Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies

Carrot cake whoopie pie with a bite taken out.

Carrot cake whoopie pies are soft, cake-like sandwich cookies filled with cream cheese frosting. The cookies are made with shredded carrots, pecans, and cozy spices and turn out perfectly tender and moist.

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 9

Total Time 34

Servings sandwich cookies

Author Heather

Ingredients

Cookies

½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter room temperature
½ cup (107 g) brown sugar
½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs room temperature
2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 ½ cups (150 g) grated carrots
½ cup (57 g) chopped pecans or walnuts

Frosting

2.5 ounces block-style cream cheese room temperature
¼ cup (56 g) unsalted butter room temperature
2 cups (227 g) confectioner's sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Cookies

Preheat oven to 350℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (do not grease your baking sheet, this can cause cookies to spread into blobs). Set aside.
In a large bowl add butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about a minute. Add eggs and vanilla extract and beat until light and fluffy about 1 to 2 minutes.
In a separate bowl, add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Sift or whisk to remove clumps.
Gradually stir dry ingredients into butter mixture until just combined. Add grated carrots and pecans to dough and stir until evenly incorporated
Using a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop, drop cookie dough 2 inches apart onto your prepared baking sheet. Recipe should make 30 individual cookies total.
Bake for about 9-11 minutes, or until lightly browned around edges. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting

In a large bowl, add cream cheese and butter. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla, salt, and half off the confectioner's sugar, mixing slowly to combine. Add remaining confectioner's sugar and mix slowly to combine. Once incorporated, beat on high speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.
Pipe or spread frosting onto half of the cookies. Top with remaining cookies to make sandwiches.

Notes

Storage: Cookies will keep for 3-4 days in a sealed container. To help keep cookies fresh, place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace the bread slice as needed.
Frosting options: Cream cheese frosting can be substituted with a half batch of whipped buttercream frosting if desired.
Types of cream cheese: Block cream cheese must be used to make your frosting. Cream cheese in a tub or whipped cream cheese will result in a runny frosting.
More tips: Be sure to check out my 10 tips for baking cookies, based on reader comments and questions!

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