Carrot Cake Cookies

These carrot cake cookies are everything you love about the classic cake in a delicious cookie form - Fluffy, cakey and piled high with vanilla cream cheese frosting.

I'm dubbing this month the month of the carrot cake. We've made pineapple carrot cake and carrot cake muffins all in the span of a few short weeks and obviously, we're not stopping there.

In fact, we're going straight through to carrot cake cookie town. These cookies have a fluffy, cakey (but never dry) texture, a spiced, earthy flavor, with the most satisfying smeeear of cream cheese frosting.

Beep beep! Get in loser, we're making cookies!

Grating carrot

Before we jump into the recipe, let's talk some technique and estimations.

How many carrots will I need?

To make one cup of grated carrot, you'll need between one and two carrots - You'll get pretty close to a cup with one really large carrot or a little more than a cup with two medium size carrots.

Technique

Start by washing your carrot(s) in warm, soapy water. You can also use a water/vinegar solution to clean your veggies. Wipe to remove any excess water.

Use a peeler to remove the skin - it has a bitter taste and will add an unpleasant flavor to your cookies.

To grate your carrots, you can use either the fine side of a box grater or the shredding disc of a food processor. I like to use the latter for ease, but both produce good results.

Using pre-shredded carrot

Because pre-shredded carrots lose their moisture and are still rather large, particularly for cookies that are going to be 3-4 inches wide, I recommend grating your carrots rather than buying pre-shredded.

If pre-shredded is what you have available, I recommend dicing them up with a kitchen knife before adding them to your batter.

Step-by-step instructions

First, make the cookie dough.

Stir together the melted butter and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla, stirring with a spatula until combined.

Fold in the dry ingredients until nearly combined. Add the grated carrot, folding until all the ingredients are full incorporated.

Scoop 3 tablespoon size balls of dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Leave about 2 inches of space between each ball of dough to allow for spreading.

Second, bake the cookies.

Bake for 350F for about 11 minutes, or until the cookies are no longer shiny on top.

Allow to cool on the baking sheet.

Third, frost the cookies.

Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and continue beating until smooth. Add the vanilla and beat on low to combine.

Spread a thick layer of frosting over the cooled cookies. Garnish with coconut and pecans.

Expert tips

• The importance of leaving cookies on the baking sheet: The goal of taking the cookies out when they’re no longer shiny is to keep them from becoming too browned or drying out. At this point, they’ll be slightly under-cooked, and leaving them on the hot baking sheet allows them to finish cooking through without browning further.
• Getting round cookies: If your cookies happen to spread unevenly while baking, place a round cookie cutter or small bowl over each cookie and, making a circular motion at the wrist, roll the edges of you bowl/cutter around the edges of the cookie. This should be done immediately after removing the cookies from the oven.
• Warm cream cheese: Cream cheese is easiest to beat smooth when it's slightly warm. I like to bring mine to room temperature and then microwave it for 15 seconds. You can also place room temperature cream cheese on your oven top while the cookies bake to help it soften.

Storage

Without frosting, these cookies can be stored at room temperature in an air tight container for up to a week. They can also be wrapped individually in plastic wrap and stored in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Frosted cookies can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Place a layer of parchment paper between each layer of cookies to minimize frosting transfer.

Related recipes

• Pineapple carrot cake
• Carrot cake muffins
• Mini carrot sheet cake