Great carrot cake tastes in the form of a cookie soft and chewy cookie but still with cream cheese frosting. Nothing could be better. Just follow these easy step by step photo instructions.
Introduction
My wife thinks this is one of the best things I have ever made, and she may well be right. It is right up there with my Whole Wheat Blueberry Scones. An evil treat that I love.
All major food groups are included in these cookies: Grains (flour and oats) Fruits (raisins) Vegetables (carrots) Dairy (cream cheese) and Meat (eggs count?). It must be good for you (NOT).
This recipe is a modification of a Martha Stewart recipe for Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies. I cut down the recipe, adjust the method, and season it a bit. And make cookies, not sandwiches.
Not much work and almost no skills are needed to pull this off. Give it a try for an everyday treat or that special occasion.
My Rating
Most of the time I must put some thought into the rating. Not this time. If I only had a 6...
🥕The Carrots
Do not use "baby carrots," which are wooden and have no taste. They are cut out of large carrots.
Go by volume of the shredded carrots. And try to use small to medium whole carrots.
Shred them yourself with the finest shred your shredder you have.
✔️Tips
I did make them slightly bigger and did not make them into sandwiches like the Marthe recipe called for along with the other changes.
The oats add some strength and texture.
The lemon juice in the frosting will add a bit of acid and act as a preservative and a bit nice taste
Use parchment paper or a baking mat. These will stick to the pan.
Good sealed airtight in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Should freeze well for 3-4 months but separate with wax paper.
📖Carrot Cake Recipes
Carrot Cake Pancakes - Oven Baked
This recipe is listed in these categories. See them for more similar recipes.
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Preheat oven on 350° convection. Prep two cookie sheets by covering them with parchment paper. Finely shred one large or 2 smaller carrots to make ¾ cup. Try not to use the "baby carrots", they have no taste.
In a large mixing bowl combine 1 stick (½ cup) melted butter with brown sugar, sugar, and 1 egg. Whisk or beat together. I'm lazy and used a stand mixer, but a handheld mixer or even a whisk should do.
Next, in a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. AP flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt. Mix well and slowly combine with the butter/egg mixture.
Now add ¾ cup shredded carrot, 1 cup rolled oats and ⅓ cup raisins. Mix well.
Spoon onto the parchment covered cookie sheets into 1-inch diameter balls. It should make about 16. Flatten the balls slightly with your fingers.
Place in the oven for 8 minutes. Rotate the pans (180 degree rotation and bottom pan to top). Cook about another 7-8 minutes until edges are turning brown.
Remove from oven and let sit for about 2 minutes until they firm up a bit and then move to a cooling rack.
Make the frosting: 4 oz cream cheese and 2 ½ tablespoons of butter in a bowl. Microwave for 10-20 seconds to soften if needed but do not melt.
Cream together with a hand mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Continue to mix. Slowly add about 1 ¼ cup powdered sugar and continue to beat until smooth. Add more powdered sugar if needed. Refrigerator until needed. Don't forget to lick the beaters.
Let cool and then frost with the cream cheese frosting.
📖Recipe
Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Frosting
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 2 ½ tablespoons butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 ¼ cup powder sugar
Cookie Dough
- 1 stick butter - ½ cup melted
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar - white
- 1 egg
- ¾ cup AP flour
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup rolled oats
- ¾ cup finely grated carrot
- ⅓ cup raisins - optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven on 350° convection. Prep two cookie sheets by covering them with parchment paper. Finely shred 2 small to medium carrots to make ¾ cup. Try not to use the “baby carrots”, they have no taste.
- In a large mixing bowl combine 1 stick (½ cup) melted butter with ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup sugar, and 1 egg. Whisk or beat together. I’m lazy and used a stand mixer but a handheld mixer, or even a whisk should do.
- Next, in a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. ¾ cup AP flour, ¼ teaspoon ginger, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt. Mix well and slowly combine with the butter/egg mixture.
- Now add ¾ cup shredded carrot, 1 cup rolled oats and ⅓ cup raisins (optional). Mix well.
- Spoon onto the parchment covered cookie sheets into 1-inch diameter balls. It should make about 16. Flatten the balls slightly with your fingers.
- Place in the oven for 8 minutes. Rotate the pans (180 degrees and bottom pan to top). Cook about another 7-8 minute until edges are turning brown.
- Remove from oven and let sit for about 2 minutes until they firm up a bit and then move to a cooling rack.
- Make the frosting: 4 oz cream cheese and 2 ½ tablespoons of butter in a bowl. Microwave for 10-20 seconds to soften if needed but do not melt.
- Cream together with a hand mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add ½ teaspoon vanilla and ½ teaspoon lemon juice. Continue to mix. Slowly add 1 ¼ cup powdered sugar and continue to beat until smooth. Add a bit more powder sugar if needed or a few drops of milk if needed. Refrigerator until needed. Don’t forget to lick the beaters.
- Let cool and then frost with the cream cheese frosting.
My Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Do not use "baby carrots," which are wooden and have no taste.
- Shred the carrots yourself with the finest shred your shredder you have.
- Use parchment paper or a baking mat. These will stick to the pan.
- Good sealed airtight in a refrigerator for 3-4 days. Should freeze well for 3-4 months but separate with wax paper.
- This is a great recipe; you get individual servings of carrot "cake" without a lot of work.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's Note: Originally published October 16, 2011. Sorry for the photo - poor camera 8 years ago. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Lina Di Marco
Hi, would love to make these but are they just as good without the frosting?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Lina,
They will be fine without the frosting but not "just as good". Very much like chocolate chip cookies will not be the same without the chocolate.
Dan
PS I removed the two-star rating... really, you hadn't even tried them and it damages the recipe. See comment policy is you have questions.
innopolicy.com.ua
Our Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting feature a light, and fluffy cookie chocked full of carrots and cinnamon and topped with delicious cream cheese frosting.
Terri Lott
These are simply delicious! I made a double batch and they lasted less than a day with my family of five. I tweaked the recipe a little; substituting part margarine for the butter, increased the cinnamon and added a pinch of nutmeg. The results were fabulous. I added a couple drops of maple extract to the frosting recipe to satisfy my mothers craving for maple leaf cookies (which are impossible to find in my neck of the woods) and it did the trick!! These are definitely a "must add" to my recipe collection! Thank you for sharing.
DrDan
Sorry this is one recipe I have not converted from Blogger format to WordPress so it is a bit hard to read. The cooking temperature is 375 F or 190 C. The 180 degrees refers to rotating the pan half a turn. I'm converting the post now so it will look better to you.
DrDan
PS they are one of my favorite things
Jenifer
These sound as if they would be delicious. Question: is that 180C or 180F for the oven? (We mainly use the centigrade scale here in Oz but I understand in the USA Farenheight is the norm?)
Krista
Thanks so much for sharing these at Church Supper! Love the frosting!!! I'm glad you decided to join in...love seeing new faces. Have a blessed week and please come back again next Sunday ~EMM
Inspired by eRecipeCards
Delicious! An oat and carrot cookie sounds perfect Nice and thick and chewy! Like the best part of a muffin
And as always, wanted to stop by and continue to thank you for adding these to eRecipeCards.
easy petite looks
just made these, they're amazing!