Frosted Carrot Cake Cookies
These Frosted Carrot Cake Cookies have all the flavors you love from a traditional carrot cake and they’re even topped with the best cream cheese frosting!
This Carrot Cake Cookie recipe will change everything that you thought you knew about cookies.
You’ll want carrots in every cookie you taste from now on.
The flavor of carrot cake is like a gift from taste bud heaven.
There’s just something about the moist, fluffy cake that has me coming back for bite after bite.
So why not take that flavor and taste and make it into a cookie instead? Friends, this is what I did!
This Carrot Cake cookie recipe is one that I can rely on and depend on every single time.
Not to pay myself on the back…but I nailed it.
This carrot cake cookie is truly amazing. It’s one of those cookies that you eat before your dinner because you literally can’t stand the thought of waiting another moment.
Leave those store-bought cookies on the shelf and instead, make this delicious homemade treat.
Who says that your cookies can’t have a few veggies tossed in?
I’ve always loved eating carrots as a snack, but if I can coat those carrots with cookie mix? Count me in!
Make and share with your friends or bake and keep for yourself.
Regardless of how you make it, just get started so we can all agree that this is one stellar and delicious carrot cake cookie!
Perfect for Easter, Spring, and Summer!
FROSTED CARROT CAKE COOKIE INGREDIENTS
CARROT CAKE COOKIES:
FLOUR: 2 cups of all-purpose flour.
BAKING POWDER: 1 teaspoon baking powder.
BAKING SODA: 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.
SALT: 1 teaspoon of salt.
NUTMEG: 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg.
GROUND CINNAMON: 2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon.
BUTTER: 1/2 (1 stick) of unsalted butter, softened.
BROWN SUGAR: 1 cup of brown sugar.
VANILLA EXTRACT: 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract.
EGGS: 2 large eggs.
PINEAPPLE: 1 (8 oz.) can of crushed pineapple, drained.
CARROTS: 3/4 cup of shredded carrots.
RAISINS:1 cup of raisins. If you don’t like raisins, just skip it!
WALNUTS: 1 cup of chopped walnuts. Again, if you don’t like walnuts you can leave them out!
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
CREAM CHEESE: 5 oz. cream cheese, softened.
BUTTER: 6 Tablespoons of butter, softened.
VANILLA EXTRACT: 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
POWERED SUGAR: 2 cups of powdered sugar.
HOW TO MAKE CARROT CAKE COOKIES
To make these Carrot Cake Cookies, simply:
PRE-STEP: Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
STEP 1: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and ground cinnamon in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.
STEP 2: In a large bowl, using an electric or stand mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla extract until combined. Add eggs one at a time, mixing between each egg.
STEP 3: Stir in the crushed pineapple, carrots, and raisins. Stir in dry ingredients. Mix in walnuts if desired.
STEP 4: Using a cookie scoop/ice cream scooper, scoop dough into balls about 2 Tablespoons each and place onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until bottoms being to brown. Allow cookies to cool before frosting.
HOW TO MAKE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
To make Cream Cheese Frosting, simply:
STEP 1: Mix softened butter and cream cheese on medium speed with an electric or stand mixer. Beat for 30 seconds until smooth and creamy.
STEP 2: Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Increase to high-speed and beat for 3 minutes. Frost cookies.
STEP 3: To make the carrots, I used orange and green decorating gel.
COOKIE MAKING TIPS
DON’T OVERMIX: With almost all my cookie recipes, I always make sure to remind you to not OVERMIX the cookie dough. Meaning, when you mix the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, only mix them together until just combined…you should still see some flour in your mixing bowl.
SCOOPING THE COOKIE DOUGH: I always use a 1 Tablespoon cookie scoop, each cookie dough ball has “2 scoops” of cookie dough, meaning that each cookie dough ball is 2 Tablespoons in size. In my opinion, this is the perfect sized cookie. If you don’t have a cookie scoop, you can use an ice cream scooper but you will only need 1 ice cream scoop of cookie dough.
★ And to make it super easier for you to learn how to scoop the perfect cookie, I created a step-by-step guide on How To Scoop The Perfect Cookie!
BAKING TOOLS NEEDED
MIXER: I love my KitchenAid Mixer, I use it for everything. Makes baking so much easier!
BAKING SHEET: You will need a large 16×11 inch baking sheet.
SILICONE BAKING MAT OR PARCHMENT PAPER: If you don’t have a silicone baking mat…YOU NEED ONE!
MORE EASTER RECIPES
INSTANT POT BROWN SUGAR-GLAZED CARROTS
Frosted Carrot Cake Cookies
Ingredients
CARROT CAKE COOKIES:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 can crushed pineapple, drained, 8 ounces
- ¾ cup shredded carrots
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup chopped walnuts, optional
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
- 5 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 6 Tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and ground cinnamon in a medium-size bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, using an electric or stand mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar and vanilla extract until combined. Add eggs one at a time, mixing between each egg.
- Stir in the crushed pineapple, carrots and raisins. Stir in dry ingredients. Mix in walnuts if desired.
- Using a cookie scoop/ice cream scooper, scoop dough into balls about 2 Tablespoons each and place onto prepared baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until bottoms being to brown. Allow cookies to cool before frosting.
- Make Cream Cheese Frosting: Mix softened butter and cream cheese on medium speed with an electric or stand mixer. Beat for 30 seconds until smooth and creamy.
- Add powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Increase to high-speed and beat for 3 minutes. Frost cookies.
Notes
- DON’T OVERMIX: With almost all my cookie recipes, I always make sure to remind you to not OVERMIX the cookie dough. Meaning, when you mix the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, only mix them together until just combined…you should still see some flour in your mixing bowl.
- SCOOPING THE COOKIE DOUGH: I always use a 1 Tablespoon cookie scoop, each cookie dough ball has “2 scoops” of cookie dough, meaning that each cookie dough ball is 2 Tablespoons in size. In my opinion, this is the perfect sized cookie. If you don’t have a cookie scoop, you can use an ice cream scooper but you will only need 1 ice cream scoop of cookie dough.
These cookies are such a nice and fun break from having to make a whole cake to get the delicious flavor of carrot cake. My kids loved them and gobbled them right up! I will be keeping this recipe in my “go-to” arsenal.
So much better than making a whole cake! Loved these!
Loved how these turned out! The frosting was my favorite.
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe! Will surely have this again! It’s really easy to make and it tasted so delicious! Highly recommended!
Love it! Such a fun snack idea!
These are super cute what an awesome idea for Easter, the Easter Bunny will love these carrots 😉
Love carrot cake and now I’ve got to try this cookies!!!