Carrot cake cookies are like your favorite slice of carrot cake in cookie form! Soft, cakey cookies are topped with cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut.
Recipe summary
Flavor/texture: Soft, cakey cookie filled with shredded carrot, pecans, and cozy spices. Topped with cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut.
Yield: 36 cookies
More carrot cake: Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies and Carrot Cake Cupcakes
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Ingredients and substitutions
- Carrots - I recommend finely grating your carrot using the small side of a box grater. Finely grated carrot blends in seamlessly when baked, and a larger grate adds more texture to your cookies.
- Pecans - Can be substituted with walnuts or almonds.
- Shredded coconut - Sweetened or unsweetened coconut works in this recipe. The coconut topping could be substituted with more chopped pecans or sprinkles if desired.
How to make carrot cake cookies
- Cream together the wet ingredients, then carefully mix in the dry ingredients and mix-ins.
- Use a cookie scoop to portion dough.
- Place on a parchment lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Bake until the tops of your cookies look set and lightly browned.
- While the cookies cool, toast the coconut in the oven.
- Prepare frosting, spread a thin layer on the top of each cookie, and top with toasted coconut while the frosting is still wet.
Heather's Top Tip
For accurate results every time, use a kitchen scale to measure flour by weight. If you don't have a kitchen scale, use the spoon and level method. Stir the flour (especially if it's been packed down in a bag/container), then gently spoon into the measuring cup, leveling off the top with a knife. Scooping with a measuring cup compacts flour into the cup and adds up to 25% extra to the recipe, resulting in dry, bland cookies that don't spread properly.
Tips and tricks
To bring butter to room temperature quickly - Unwrap and slice butter into small pieces, leaving it on the counter and in the wrapper or a small bowl for 10 minutes. Small pieces warm up faster than a whole stick.
To bring egg to room temperature quickly - Place whole egg into a bowl and cover with very warm tap water. Egg will come to room temperature in about 10 minutes using this method.
Watch your cookies in the oven, not the time - Yes, I do include a time frame in the recipe card. However, every oven runs slightly hotter or colder than the next oven. The time that worked for me may not work for you. Keep an eye on your cookies while they bake and check them a minute or two before they should be done. If they look brown across the tops, it's time to remove them from the oven. Overbaking will make your cookies dry.
Frequently asked questions
This can happen when your dough is too warm or the baking sheet was greased instead of lined with parchment.
- Don't skip the step of refrigerating your dough. Refrigerating not only helps the flavors meld, but also makes the dough easier to roll into balls and reduces spreading.
- If your dough is still spreading in the oven, try refrigerating the dough balls for 10 minutes, then transfer directly into the oven.
- Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. I do not recommend using a greased cookie sheet. A layer of grease/cooking spray makes cookies of any kind spread more in the oven.
The dough may be too cold (maybe left in the refrigerator too long), or too much flour was added to the dough (see the note* in the recipe card about properly measuring flour).
- Leave dough balls on the counter top to warm slightly before baking. Cold dough spreads less and warm dough spreads more.
- Use your hands or the bottom of a flour-dusted glass to press down on the dough balls before baking. This helps the dough spread more and creates a flatter top (this is also described in step six of the recipe card).
- If too much flour was added to your dough, you'll want to make sure your cookies aren't also overbaked - this combination results in a dry cookie.
Recommended
📖 Recipe
Carrot Cake Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup (160 g) brown sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 ¾ cups (330 g) all-purpose flour, *measured properly
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup (100 g) finely grated carrots
- ½ cup (57 g) chopped pecans
Toasted coconut garnish
- ½ cup (g) shredded coconut, optional
Cream cheese frosting
- 4 ounces (113 g) block-style cream cheese, room temperature
- ¼ cup (56 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¾ cups (200 g) confectioner's sugar
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Using a hand mixer, cream together until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract. Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Gradually stir dry ingredients into butter mixture until just combined.
- Add grated carrots and pecans, stirring until just incorporated.
- Scoop dough into 1.5 tablespoon balls. Place dough 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for about 11-13 minutes, or until lightly browned around edges and across the tops. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Leave the oven on for the next step.
Toasted coconut garnish
- While your cookies cool, toast the coconut. Spread coconut into a thin layer on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Bake for about 5 minutes, or until the edges begin to lightly brown. Stir and return to the oven for another 2-3 minutes. Watch carefully because the edges of the coconut can brown quickly.
- Set aside and allow to cool.
Frosting
- In a large bowl, add room temperature cream cheese and butter and beat with a hand mixer (or stand mixer) until creamy, about 1 minute.
- Add vanilla extract and salt and mix until incorporated.
- Add confectioner's sugar, half at a time, and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated. Switch to high speed and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Spread onto cooled cookies and top with toasted coconut garnish.
- Refrigerate cookies after sitting out for 2 hours (due to the cream cheese frosting). Allow refrigerated cookies to come to room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- * How to measure flour properly: Use a kitchen scale to measure flour for accurate results every time. If you don't have a kitchen scale, use the spoon and level method. Stir the flour (especially if it's been packed down in a bag/container), then gently spoon into the measuring cup, leveling off the top with a knife. Scooping with a measuring cup compacts flour into the cup and adds up to 25% extra to the recipe, resulting in dry, bland cookies that don't spread properly.
- Toasted coconut alternatives: Substitute the toasted coconut topping with additional chopped pecans or sprinkles if desired.
- Storage: Cookies will keep for up to 5 days in a sealed container. To help keep cookies fresh, place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace bread slice as needed.
- Storing dough: Raw dough will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days. Cookie dough balls (and baked cookies) freeze well, up to 3 months in a sealed plastic container or freezer bag. Allow frozen balls to thaw for up to 10 minutes on the baking sheet before baking, or add 1-2 minutes to the baking time.
- More tips: Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking cookies, based on reader comments and questions!
The cookies turned out great!
Also, thank you for the tip on the flour measuring and parchment paper.
Glad you enjoyed the cookies!