Carrot Cake Cookies are the perfect treat for Easter! These cream cheese frosted carrot cake cookies have all of the flavor of your favorite cake, packed into soft and delicious cookies that are simple to make and completely irresistible.
I am crazy about carrot cake, and will usually go well out of my way to make a beautiful layered carrot cake with cream cheese frosting every Easter.
But just look at these gorgeous carrot cake cookies! They are everything I love about carrot cake, but without the fuss of actually baking a cake. You can frost them very simply with my homemade cream cheese frosting, or take it a step further and pipe on colorful carrots to make them extra festive.
There’s no need to bake a cake when these carrot cake cookies are so easy and so delicious!
And while carrot cake cookies are the ideal easy dessert for Easter, you shouldn’t let the time of the year dictate when you can enjoy this recipe. Make it any time you like! These soft, chewy, sweetly spiced cookies are easy to make all year round.
Need some more Easter cookie ideas? Easter basket cookie cups are fun and easy to make, topped with speckled chocolate eggs. There’s also my Easter egg sugar cookies, Peeps Rice Krispie Treats, and Easter sugar cookie bars.
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The Best Frosted Carrot Cake Cookies
- Smooth and dreamy cream cheese frosting. It’s not difficult to make this tangy frosting, and takes these simple carrot cake cookies to a whole new level. Don’t be shy with the frosting either, more is definitely better in this situation.
- The perfect amount of carrots. There are enough carrots in this cookie dough to ensure that their flavor and texture come through, but not so many that they weigh the cookies down or make them too heavy.
- Crunchy nuts in every bite. To add a bit of texture, add chopped toasted walnuts or pecans!
Key Ingredients
This ingredient list may seem long, but these pantry staples and spices are probably already in your cupboards!
Complete list of ingredients with quantities and instructions is located in the recipe card below
- Carrots: Freshly grate 3 or 4 medium carrots to get 2 cups of shredded carrots. I like to use the larger holes on my box grater for this. Shredding the carrots too finely will make them disappear.
- Butter: Use unsalted, softened butter for both the cookie dough and the frosting.
- All Purpose Flour
- Eggs
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda: To make the cookies puff up in the oven and give them a soft, cake-like texture.
- Spices: Carrot cake gets it’s warm spiced flavor from cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
- Sugar: Use both granulated sugar and light brown sugar for this recipe. Each type of sugar has its own role to play in making these cookies delicious.
- Vanilla Extract: For a warm, rich flavor.
- Pecans or Walnuts: These add a welcome crunch to carrot cake cookies.
- Cream Cheese Frosting: Softened butter, softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract make the most amazing frosting.
How To Make Carrot Cake Cookies
First, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
- Mix the Dry Ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- Cream Butter and Sugar: In a separate bowl or bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Combine: Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix well.
- Add Carrots and Nuts: Stir in the carrots and pecans. The dough will be very thick and sticky – this is normal!
- Scoop and Bake: Use a small (1.5 tablespoon) cookie scoop to drop dough onto the prepared baking sheets 2” apart. Then bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are puffed up and no longer wet on top. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the Frosting: Cream together the cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar until smooth. Mix in the heavy cream and the vanilla until well combined.
- Frost: Spread a generous amount of frosting over the cooled cookies. Use a butter knife or an offset spatula for this step.
- Add Decorations: (Totally optional, but so cute!) Divide the remaining frosting into two bowls. Use gel food coloring to tint one bowl orange and the other green. Add the frosting to piping bags and add simple carrot decorations to the top of each cookie.
Top Tips
- Use freshly shredded carrots. For the best flavor and texture, peel and then grate the carrots yourself, rather than buying pre-shredded carrots. These can be dry and are often too thick for making carrot cake.
- Make them nut-free. Walnuts or pecans are traditional in carrot cake and delicious in these cookies, but they can be omitted.
- Use softened butter and cream cheese. For both the cookie dough and the frosting, you want to start with soft room temperature butter. I suggest letting the butter soften at room temperature, as the microwave will often melt the butter or make it too soft to work with. I’ll give the same advice about cream cheese – make sure it’s soft before trying to make frosting with it!
How to Store Carrot Cake Cookies
The frosting on these cookies will not dry hard, so you should take care to store them in a single layer. Keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Other Easter Desserts You Should Try
Recipe FAQs
Can I freeze carrot cake cookies?
Yes, these freeze extremely well with or without frosting. I suggest freezing them first on a sheet pan, then transferring them to a freezer container for storage. Remove the cookies from the container and allow them to thaw in a single layer before serving.
How do you measure grated carrots?
Unlike brown sugar, you shouldn’t pack the carrots into your measuring cup. Loosely fill the measuring cup with the shredded carrots, keeping them fluffy to ensure that you have the right amount for the cookie dough recipe.
Carrot Cake Cookies are way easier to make then a whole carrot cake, and just as delicious! Save this recipe for Easter, or whenever the craving for carrot cake strikes.
Carrot Cake Cookies
Equipment
- Small cookie scoop, 1.5 tablespoon
- Piping bags optional
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 3 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar lightly packed
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups shredded carrots about 3 medium carrots
- ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
For the Frosting:
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 3 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C), or 160°C if using a fan oven. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a separate bowl or bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix well. Stir in the carrots and pecans if using. Dough will be very thick and sticky.
- Use a small (1.5 tablespoon) cookie scoop to drop dough onto the prepared baking sheets 2” apart and bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are puffed and no longer wet on top.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Prepare the frosting by creaming together the cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar until smooth. Mix in the heavy cream and the vanilla until well combined. Spread a generous amount of frosting (1.5-2 tablespoons) over the cooled cookies
- Divide the remaining frosting into two, then add one drop of green food coloring to one bowl, and one drop of orange food coloring to the other and mix well.
- Pipe carrots using the orange and green frosting on top of the cookies
Notes
- Use freshly shredded carrots. For the best flavor and texture, peel and then grate the carrots yourself, rather than buying pre-shredded carrots. These can be dry and are often too thick for making carrot cake.
- Make them nut-free. Walnuts or pecans are traditional in carrot cake and delicious in these cookies, but they can be omitted.
- Use softened butter and cream cheese. For both the cookie dough and the frosting, you want to start with soft room temperature butter. I suggest letting the butter soften at room temperature, as the microwave will often melt the butter or make it too soft to work with. I’ll give the same advice about cream cheese – make sure it’s soft before trying to make frosting with it!
- To Store: Keep these cookies in a single layer in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Nutrition
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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