Description
These Carrot Cake Cookies are soft, moist, and packed with freshly grated carrots and warm cinnamon, then topped with an incredible brown butter cream cheese frosting. They taste just like your favorite carrot cake but in easy cookie form, and they’re ready in under 40 minutes!
Ingredients
Cookie Ingredients
-
2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
-
1 teaspoon baking soda
-
¾ teaspoon salt
-
2 teaspoons cinnamon
-
1 cup butter, room temperature (should still be slightly firm)
-
¾ cup granulated sugar
-
¾ cup brown sugar
-
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-
2 large eggs
-
1 ½ cups finely grated carrots (about 4 medium carrots)
Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients
-
4 tablespoons butter
-
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
-
3 cups powdered sugar
-
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-
4-6 tablespoons milk, as needed
Optional Add-ins
-
¼ to ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts for the cookie batter
-
Chopped nuts for garnish
-
¼ teaspoon nutmeg or ginger for extra spice depth
Instructions
Get your oven heating to 350°F. While that’s warming up, either lightly grease your baking sheet or line it with a nonstick mat. I prefer the mat because these cookies have a tendency to stick, and I’ve learned this lesson the hard way more times than I care to admit.
Grab a medium bowl and whisk together your flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Make sure everything’s evenly mixed so you don’t end up with cinnamon pockets in some cookies and none in others. Set this aside while you work on the fun part.
In your large bowl, beat together the butter and both sugars for about 2-3 minutes until everything looks light and fluffy. This step is actually really important because you’re incorporating air that helps create a better texture. Then mix in your vanilla and eggs until they’re fully combined. Stir in those freshly grated carrots.
Now add your dry ingredients to the wet stuff, but here’s where you need to be careful. Mix just until you don’t see any white flour streaks anymore, then stop. If you keep mixing, you’ll develop too much gluten and end up with tough cookies instead of tender ones. Nobody wants that.
Use a cookie scoop or a big spoon to drop about 2 tablespoons of dough onto your prepared sheet. Give them plenty of space, like 2-3 inches apart, because these spread quite a bit while baking. I learned this the hard way when I tried to fit too many on one sheet and ended up with one giant mega-cookie.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. You’re looking for edges that are just starting to brown and tops that look dry. They’ll seem a little underdone in the middle, but that’s exactly what you want. Let them hang out on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes to set up, then move them to a cooling rack. This is crucial because if you try to move them too soon, they’ll fall apart.
Melt your butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Once it’s completely melted, keep stirring and watch it carefully for the next 2-4 minutes. The color will slowly change from yellow to golden to this gorgeous deep amber brown. You’ll smell it too – it smells like toasted nuts and caramel. The second it hits that perfect color, take it off the heat because it can go from perfect to burnt really fast.
Mix your softened cream cheese with that gorgeous brown butter. Add your powdered sugar gradually, about a cup at a time, mixing well between additions. Stir in the vanilla, then start adding milk one tablespoon at a time until you get a frosting that’s fluffy and spreadable. Too thick and it won’t spread nicely. Too thin and it’ll slide right off the cookies.
Wait until your cookies are completely cool before frosting them. I know waiting is torture, but warm cookies will melt the frosting right off. Once they’re cool, spread a generous amount of frosting on each one. If you’re adding chopped nuts on top, do it while the frosting is still wet so they actually stick.
Notes
-
Use thick, dark baking sheets. Thin pans cause uneven baking and can lead to burnt bottoms. If you only have thin pans, double them up or reduce baking time by 1-2 minutes.
-
Make uniform cookies by using a cookie scoop. They’ll all bake evenly and look professional.
-
Quick cream cheese softening: Cut it into tiny cubes and spread them on a plate. They’ll soften in about 15 minutes.
-
Don’t over-mix the dough once you add the flour. Mix just until no white streaks remain. Over-mixing creates tough, dense cookies.
-
Test one cookie first. If you’re worried about spreading, bake just one cookie to see how it behaves. You can always add a tablespoon more flour if needed.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American