Carrot Cake Cookies

5 from 8 votes
9 Comments

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These Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting are a MUST for carrot cake lovers! You will love the frosting. So many delicious flavors in one little cookie!

Three Carrot Cake Cookies topped with Cream Cheese Frosting and sprinkled with chopped walnuts. Milk on the side.
Featured with this recipe
  1. Ingredients in Carrot Cake Cookies
  2. Make it a Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies
  3. How to Shred Carrots
  4. Frequently Asked Questions
  5. More Carrot Recipes
  6. How to Make Carrot Cake Cookies
  7. Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

If you are a carrot cake or a cookie fan, you are going to LOVE these carrot cake cookies! The cream cheese frosting on the top is so yummy! We have made these with raisins and without, and both ways are really good. Plus, there’s just something wonderful about taking carrots and making them into cookies. Love getting veggies in when taking a bite of delicious cookie!

Ingredients in Carrot Cake Cookies

The ingredients in our Carrot Cake Cookies are similar to the ingredients used when making carrot cake. Most are ingredients you already have on hand.

For the Cookies:

  • Shortening
  • Brown sugar
  • Egg
  • Vanilla extract
  • Milk
  • Quick oats
  • Flour
  • Shredded carrots
  • Raisins (can be left out)
  • Baking soda
  • Salt
  • Cinnamon
  • Nutmeg
  • Ginger
  • Optional add-ins: walnuts, pecans, chocolate chips
Ingredients for Carrot Cake Cookies including carrots, oatmeal, brown sugar, spices, shortening, milk, sugar, vanilla, egg and raisins.


For the Frosting:

  • Cream cheese – softened
  • Butter – softened
  • Milk
  • Vanilla extract
  • Powdered sugar
Carrot cake cookies on a cooling rack and some are frosted with cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with chopped walnuts.

Make it a Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies

Recently, Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World has offered a Carrot Cake Cookie in sandwich form. It has become a popular treat in the park. You can make it at home by spreading frosting on the bottom of one of our carrot cake cookies, then adding another carrot cake cookie on top. The bottoms of the cookie are the inside of the sandwich. The fluffier tops of the cookie are on the outside.

If you are visiting Hollywood Studios and want to find their delicious carrot cake cookie, you can find it seasonally at the Trolley Car Café.

Side view of seven Carrot Cake Cookies on a plate frosted with cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with chopped walnuts.

How to Shred Carrots

This recipe calls for shredded carrots. The easiest way to get finely shredded carrot is with a box grater. Rinse and peel the carrots, then use the side of the grater with the small holes to grate the carrot. Hold the carrot at the top (thickest part of the carrot) and start grating it at the bottom. Be careful and watch your fingers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Carrot Cake Cookies Healthy?

As much as you want to think the carrots in these cookies will magically make them healthy, that’s not really the case. It has all the shortening, flour and sugar that you’d expect from a regular cookie. However, with the rolled oats, carrots and raisins, this is a more filling cookie. So perhaps your craving for something sweet will be satiated more quickly. Even if they don’t, moderation will help you enjoy this yummy treat, even if they can’t be considered “health food.”

Is carrot cake supposed to taste like carrot?

Although the name implies CARROT, there really isn’t that much carrot-y flavor. What you really taste is the rich and sweet brown sugar, the warm cinnamon, the nutty nutmeg, and the spicy ginger.

What country is carrot cake from?

It is unsure where the exact country of origin that carrot cake came from, but it is agreed on that it had its start in the Middle Ages when sugar was scarce so the people used carrot as a sweetener substitute. It seems that carrot cake has been a treat enjoyed around the world for a long time!

Is carrot cake better for you than other cake?

Not necessarily. Due to the high sugar and fat content, it isn’t healthy by any stretch of the imagination. BUT, the good news, carrots are a good source of beta carotene, fiber, vitamin K1, potassium, and antioxidants, so maybe carrot cake has the slightest advantage over something like chocolate cake.

Read next:33+ Easy Dessert Ideas

More Carrot Recipes

Love carrots? They are delicious and colorful as a side dish, and in desserts. Buy a big bag and try some more recipes using carrots:

How to Make Carrot Cake Cookies

Three Carrot Cake Cookies topped with Cream Cheese Frosting and sprinkled with chopped walnuts. Milk on the side.

Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

5 from 8 votes
These Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting are a MUST for carrot cake lovers! You will love the frosting. So many delicious flavors in one little cookie!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 24

Equipment

  • Stand or hand mixer
  • Baking Sheet

Ingredients

Cookie Ingredients

Cream Cheese Frosting

Instructions

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl with hand beaters, mix shortening, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and milk together. Scrape the sides of the bowl before adding dry ingredients.
    Mixing bowl with blended shortening, sugar and egg for Carrot Cake Cookies.
  • Add remaining cookie ingredients to the mixture and mix at a low speed until blended.
    Mixing bowl with Carrot Cake Cookie Dough.
  • Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls using a spoon or cookie scoop onto a cookie sheet.
    Scooped Carrot Cake Cookies on a cookie sheet with a baking mat and cookie scoop.
  • Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven. After cookies have slight cooled, place them on a wire rack and allow them come to room temperature before frosting.
    Baked Carrot Cake Cookies on a cooling rack. Spatula on the side.

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Blend cream cheese, butter, milk, and vanilla together.
    Mixing bowl with cream cheese and butter blended for cream cheese frosting on Carrot Cake Cookies.
  • Stir in powdered sugar until frosting is smooth and creamy.
    Mixing bowl with cream cheese frosting for Carrot Cake Cookies. Mixing whisk on the side.
  • When cookies are cooled, spread icing on the top of each cookie and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
    Carrot cake cookies on a cooling rack and some are frosted with cream cheese frosting and sprinkled with chopped walnuts.

Notes

  • The cookie batter/dough will be wet. Be sure to use a cookie scoop or spoon when forming the dough into balls and placing them on the cookie sheet.
  • Add chopped walnuts to the cookie dough for a nutty crunch.
  • Add chocolate chips for a little something sweet.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 338kcalCarbohydrates: 55gProtein: 3gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 176mgPotassium: 136mgFiber: 2gSugar: 40gVitamin A: 1525IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 37mgIron: 1mg

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About the author

Emily Walker

Emily lives in Meridian, Idaho, with her husband, Beau, a physician assistant, and her three incredible children: a son and two daughters. Travel is one of her favorite ways to experience new cultures and cuisines, and she has a love for all things Disney.

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Comments

      1. It says a pound to a pound in a half of powdered sugar maybe it more like a cup to a cup in a half.

  1. 5 stars
    I have taken these to parties & they are always a hit!! Finger desserts are always the best & when your cookie tastes like one of your favorite desserts, you know this recipe will be saved in my favorites!

  2. 5 stars
    Saw the recipe this morning and made them this afternoon. They are incredible. This recipe will be added to my Christmas ones. By the way, I used gluten free all purpose flour and it worked perfectly. Thank you so much!

  3. 5 stars
    Great taste to these cookies. Don not try to make them larger than the tbsp that the recipe calls for or they fal apart and don’t bake as well. The frosting required about 2 cups of powdered sugar and this was more than enough for the batch, delicious!