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Adorable carrot cake cookies are so easy to make. Topped with homemade cream cheese frosting, they’re hard to resist!
Carrot Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Carrot Cake Cupcakes are more favorites to make around this time of year.
A Carrot Cake Twist to Love!
Cookies are a really popular dessert to make during holidays and Easter is no exception.
Our go-to for the holiday are these carrot cake cookies, which taste so delicious!
What’s not to love:
- Easy. Most of the ingredients are pantry staples, and even though there are a few of them, the recipe is still so simple.
- Delicious. These cookies are soft and sweet and sure to be a hit.
- From cake to cookie. Carrot Cake is most popular around spring and Easter, but now it’s in a deliciously chewy cookie form – another great Easter dessert!
Simple Ingredients
- unsalted butter – Softened butter is key. This post will show you How to Soften Butter Quickly.
- granulated sugar
- brown sugar
- large eggs
- vanilla extract
- all-purpose flour
- baking soda
- cinnamon
- salt
- grated carrots – Grate your 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.
- chopped pecans
- cream cheese softened
- powdered sugar
- green food coloring
- orange food coloring
How to Make Carrot Cake Cookies
- 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 to the wet mixture and beat to combine. Fold in carrot shreds and chopped pecans. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix until combined.
- BAKE. Use a cookie scoop, and drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet (or line the baking sheet with parchment paper). Bake for 10-12 minutes. Edges should be lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack.
- FROSTING. Make the frosting by combining cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Reserve a little bit of the frosting for the carrot design on top of each cookie.
- Frost cookies. Use food coloring to dye parts of the reserve frosting green and orange. Pipe carrot design onto the cookies.
RECIPE TIPS
- For bright-colored frosting, use gel food coloring (like these) rather than liquid food coloring.
- Piping. If you don’t have a piping bag, put the frosting in a Ziploc bag with a small portion of the tip cut off.
- 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.
- Decorate. We love the decorative carrot, but sprinkles, chopped pecans, and/or a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar all work great!
- Variations.
- Replace pecans with walnuts or raisins.
- Remove frosting or replace with Buttercream.
- Add in a teaspoon of cinnamon, ginger, or allspice or even.
Storing Info
- Make it ahead of time. We like to make these the day before, along with the frosting, and store them in the fridge until ready to frost and serve.
- 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.
For More Easter Treats:
Carrot Cake Cookies
Adorable carrot cake cookies are so easy to make. Topped with homemade cream cheese frosting, they're hard to resist!
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups grated carrots, (about 4 carrots)
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon 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 a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Edges should be lightly browned. Let cool.
Frosting
- Combine cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Beat 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.
Video
Notes
Store the dough. Cover and store the dough in the fridge for 1-2 days or freeze it for 3 months. See How to Freeze Cookie Dough for tips.
Store baked cookies. Let the frosting set and carefully stack cookies to avoid smearing. You may separate layers with parchment or wax paper. Store frosted cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days, in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in a freezer bag for 2-3 months.
Nutrition
Calories: 352kcal, Carbohydrates: 45g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 19g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Cholesterol: 55mg, Sodium: 241mg, Potassium: 96mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 34g, Vitamin A: 2286IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 31mg, Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These have great flavor and such a soft texture. I love making these around Easter time!
Carrot Cake is a favorite of mine, so I knew that I would love these cookies! So simple to make too!
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!
Is it really calling for baking soda? Or should it be baking powder?
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!
the comment that “the use of cake mix makes this recipe so easy” I don’t see cake mix in the recipe??
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/
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.
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.
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