool and fill with cream cheese frosting, jam or salted caramel sauce!
- Add Nutmeg or vanilla extract. Many carrot cakes call for nutmeg, so add 1/8-1/4 teaspoon to the dry ingredients before mixing. I find nutmeg can be overpowering, so I prefer to grate a little fresh nutmeg into the batter to taste. A teaspoon of vanilla extract is always a welcome addition.
How to Make Carrot Cake Cookies
Use these instructions to make carrot cake cookies with cream cheese frosting from scratch! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
Step1: Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Step 2: In large bowl, whisk melted butter, sugars and egg yolk. In separate medium bowl, whisk flour, cinnamon, ginger and salt.
Step 3: Stir flour mixture into butter mixture to combine. Stir in oats, carrots, chopped pecans and raisins just until dough forms. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.
Step 4: Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls or using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop. Space 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Flatten slightly. Bake 10-15 minutes until set and lightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Step 5: In small bowl, beat remaining butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar on medium speed until smooth. Beat in vanilla and heavy cream until lightened.
Step 6: Spread or pipe frosting onto cooled cookies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Store frosted or unfrosted cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to a week. You can also store them in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or frozen for 2 months. They will be best when consumed within 4 days.
These storage instructions assume you used my cream cheese frosting for cookies, but if you used a more traditional cream cheese frosting, these cookies will need to be stored in the fridge after 2 hours for up to a week.
For the best texture, you should chill the dough, but you don’t have to. If you must have carrot cookies immediately, I wouldn’t worry about skipping the 30 minute chilling.
If you would like to make these cookies ahead of time, I suggest making the dough, rolling into balls, flattening and then freezing in an airtight container or zip-top freezer bag. Bake as directed from frozen or allow them to thaw 30 minutes at room temperature prior to baking.
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below! I love hearing from you and your comments make my day!
Carrot Cake Cookies
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup packed brown sugar
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg yolk, room temperature
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- ¾ cup finely-grated carrots, packed, about 3 carrots
- ¼ cup golden raisins, chopped
- ¾ cup pecans, finely chopped
For the cream cheese frosting:
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 6 tablespoons cream cheese, room temperature
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl, whisk melted butter, sugars and egg yolk. In separate medium bowl, whisk flour, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture to combine. Stir in oats, carrots, pecans and raisins just until dough forms. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.
- Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls. Space 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Flatten slightly Bake 12-18 minutes until set and lightly golden. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
- In small bowl, beat remaining butter, cream cheese and powdered sugar on medium speed until smooth. Beat in vanilla and heavy cream until slightly lightened.
- Pipe or spread frosting on the cooled cookies.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed this easy cookie recipe. Check out our other delicious cookie recipes or peruse more Spring dessert recipes or Summer dessert recipes!! You might also love these Neopolitan thumbprint cookies or add cream cheese berry coffee cake to your brunch table.
Martha Stewart just posted this recipe – with the goat cheese and everything. I will be making these – they look awesome. Do they freeze well (without the icing)?
Nicole, Yay! They do freeze well without the icing — I would put them in an airtight container for up to 2-3 months, at most. Bring them to room temperature before frosting.
Hi Stephanie,
I am thinking of making the Carrot thumbprint cookies; portioning them and freezing them before filling and baking. Have you ever tried this?
Thank you,
Jean Fraser
Jean, Yes! You can definitely freeze these cookies, but I would recommend freezing them baked rather than unbaked. If you freeze the dough (unbaked), you’ll need to adjust for thawing time and baking longer. I have not tried this yet so I can’t say for sure how well it works.
Thank you!
Deborah — I stored them in a single layer, covered, in the fridge for up to 5 days and they still tasted great. Enjoy!
I am making these 2 days before Easter. What is the best way to store them?
You should never have to choose between cake or cookie! These are phenomenal 🙂