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If you’re a fan of the warm, spiced sweetness of carrot cake, then get ready to fall in love with these irresistible carrot cake cookies! They take everything you adore about the classic dessert—cozy cinnamon, fragrant clove, a hint of vanilla, and of course, plenty of carrot—and pack it into a soft, melt-in-your-mouth cookie. And because no carrot cake is complete without a creamy, dreamy topping, these beauties are slathered with a luscious vanilla cream cheese frosting. Perfect with your morning coffee, as an afternoon treat, or as a little indulgence after dinner—you’re going to want to make a double batch!
Soft, sweet, and packed with classic carrot cake flavor, these irresistible carrot cake cookies are easy to make and perfect for any occasion.
If you’re a fan of carrots, you might also like to whip up some carrot cake cupcakes, carrot cake pancakes, or overnight carrot cake slow cooker oatmeal.
Why You’ll Love It
They’re so tasty: Warm spices, vanilla and brown sugar give the cookies plenty of amazing flavor, while the sweet cream cheese frosting is the icing on the cake (literally!)
Easy to make: Combine the cookie dough ingredients and shape it into cookies. While they’re baking you can whip up your frosting, and when they’re cool you can frost them. Easy!
Carrots are nutritious: You won’t mind the kids tucking into these tasty cookies, not when they have plenty of nutrients from carrots in them.
Carrot Cake Cookies Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
All purpose flour: A main ingredient in the cookies.
Salted butter: Bring it to room temperature so it’s easier to mix.
Brown sugar: Adds a rich, sweet flavor.
Carrots: Use a box grater to shred them (or buy pre shredded carrots).
Vanilla extract: Flavors both the cookies and the frosting.
Baking soda and baking powder: To get the texture just right.
Spices: I like to add ground cinnamon and ground cloves.
Cream cheese: For the frosting. Room temperature cream cheese is easier to combine.
Powdered sugar: To sweeten the frosting without the graininess of granulated sugar.
How to Make Carrot Cake Cookies
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Make the cookie dough: Cream the butter and sugar in a medium bowl and then mix in the egg and vanilla and continue mixing. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cloves and cinnamon in, until they are no visible flour streaks, and then fold in the carrots.
Shape the cookies: Divide the cookie dough into balls.
Bake them: Bake the cookies until they’re a deep golden brown and then make a small indentation in each one. Let them cool in the pan for a few minutes and then let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack.
Frost the cookies: Whisk the cream cheese filling ingredients together until creamy and smooth, and then frost the cooled cookies using a piping bag fitted with a nozzle, a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off, or simply a spoon.
Substitutions and Variations
Gluten-free option: If you want a gluten-free version, use gluten-free flour and check your baking powder ingredients. Some include wheat starch, although most are made with gluten-free potato starch or cornstarch.
Salted butter: Substitute unsalted butter and add a pinch of salt.
Vanilla extract: Feel free to substitute a different flavor extract.
Spices: You might like to include ground ginger, ground nutmeg and/or ground allspice.
Brown sugar: You could substitute white sugar, although the brown sugar does add a nice richness to the cookies.
Fresh carrots: You can use either finely diced whole carrots or finely grated carrots. A bag of pre-shredded carrots would work too.
Serving Suggestions
With brunch: Enjoy these with contrasting savory dishes, such as breakfast lasagna or breakfast burritos.
As a snack: Pair the cookies with an iced gingerbread latte or coconut strawberry kiwi smoothie.
For dessert: After any kind of meal, perhaps Mediterranean chicken with couscous or butter bean stew, these cookies make a lovely dessert.
How to Store Carrot Cream Cheese Cookies
Store: Keep the cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator and eat within 5 days.
Freeze: You can freeze these in an airtight container for up to 3 months. It’s best to put them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and freeze for an hour, and then you can transfer them into an airtight container and freeze for up to 2 or 3 months.
Thaw: Defrost them in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for a couple of hours. Alternatively, microwave for about 30 seconds to defrost.
Top Tips
No chilling required: You don’t have to worry about chilling your cookie dough. You will want to space your cookies about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet though, to account for spreading.
Warm your butter: Make sure your butter is softened or at room temperature. If you have a stick of cold butter straight from the fridge, throw it in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
Warm the cream cheese too: Room temperature cream cheese is much easier to work with than cold cream cheese. It’s not completely necessary to use, but you’re going to have to whisk cold cream cheese a lot more to get all the clumps out.
Secure the frosting: Giving your cookies a few minutes to cool will help prevent the frosting from just sliding off the cookies. Making a small indentation in each cookie after baking also helps secure the frosting.
Carrot Cake Cookie FAQs
You can top your cookies with crushed toasted walnuts, chopped pecans or a sprinkle of ground cinnamon.
With the cream cheese frosting, I love how these cookies taste straight from the fridge. You could also let them come to room temperature before serving them.
Yes, just wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours.
I used one large one. You might need 1½ or 2 carrots if using smaller ones.
Best Carrot Cake Cookies Recipe
Carrot Cake Cookies
Equipment
- Electric Mixer with Whisk Attachment
- Pastry Bag Optional
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- ½ Cup salted butter, at room temperature
- 1 Cup brown sugar
- 1 egg, large
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ Cups all-purpose flour
- ½ Teaspoon baking soda
- 1 Teaspoon baking powder
- ½ Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 Teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ Cup carrots, finely grated
For the Frosting:
- 8 Ounces cream cheese, full-fat, at room temperature
- 2 Cups powdered sugar
- 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Make the Cookies:
- Cream the butter and brown sugar together in a mixing bowl, using an electric hand mixer on a medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until the brown sugar is dissolved and the ingredients are well combined.
- Add the egg and vanilla and continue mixing on a medium speed for 2 minutes or until the mixture is fluffy and light in color.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves.
- Reduce the speed of your hand mixer to low and gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Scrape down the sides of your mixing bowl with a spatula as needed to ensure there are no pockets of dry ingredients.
- Gently fold the diced carrots into the cookie dough and make sure they are evenly distributed.
Bake the Cookies:
- Use a cookie scoop or spoon to drop 12 balls of cookie dough on a large baking sheet or 6 cookies on a pair of medium baking sheets.
- Bake your cookies for 12 minutes.
- Use a small dish to press into the center of each cookie as they come out of the oven, creating a small indentation.
- Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes before moving them to a wire cooling rack for another 30 minutes.
Frost the Cookies:
- While the cookies are cooling, prepare your frosting by whisking together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla extract. The frosting should be smooth and creamy.
- Add the frosting using a piping bag or spoon.
Notes
Warm your butter: Make sure your butter is softened or at room temperature. If you have a stick of cold butter straight from the fridge, throw it in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
Warm the cream cheese too: Room temperature cream cheese is much easier to work with than cold cream cheese. It’s not completely necessary to use, but you’re going to have to whisk cold cream cheese a lot more to get all the clumps out.
Secure the frosting: Giving your cookies a few minutes to cool will help prevent the frosting from just sliding off the cookies. Making a small indentation in each cookie after baking also helps secure the frosting.
Nutrition
If you love carrot cake, you won’t want to miss out on these lip-smacking delicious carrot cake cookies. With rich flavors like light brown sugar, warm and earthy spices and vanilla, the soft cookies are so good. They’re topped with a sweet, smooth cream cheese icing. Whip up a batch for a bake sale or to spoil your family. Nobody can resist these gorgeous carrot cake cookies.
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
My son normally don’t carrot cake but he savored these cookies to the last bite.