Carrot Cake Cookies

Carrot cake fans—get ready to meet your new favorite cookie. This flavor-packed mash-up combines two iconic desserts—fluffy carrot cake and classic oatmeal cookies—for the ultimate shareable Easter dessert. If you're not in the mood to bake a full layered cake, this simple recipe combines all the flavors of the classic in a fraction of the time. Read on for all the tips you need to help you get them just right:

The carrots:
Although it might be tempting, please do not buy pre-shredded carrots. We recommend using the large holes on a box grater for the best texture and size, but if you're pressed for time, you can use the grater attachment on your food processor if you've got one.

The glaze:
We top these cookies with a simple cream cheese glaze to make them extra sweet. While you don’t have to use it, it adds a sweet, tangy touch to these cookies that we can’t get enough of. Prefer something a bit thicker? You can use our cream cheese frosting instead. 

How to make the best carrot cake cookies:
— Squeeze your carrots first. Like with classic carrot cake, carrots keep these cookies soft and moist. BUT, there is such a thing as too moist. To avoid overly saturated batter, before adding the carrots to the bowl, lay them on a paper towel or clean tea towel in one layer and top with another paper towel or clean dish rag. Roll the towel, pressing the water out of the carrots. You should only need to do this once to remove some liquid from the carrots.
— Chill your dough. Trust us—it’s worth it to chill your cookie dough balls for at least 10 minutes after scooping them. Time in the refrigerator will allow the dry ingredients time to absorb moisture and help keep the cookies from spreading too quickly as they bake.
— Use a piping bag. For an extra sharp cream cheese drizzle, cut a tiny hole into the corner of a disposable plastic storage bag or piping bag, fill with icing, and hold the bag perpendicular to the cookie as you pipe. It is also 100% acceptable to use a knife to smear the cream cheese glaze on the bottoms of the cookies and sandwich them together.

Make ahead & storage:
After scooping the dough, place the dough balls on a sheet tray in the freezer to completely harden. Move them to a zip-top freezer-safe bag and they will keep for up to 9 months. You can also bake them and freeze the baked cookies for up to 1 month. Since the frosting contains cream cheese, it's best to refrigerate any extra frosting. Refrigeration will dry the cookies out so it's best to frost these as you're ready to eat them and keep leftover unfrosted cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

If you've made this recipe, we'd love to know how you liked it—be sure to leave us a comment and rating down below!