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Up close of soft Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting with a bite taken out of it on a white plate
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Carrot Cake Cookies

Soft and chewy Carrot Cake Cookies smothered in silky Cream Cheese Frosting for individual bites of carrot cake bliss! These Carrot Cake Cookies are perfectly portable, perfectly tender, and perfectly melt-in-your-mouth addicting. They encapsulate everything you love about Carrot Cake with its aromatic fragrant spices, carrots and pecans rolled into easy-to-make chewy cookie form.  And of course, Carrot Cake wouldn’t be Carrot Cake without tangy, rich and luscious Cream Cheese Frosting!
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 37 minutes
Servings 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

COOKIES

  • 1 cup butter softened to room temperature*
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 cup shredded carrots
  • 2 cups quick oats not old-fashioned whole oats
  • 1 cup finely chopped pecans

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

  • 4 oz. Cream Cheese at room temperature****
  • 4 tablespoons butter at room temperature****
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups Powdered sugar
  • Milk as needed

Instructions

COOKIES

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
  • With a stand or handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugars together at medium speed until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time and beat just until incorporated followed by vanilla, scraping down the sides as needed. Set aside.
  • In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. With the mixer running on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients. The dough will be thick and you will have to finish mixing by hand. Stir in carrots, oats and pecans by hand just until incorporated – dough will be very thick.
  • Scoop dough using a 1 1/2 inch/1 1/2 tablespoon scoop, roll into balls and drop 2” apart. Flatten the tops slightly. If you don't have a 1 1/2" cookie scoop, use what you have and adjust cooking time accordingly.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes, just until cookies are lightly golden around the edges (take care not to overcook or they won’t be as soft). Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

  • In a large bowl beat butter, cream cheese and vanilla until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes, scraping down sides as needed. Beat in powdered sugar on low until combined then increase speed to medium-high and beat until thick and creamy, 1-2 minutes. Add milk, a tablespoon at a time to reach desired consistency.
  • Frost cookies once completely cool and garnish with chopped pecans if desired.

Notes

*Do NOT microwave butter or your cookies will be too soft and spread when baked.  Let butter soften at room temperature until slightly softened.
**Use only freshly grated carrots.  Use the small holes on a box grater to grate the carrots. Do NOT use pre packaged matchstick carrots as they are too thick.
***Old-fashioned whole rolled oats will NOT work in this recipe, but if that’s what you have on hand, you can make your own quick oats by adding whole oats to food processor and pulsing 4-6 times or until they resemble the consistency of quick oats.
****Do NOT microwave butter or cream cheese to soften for frosting or it will be too runny.  Let soften at room temperature.

HOW TO FREEZE CARROT CAKE COOKIES

You can freeze frosted or unfrosted Carrot Cake Cookies.
  1. Place frosted or unfrosted completely cooled cookies on a baking sheet without touching.
  2. Place baking sheet in the freezer and freeze cookies until solid.
  3. Wrap each cookie individually in plastic wrap and add to a freezer bag and seal.
  4. When ready to eat, remove desired amount of cookies from freezer bag then remove from plastic wrap so condensation doesn't form.
  5. Let Carrot Cake Cookies thaw on the counter for 15-20 minutes.