Carrot Cake Cookies

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5 from 4 votes

Chewy, well spiced cookies topped with cream cheese frosting. Everything we love about carrot cake in a cookie!

Prep Time20

Cook Time14

Chilling30

Total Time1 4

Course: Cookies, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: carrot cake, cookies, dessert

Servings:

Calories: 107kcal

Author: Tricia

Ingredients

For the cookie dough:

½ cup old-fashioned oats (50g)
½ cup quick oats (50g)
1 cup all-purpose flour (135g)
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature (113g or 8 tablespoons)
½ cup light brown sugar, packed (115g)
¼ cup granulated sugar (45g)
1 large egg room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon coconut extract, optional
1 cup finely shredded carrots not packed (90g) about 2 medium carrots
½ cup golden raisins (90g)
½ cup toasted chopped pecans for garnish

For the frosting:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature (1 ½oz)
3 ounces cream cheese room temperature
¾ cup powdered sugar (93g)
½ teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
Garnish with additional toasted pecans or decorate with tinted frosting piped into carrots

Instructions

To prepare the cookie dough:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl combine the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat the butter and the sugars together until fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, coconut extract and carrots to the butter mixture. Beat on medium until blended. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again until well mixed.
Add ½ of the oat mixture to the creamed butter and carrot mixture. Mix on low speed just until blended. Repeat and blend until all oats are incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and blend one more time to ensure all the flour and oats are incorporated. Fold in the raisins.
Chill the dough for 30 minutes while preheating the oven. This step is optional, but recommended. The cookies won’t spread as much if the dough is chilled first.
Using a cookie scoop, roll the dough into 1 ½-tablespoon balls and place on the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes or until the bottoms just begin to brown. Do not overbake. The cookies will flatten out a bit as they cool.
Allow the cookies to rest for 5 minutes then remove to a rack to cool completely.

To prepare the frosting:

Beat the butter and cream cheese together until blended. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat on medium until combined. Add 1 teaspoon of milk, if needed for desired consistency. Spread 1 teaspoon frosting on top of each cooled cookies. Immediately sprinkle with chopped pecans, one pecan half or decorate as desired.
Refrigerate the cookies in a single layer.

Notes

You don’t have to chill the dough before baking. However the cookies will spread just a little more and the dough will more sticky when rolling.
Store the cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Without frosting the cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Once iced, the cookies will soften a bit over time.
For good chewiness we prefer the combination of old-fashioned and quick oats. If using all old-fashioned or all quick oats, the texture may be slightly different. Without any old-fashioned oats the cookies will be less chewy.
The chopped pecans can be added to the cookie dough at the same time as the raisins or used as a garnish

Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. When multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.

Nutrition