Turn your favorite cake into cookies with this easy dessert recipe for Carrot Cake Cookies. They have the perfect amount of carrot cake flavor and are topped with a cream cheese icing.
Frosted Carrot Cake Cookies Recipe
Carrot cake is a classic dessert that people often enjoy during the holiday season. It has a fresh taste of cinnamon with the perfect moisture texture.
While there are carrots in the cake, they’re not huge crunchy chunks. Instead, they’re finely chopped pieces that blend in perfectly to keep the cake moist and delicious.
If you love the cake, you need to try this incredible recipe for Carrot Cake Cookies. They’re easy to make, taste like the cake, and have a slightly crisp exterior that makes them even better.
Why You’ll Love this Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Packed with flavor: These carrot cake cookies are packed with flavor thanks to the brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger.
- Easy to make: Carrot cake cookies are a basic cookie recipe with a few fun additions. You then make a cream cheese simple frosting to add to the top of these cookies.
These are some of my favorite Easter cookies! They have the same great taste of carrot cake, but they’re easier to make for a lot of people.
How to Make Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Be sure to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions!
- Mix your dry ingredients.
- Whisk your butter, brown sugar and white sugar together.
- Toss in the eggs, vanilla, and egg yolks before mixing until smooth.
- Add your flour mixture and stir.
- Fold in your pecans and shredded carrots.
- Scoop the dough on the baking sheet and press down to create a flat shape.
- Bake them for 15 minutes.
- Remove them from the oven, place on a cooling rack, and let the cookies cool before you frost them.
Yes! You will need to use a cup of shredded carrot. Don’t worry! Even if you’re not a big fan of carrots, you won’t taste them when you add them to this recipe with other ingredients, including brown sugar, ginger, nutmeg, and more.
The chopped pecans add flavor to the Carrot Cake Cookies, but they’re also great for adding texture too. If you love cookies with a bit of a crunch, these cookies are a must-have.
No, it doesn’t take long to make the cream cheese frosting. You can easily combine the cream cheese with the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk in minutes.
These cookies are so good because they have a crisp edge but a soft and chewy center. The carrots and pecans had a great crunchy texture to the cookies.
The cream cheese frosting that you add to the cookies is the same type of frosting you add to a classic carrot cake. Cream cheese frosting is easy to make and packed with flavor!
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Use an ice cream scoop to scoop your cookie dough evenly onto the prepared cookie sheet.
- Start with 2 tablespoons of milk and then if you feel like it’s a bit too thick, you can add another tablespoon of milk to the mixture to thin it out.
- Top your cookies with additional chopped pecans for a little extra crunch.
If you’re looking for more ways to use up those carrots, try this Carrot Cake Bread or these Carrot Banana Muffins!
Enjoy the fresh taste of homemade Carrot Cake Cookies! They’re easy to prepare with simple ingredients that you may already have at home. If you love carrot cake, these cookies are a must-try!
If you make this recipe be sure to leave us a comment or rating. Enjoy!
Frosted Carrot Cake Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour 300 grams
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch 14 grams
- 2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon 8 grams
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt 3 grams
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder 1 gram
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 cup unsalted butter 226 grams, room temperature (2 sticks)
- ⅔ cup brown sugar 142 grams
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar 133 grams
- 2 large eggs 100 grams, room temperature
- 2 egg yolks 28 grams, room temperature
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract 6 grams
- 1 cup shredded carrot 90 grams (from about 3 carrots)
- ½ cup chopped pecans 57 grams, toasted
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese 114 grams, room temperature (½ brick)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 57 grams, room temperature (½ stick)
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar 21 grams
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 8 grams
- 3 tablespoons milk 43 grams, as needed
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients. Set aside.2½ cups all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- In a large bowl, whisk the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until smooth and creamy. Add in the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add in the flour mixture and stir just until the flour is incorporated. Fold in the shredded carrots and pecans.1 cup unsalted butter, ⅔ cup brown sugar, ⅔ cup granulated sugar, 2 large eggs, 2 egg yolks, 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract, 1 cup shredded carrot, ½ cup chopped pecans
- Using a cookie scoop for uniformity, scoop balls of dough onto the baking sheet. Be sure to space them about 1½ inches apart, as they will spread. Press down slightly to create a flatter shape. Place into the preheated oven to bake for 15 minutes or until the edges or golden brown and the center is baked through.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and place onto a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
- While the cookies are cooling, make the cream cheese frosting. Place all of the frosting ingredients, except the milk, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment. Beat on high for 4 minutes or until smooth and creamy. If the frosting is too thick for your liking, slowly add in milk, a teaspoon at a time, until you have achieved the consistency you desire.4 ounces cream cheese, 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, 3 tablespoons powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract, 3 tablespoons milk
- Once the cookies have cooled, spread the frosting over the surface of the cookies. Sprinkle with chopped pecans if you so desire.
Notes
- Use an ice cream scoop to scoop your cookie dough evenly onto the prepared cookie sheet.
- Start with 2 tablespoons of milk and then if you feel like it’s a bit too thick, you can add another tablespoon of milk to the mixture to thin it out.
- Top your cookies with additional chopped pecans for a little extra crunch.
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