Carrot Cake Cookies

Name: Carrot Cake Cookies
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 105 min
Ingredients: 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar; 1/4 cup (60mL) water; 6 Tbsp (84g) salted butter (room temperature); 1/2 cup (120mL) heavy whipping cream (room temperature); 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste); 1/2 tsp fine sea salt; 1 1/2 cups (180g) all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled); 3/4 cup (82g) pecan halves ( ground); 1 Tbsp cinnamon; 2 tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp fine sea salt; 1/2 cup (113g) salted butter (melted); 1 1/8 cup (225g) light brown sugar (lightly packed); 1 large egg (room temperature); 1 tsp vanilla; 1 1/2 cups (180g/2 medium) carrots (shredded); 1/4 cup (56g) unsalted butter (room temperature); 4 oz (1/2 brick) cream cheese (room temperature); 2 cups (240g) powdered sugar (spooned and leveled); tiny pinch fine sea salt; 1-2 Tbsp (15-30mL) heavy whipping cream (room temperature); 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

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These carrot cake cookies are a cross between cookies and carrot cake. They’re kinda chewy, but kind of cake-y, sort of like a perfect muffin top texture. They’re packed full of shredded carrots, cinnamon and pecans and frosted with cream cheese frosting and salted caramel sauce.

carrot cake cookies frosted with cream cheese frosting and salted caramel sauce

Why you’ll love these carrot cake cookies

If you’re a carrot cake lover, you’ll love these cookies. They’re like little bites of carrot cake.
The cookies are simple to bake, they require just a bowl and a whisk and I used a mini food processor and hand grater for the pecans and carrots. There’s no refrigeration time needed for the cookie dough!
The cinnamon and pecans pair perfectly with the cream cheese frosting and salted caramel sauce.

If you’re here for all things carrot cake I have a ton of recipes for you! From basic carrot cake to carrot cake cupcakes, carrot cake sandwich cookies, carrot cake loaf, carrot cake cinnamon rolls, carrot cake baklava and carrot cake muffins.

carrot cake cookies cut in half to show inside

Ingredients & Substitutions

Flour: I HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale, as flour (and nuts) is so often over measured. If not, make sure to scoop the flour into the measuring cup and level it off.
Sugar: I used brown sugar for the cookies, granulated sugar for the caramel and powdered sugar for the frosting and I don’t recommend swapping any of these. These cookies are sweet but reducing the sugar in the cookies will affect the texture.
- If you do want to reduce the sugar, feel free to reduce some of the sugar in the cream cheese frosting (but you’ll probably have to refrigerate it for a little as it will be softer) and make sure to take your caramel sauce a little darker as this will make it more bitter and less sweet.
Pecans: I love adding ground up pecans or walnuts to any carrot cake dessert. I haven’t tested it with this recipe but I have subbed the nut flour for a little less all-purpose flour in other recipes and it turned out well. So if you need it to be nut free, I would probably do about ½ cup of flour in place of the ground nuts.
Butter: I like to use salted butter for the cookies, frosting and caramel sauce because these cookies are quite sweet and that helps balance them out. Unsalted works fine too though.
- Dairy free butter also works well.
Eggs: make sure to use large eggs.
Cinnamon: I added a whole tablespoon of cinnamon but to be honest I think my cinnamon is more subtle than average (I have the member’s mark brand) so if you have a stronger cinnamon, maybe just go with 2 teaspoons.
Carrots: I just used medium carrots (and measured them several times) and I always get about 180g (give or take 10g is fine). I used a hand grater to shred them. If you make a bigger quantity, I recommend getting the shredder attachment to a kitchen aid mixer.
Cream Cheese: I always use Philadelphia cream cheese. Make sure to bring it to room temperature before mixing it with the butter.
Vanilla Extract: I just used plain vanilla extract but vanilla bean paste or fresh vanilla beans work fine too.
Heavy Whipping Cream: I usually opt for a 36-40% cream, I don’t recommend swapping this. I have made caramel sauce with milk and it works ok but it’s not as thick and creamy.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Salted Caramel Sauce

Step 1: Make the caramel sauce by cooking water and sugar on the stovetop until it turns into an amber color. Remove from the heat.

Step 2: Add the butter and whisk until it’s combined. Then add the heavy cream and whisk until it’s smooth (if the edges of the pan have crusty sugar, leave that behind, don’t try to whisk it in).

Step 3: Pour the caramel into a heat safe bowl and add the salt and vanilla, whisking just until they’re combined. Cover and allow to cool completely to room temperature or chill in the refrigerator.

add cream to sugar syrup — sugar turning into an amber color

Carrot Cookies

Step 1: Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt and add a little to the food processor with the nuts. Grind the nuts until they’re completely combined.

Step 2: Combine the melted butter with the brown sugar, vanilla and egg. Whisk aggressively, for 2-3 minutes, until it lightens in color.

Step 3: Add the dry ingredients, ground nuts and shredded carrots to the cookie dough and fold until it all comes together.

Step 4: Scoop the cookie dough into 12 cookies with a 2 ounce cookie scoop (I did about 2.4 ounces per cookie). I baked all 12 on a very large cookie sheet but make sure you have good space between them as they spread a lot.

Step 5: Bake for 8 minutes and then remove the pan from the oven and bang it on the counter a few times so the cookies flatten a little. Quickly use a biscuit cutter (or anything round) to scoot the cookies back into a round shape and finish baking for another 6-8 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Then bang them on the counter and scoot them with the biscuit cutter again. Allow them to cool completely to room temperature.

butter, sugar, vanilla and egg whisked together — pecans ground with flour

Cream Cheese Frosting

Step 1: Make the frosting by creaming the butter and cream cheese together until they’re well combined and have lightened in color a bit.

Step 2: Add the powdered sugar and salt and beat at a low speed just until the sugar is combined.

Step 3: Scrape the edge of the bowl, add the vanilla and increase the speed to medium for 1-2 minutes while streaming in the heavy whipping cream.

Step 4: If the frosting is too soft, just refrigerate it for 20-30 minutes before piping. Use a piping bag fit with a large round tip. Pipe the frosting onto the cookies and use an offset spatula to create the swoop (if desired).

Step 5: Top with a drizzle of salted caramel sauce and a pinch of flakey sea salt.

lemon cream cheese frosting — cream cheese frosting

finished carrot cake cookies — cream cheese frosting

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make this dairy free?

I haven’t tested these with dairy free butter but all of my recipes that I have tested have worked with dairy free butter so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. I also don’t have a good alternative for dairy free cream cheese but if there’s one you like, I’m sure it would work fine.

Can I make this gluten-free?

I haven’t tested these with gluten-free flour but all of my recipes that I have tested have worked with dairy free butter so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. I recommend a 1:1 gluten-free substitute like King Arthur or Bob’s red mill.

Can I make this nut free?

I haven’t tested these without the nuts but I have tested my carrot cake and carrot cream pie cookies without the nuts and replaced it with some flour. I recommend doing about ½ cup of all-purpose flour in place of the ¾ cup of nut flour in the recipe.

Why did my cookies not spread?

It’s likely you’re cookies are more dry when you don’t measure the flour and nuts with a digital scale.

carrot cake cookies frosted with cream cheese frosting and caramel sauce

How to make cookies ahead of time

The cookies can be made ahead of time. Just finish baking the cookie dough and once they’ve cooled, place them in an airtight container or bag and freeze for a few days or freeze for a few weeks.

Before frosting, bring them back to room temperature and proceed with the recipe.

You could also bake the cookies a day ahead and just store them (unfrosted) in an airtight container at room temperature.

The caramel sauce can also be made weeks ahead of time and stored in an airtight jar in the refrigerator.

I don’t recommend making frosting ahead of time. You’d need to refrigerate it and then bring it back to room temperature and re-whip it which always makes it a little less stable.

carrot cake cookies frosted with cream cheese frosting

How to store carrot cake cookies

Once the cookies are frosted and completely done, they can be left at room temperature for a couple of hours but since it’s made with cream cheese I recommend storing them in the refrigerator.

I refrigerate them in an airtight container for 2-3 days at most but if it’s longer, I would freeze them. Bring back to room temperature (or just slightly chilled) before serving.

close up of carrot cake cookies frosted with cream cheese frosting and caramel sauce

Thanks so much for reading today’s post, if you have any questions just comment down below.

If you make these fabulous carrot cake cookies, I’d love it if you left a star rating or a review for me!

As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!

Love, B