Soft, melt-in-your-mouth carrot cake cookies that are perfectly spiced, filled with walnuts, and topped with a brown butter cream cheese frosting.
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carrot cake cookies
The perfect springy Easter cookies are these carrot cake cookies, which are, as you might guess from the title, carrot cake in cookie form. They’re super soft, NOT cakey, full of brown butter, warm spices, and walnuts – and they’re topped off with a brown butter cream cheese frosting.
why you’ll love these carrot cake cookies
- Brown butter – there’s toasty brown butter in the cookies and in the cream cheese frosting.
- They’re carrot cake in cookie form – so if you enjoy carrot cake, you’re in the right place.
- They’re small batch – if you’re on my blog, that’s probably what you’re here for! 🙂
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
room temperature ingredients
This is super important for allowing the dough to come together smoothly. You’ll want to take your ingredients out of the fridge about an hour before baking to allow them enough time to come to room temperature.
Mix the dough carefully:
When adding in the flour, only fold the mixture just until no flour streaks remain. Over mixing the dough leads to more gluten formation, which can make the cookies thicker and more tough in texture.
chill the cookies prior to baking
I know, I know – it’s frustrating to have to wait! However, because we’re using melted brown butter and a butter/sugar/spice mixture in the dough, we want to give the dough time to firm up. We’re going to give the cookies a quick freeze before baking them to ensure that they don’t spread out too thin. This also gives the flavors a little bit of time to meld together.
dry out the carrots
This ties into weighing your ingredients, but I do want to emphasize it here because it’s super important for the texture of the cookies. You could squeeze them out on a paper towel, but I like to do this by cooking the moisture out of the carrots (as you’ll see in the recipe.)
Under bake for perfect cookies:
Cookies continue baking after they have been taken out of the oven. Once the edges turn slightly golden brown, and the cookies look just a little wet on top still, they are ready to come out. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.
The secret to perfectly round cookies:
Wanna know the secret to perfectly round cookies? It’s cookie scooting! Right when the cookies come out of the oven, take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is just slightly larger than your cookies and place it over one of the cookies. Gently swirl the bowl around the cookie to make the cookie perfectly round (and slightly thicker). And that’s all there is to it!
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
ingredients for carrot cake cookies –
carrot cake cookies:
- All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.
- Baking soda & baking powder: helps the cookies rise and the edges crisp up.
- Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the cookies
- Ground cinnamon, ginger & cloves: some warm spices that are usually found in carrot cake. If you’re not a fan or don’t have access to the other spices, you can just substitute in more cinnamon.
- Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the cookies. We’ll also be browning the butter for some extra delicious toasty flavor. If you’re looking to make this dairy-free, Miyoko’s Creamery vegan butter has the ability to brown just like regular butter and works like a charm.
- Granulated sugar & light brown sugar: a combination of both gives us cookies with crispy edges and soft and chewy centers.
- Egg: for binding and for moisture.
- Vanilla: for flavor.
- Carrot: the star of the show – make sure you are using whole carrots and not baby carrots or pre-shredded carrots.
- Walnuts: carrot cake and walnuts is a classic flavor combo but you can certainly leave them out or swap them for pecans/hazelnuts/etc.
brown butter cream cheese frosting:
- Cream cheese: I mean, cream cheese just pairs so perfectly with carrot cake.
- Unsalted butter: we’ll add in some brown butter for more toasty flavors and it adds some structure to the frosting.
- Powdered sugar: for sweetness and thickening up the frosting.
- Salt: a pinch of salt helps balance and bring out the flavor and sweetness of the frosting.
- Vanilla: for flavor.
how to make carrot cake cookies
Here are some photos of the process of making these carrot cake cookies. You can find the full recipe at the end of this blog post 🙂
- Brown the butter, toast the walnuts, and cook off the carrots. The saucepan is your best friend in this recipe!
- Mix together the brown butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar.
- Whisk in the egg, vanilla, and carrots until well combined.
- Then mix in the dry ingredients and chill the dough for 30 minutes.
- Bake off the cookies.
- Whip up the cream cheese frosting, frost the cookies, and enjoy!
carrot cake cookies recipe q&a
can I double this recipe?
Of course – I even more strongly recommend measuring by weight if you are going to double the recipe for the best results.
can I make these cookies ahead of time?
Definitely! Cookie dough only gets better with time. You can keep the cookie dough tightly covered in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. For longer term storage, you can also freeze the cookie dough. Just be sure to take the dough out of the fridge at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before you want to bake, so that it becomes soft enough to scoop again.
You can also make the frosting and keep it stored in the fridge for up to 2 days before frosting the cookies – however, you will need to take it out, let it get to room temp, and whip it up again before using it.
how to store carrot cake cookies
Because they’re topped with cream cheese, these cookies do need to be stored in the fridge once they are frosted. Store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you’re not a fan of cold cookies, you can let them sit out for 30 minutes before eating them.
tools and ingredients:
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other recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
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Carrot Cake Cookies
Ingredients
Brown Butter
- 170 g unsalted butter (¾ c.)
Carrot Cake Cookies
- 85 g walnuts crushed (¾ c.) + extra for topping
- 50 g carrots (½ c.)
- 90 g brown butter (6 ⅓ tbsp.)
- 100 g light brown sugar (½ c.)
- 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
- 1 egg room temperature
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- 160 g all purpose flour (1 ⅓ c.)
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. ground ginger
- ¼ tsp. ground cloves
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- 150 g cream cheese room temperature (⅔ c.)
- 45 g brown butter room temperature (3 ¼ tbsp.)
- ⅛ tsp. salt
- 210 g powdered sugar (1 ¾ c.)
- 1 tsp. vanilla
Instructions
Brown Butter
- Your saucepan is going to be your best friend in this recipe for the next few parts. In a small saucepan set over medium heat, brown the butter. Stir the butter occasionally until it turns amber in color and develops little brown specks.
- Pour 90g of the brown butter into a medium sized mixing bowl, and pour the remaining 45g into a small bowl to set aside for the frosting. Set both bowls aside.
- To the empty saucepan that you made the brown butter in, add in the crushed walnuts and stir occasionally over medium heat until the walnuts are toasted. Once they're toasted, pour them out into a bowl and set them aside.
- Wash and peel the carrots, then weigh out 50g and shred them. (You can do this with a box grater or food processor.)
- Put the carrots into the same saucepan, and stir them occasionally over low heat, until you've reduced it down to 35g. Set aside and start on the cookie dough.
Carrot Cake Cookies
- At this point your bowl with 90g of brown butter should be room temperature. If it's still very hot, place it in the freezer for a few minutes until it's only slightly warm. Then, whisk in both sugars.
- Add in the egg, vanilla, and carrot. Whisk until well combined.
- Add in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Use a rubber spatula to fold the mixture together just until a few flour streaks remain.
- Add in the toasted walnuts, and fold the mixture together just until no flour streaks remain. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.*
- Once you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350℉ / 175℃.
- Use a 3 tbsp. cookie scoop to scoop out heaping scoops of dough, setting them on the cookie sheet at least 2" apart to allow room for spreading.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown and the tops look only a little wet.
- Immediately after taking the cookies out of the oven, take a bowl that is slightly larger than the cookies and swirl it around over the cookies to make them a little more uniform and circular.
- While the cookies are cooling, make the cream cheese frosting.
Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese, remaining brown butter, and salt until no lumps remain.
- Add in ½ of the powdered sugar, beat until well combined, then add in the remaining powdered sugar and vanilla, and beat for an additional 1-2 minutes, until well combined.
- Once the cookies have fully cooled, frost them and top with additional toasted walnuts. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.