Adorable Carrot Cake Cookies are so easy to make. Topped with homemade cream cheese frosting, they’re hard to resist!
Carrot Cake Cookies are cute and festive for Easter and they have the best flavor! These other carrot look-alike desserts—Carrot Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Pudding Carrot Cups—are more favorites to make around this time of year.
Carrot cake in cookie form
Cookies are a really popular dessert to make during holidays like Christmas and Valentine’s Day, and sometimes holidays like Easter get forgotten about.
I’m a firm believer that every holiday (or every day really) is a good time for cookies – especially Easter!
We have a few Easter cookie recipes, like Easter Basket Cookie Cups, Mint Blossoms, and Bird’s Nest Sugar Cookies, but this Carrot Cake Cookie recipe is another perfect Easter cookie!
Carrot Cake is most popular around spring and Easter anyways, but now it’s in a deliciously chewy cookie form – similar to Oatmeal Cookies!
With only a handful of additional ingredients, you are on your way to delicious Carrot Cake Cookies!
How to Make Carrot Cake Cookies
You’ll love how simple these Carrot Cookies are!
PREP. Preheat oven to 350°F.
WET INGREDIENTS. In a medium bowl, combine butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat until combined and creamy. Add eggs and vanilla making sure to mix well.
DRY INGREDIENTS. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt and beat to combine. Fold in carrots and chopped pecans. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix until combined.
BAKE. Use a cookie scoop, and drop cookie dough onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Edges should be lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack.
FROSTING. Make the frosting by combing cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Reserve a little bit of the frosting for the carrot design on top.
Frost cookies. Use food coloring to dye parts of the reserve frosting green and orange. Pipe carrot design onto the cookies.
RECIPE TIPS
Here are a few tips for the perfect Carrot Cake Cookie recipe.
Variations:
- Replace pecans with walnuts or raisins.
- Remove frosting or replace with Buttercream.
- Add in a teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, or allspice.
For bright-colored frosting, use gel food coloring (like these) rather than liquid food coloring.
Piping. Easily pipe the icing on using a Ziploc bag with the tip cut off.
Grate your own carrots as the ones in the bag are too dry. Depending on the desired texture, use the large holes or small holes of a box grater.
Room temperature ingredients. Soften butter is key This post will show you How to Soften Butter Quickly.
Cookie scoop. Use a cookie to scoop to help get even balls of dough that will bake at the same rate.
Prepared baking sheets. Line the baking tray with parchment paper or a split tray.
Make sandwich cookies. Spread the cream cheese frosting on top of one cookie, and stack a second one on top. They would work fine with any shape cookie, but circular cookies are the most popular choice.
Storing Info
STORE frosted cookies in an airtight container or Ziploc bag in the fridge for up to 5 days.
FREEZE Carrot Cake Cookies unfrosted, frosted, or just the dough!
- Unfrosted. Place cooled cookies in an airtight container or bag and store them in the freezer.
- Frosted. Freeze one layer of cookies until the frosting is hard, place a layer of wax/parchment paper on top, add another layer of cookies, freeze, and repeat this process until all of your cookies are frozen in separate layers.
- Dough. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and then in foil or a freezer bag. Freeze for a few months. When you’re ready to use, thaw the dough in the fridge until it’s workable enough to roll out and cut.
Recipe FAQ
We love the decorative carrot, but sprinkles, chopped pecans and/or a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar all work great!
Of course! Check out our section above about refrigerating and/or freezing. We like to make these the day before we need them, along with the frosting and store them in the fridge until ready to frost and serve.
For more Easter Treats:
- Easter Dirt Cake
- Carrot Cake Cupcakes
- Rice Krispie Easter Nests
- Easter Basket Cookie Cups
- Easter Chick Cupcakes
Carrot Cake Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cup grated carrots (about 4 carrots)
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Frosting
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- green food coloring
- orange food coloring
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl, combine butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat until combined and creamy. Add eggs and vanilla making sure to mix well.
- Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt and beat to combine. Fold in carrots and chopped pecans and mix until combined.
- Drop dough scoops onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Edges should be lightly browned. Let cool.
- Make frosting by combing cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla and beating until smooth. Reserve a little bit of the frosting for the carrot design on top.
- Frost cookies. Use food coloring to dye parts of the reserve frosting green and orange. Pipe carrot design onto cookies.
These look adorable and sound DELICIOUS! Quick question: Does the cream cheese icing dry enough that these could be packaged for individual party favors?
I just found out my sister in law loves carrot cake, I think i will surprise her with these next week!
Hello ?
These cookies look Yummalicious ?
I just wanted to find out if anyone has used this recipe for cutout cookies. Looks like in the initial photo these were cutout with a carrot shaped cookie cutter. Would you just press all of the cookie dough into a jelly roll pan, bake, then cut into shapes w/the cookie cutter? If so, how long would you suggest as the baking time ❓
I personally haven’t, but yes, I would do it that way. Good luck!
The original reCipe was different and made for rolling and cutout cookies. they were so yummy. They called for pine and coconut. Im bummed the recipe is gone.
These are incredibly soft & I love the cream cheese frosting! Can’t wait to make some for Easter!
Carrot cake in cookie form is the greatest idea!! I love how soft these are & I love the little carrot on top of that delicious cream cheese frosting!
I love Carrot Cake, so I know that I will LOVE these cookies! They are so cute too!
The adorable carrot frosting caught my eye. I love carrot cake and these cookies are even better. Yum!
The cutest little cookies with the best cream cheese frosting!
I was looking for the original carrot cake cookies that yOu Posted here bY the barefoot baker. The cUtout ones. Do you still have that recipe? Im Sure this neW recipe is just as good but we like the cUtout ones, we come back year after year to make them. I should have printed it out.
Nevermind, i did pront out the recipe!
Hi, do you think you could send me the original recipe? Thanks
Sorry I’m just now seeing this. I can email it to you.
Hi Jerrica!
If you still have the original recipe, would you mind sharing it?
Thank you!
Can I get your email?
Hi Jerrica,
The drop cookies look great, but I also am looking for the original carrot cake roll-out cookie recipe. You mentioned that you did print it out. Would you share the recipe? Thanks!
I found the printout. I just need an email address please
Says use box carrot cake mix to make the cookies but then gives a from SCRATCH RECIPE. An error I assume but does not help me to convert my box cake mix.
My cookies spread out soooo much… like paper thin I don’t know if it is me, or if this recipe needs more flour. I wish they came out, because the picture looks so good!!
Oh, I am sorry they did! There are many factors that can cause that, but it’d hard for me to know, since I was not there. I would suggest googling it & see if it was any of the reasons suggested. Hope you figure it out.
I have a question: Where is the recipe for using cake mix, I can’t wait to try this recipe and my other question i do you have a recipe for pumpkin cookies using cake mix.
I know you are busy and would understand if you don’t have time to answer.
btw, i love all of your recipes and the simplicity of them.
I do have this recipe..not sure it’s the one you are looking for, but it is pumpkin & has cake mix in it…https://lilluna.com/gooey-butter-pumpkin-cookies/
the comment that “the use of cake mix makes this recipe so easy” I don’t see cake mix in the recipe??
Is the “flour” the boxed cake mix?
Sorry for the confusion. The “flour” in the ingredient list is not the boxed cake mix – it is just flour. I will make that change in the body of the post. Thanks so much for catching that. I appreciate it!
Is it really calling for baking soda? Or should it be baking powder?
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!
Carrot Cake is a favorite of mine, so I knew that I would love these cookies! So simple to make too!
These have great flavor and such a soft texture. I love making these around Easter time!