All the flavors you love from carrot cake, but in cookie form! these homemade Carrot Cake Cookies are so easy to make. Topped with homemade cream cheese frosting, they’re hard to resist!
These carrot cake cookies are cute and festive for Easter! 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 Valentines 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. This Carrot Cake Cookie recipe is another perfect Easter cookie as well! Carrot Cake is most popular around Easter time anyways, but now it’s in cookie form!
With only a handful of additional ingredients you are on your way to delicious carrot cake cookies!
How to Make Carrot Cake Cookies
You will love how simple these carrot cookies are. Begin by preheating oven to 350.
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 carrot design on top. Frost cookies. Use food coloring to dye parts of the reserve frosting green and orange. Pipe carrot design onto cookies.
RECIPE TIPS
Just a few pointers to help you out in making this recipe…
- You can make this recipe work for YOU. If you don’t like walnuts, don’t add them. If you don’t like frosting (or just cream cheese frosting) change it. It is very easy to make it the way you like it.
- For bright colored frosting, use gel food coloring (like these) rather than liquid food coloring.
- Easily pipe the icing on using a ziploc bag with the tip cut off.
Variations and Storage
You can also create a variation by making these into 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 of cookie, but circular cookies are the most popular choice.
If you’re using cream cheese frosting, these will need to be stored in the fridge in an airtight container or ziploc bag. They should keep well for 5 days or so.
You can also freeze them—frosted, unfrosted, or just the dough! It’s easier to freeze them without frosting. You can just place them (after they have completely cooled) in an airtight container or bag and store in the freezer.
If they have frosting, 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 stacks with paper in between each layer to keep them separated.
To freeze the dough, make sure it’s completely wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, add a layer of foil or place in a freezer bag for good measure, and keep in the freezer for a few months. When you’re ready to use, thaw in the fridge until it’s workable enough to roll out and cut.
For more Easter Treats, check out:
- 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.
- 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 carrot design on top.
- Frost cookies. Use food coloring to dye parts of the reserve frosting green and orange. Pipe carrot design onto cookies.
love!!! they are too cute, and carrot cake COOKIES?! great idea!
CUTE! These are darling!! 🙂
Thanks!! Didn’t she do a great job?!
I am so happy to be on Lil Luna’s blog! You all are so sweet! I am glad you like them and I had fun making them for you!
These are too too cute! YUM, I LOVE anything carrot!!!
Wish it wasn’t so late, I am really wanting a sugar fix looking at these!
These are very cute! I’m making my iced sugar cookies this week and I made some carrots!
Mmm Sounds yummy!!!
I am in the middle of trying to make these and realized that I can’t tell if I’m supposed to add the flour to the dough when I add the other ingredients (nuts, carrots, etc.) or if the flour is just for rolling purposes! Please help!
Thanks so much!
Hi Val. This is Kristyn. Lisa made these, but after looking at the recipe it looks like (to me) that you use the dough just for rolling purposes. Hope that helps. Let me know how it goes. 🙂
Hi,
I am a little confused too about the flour in the cookies. It specifically says to “add the rest of the ingredients, including the flour and mix.” 1 cup seems like a lot of flour for just rolling purposes. I just made a batch adding the flour to the mix and the dough is super crumbly…with all that being said, I need a little clarification! Thank you!!
What a great cookie idea! Yummy AND cute!
Lisa does such a great job of creating yummy AND cute cookies, huh?! Have a great Easter. 🙂
i love the colors of this cakes thanks
i dont like the pineapple and the coconut but i love carrot cake mix what if i dont add it?
Did you use a cookie cutter or cut those by hand? Thnaks April
They look scrumptious and adorable! What is the texture of this cookie? Soft and chrwy? What can we add the make it crunchy?
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Great info. Lucky me I discovered your blog by accident (stumbleupon).
I have saved it for later!
Anyone know how many cookies this makes?
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!