Name: Easy Carrot Cake Cookies
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 40 min
Ingredients: 1 cup salted butter; 1 cup sugar; ½ cup brown sugar; 2 eggs; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 3 cups all purpose flour; 2 ¼ teaspoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon baking soda; ½ teaspoon salt; 2 cups carrots (grated); 1 cup pecans (chopped); 1 container (small pre-made cream cheese frosting)

Easy Carrot Cake Cookies are a fun and easy twist on the classic moist, spicy, cream cheese-frosted cake so many people love. Don't tell your kids they're carrot cookies; just let them enjoy the sweet tang of the cream cheese frosting.

These Easy Carrot Cake Cookies are great for gatherings where you don't want to carry, cut, and serve a traditional carrot cake. Single-serving desserts like Easy Carrot Cake Cookies make transport and clean-up quick and easy!

Three Ways to Shred Carrots Quickly

Use a [easyazon_link identifier="B011B8M2GO" locale="US" tag="allshecooksblog-20"]box grater[/easyazon_link]. A box grater sits very stably on your cutting board or counter top which allows you to get the job done without grating your fingers.
Use a [easyazon_link identifier="B00MVWGFKO" locale="US" tag="allshecooksblog-20"]food processor[/easyazon_link]. You can process a pile of carrots into lovely shreds in seconds with a food processor that has a grating blade. If you give the processor bowl and blade a quick rinse after you're done, the clean-up is quick too.
Buy already shredded carrots. Bring home a bag of pre-shredded carrots and this Easy Carrot Cake Cookies recipe practically makes itself.

Step Up Your Frosting Game for Easy Carrot Cake Cookies

It's not hard to add a little pizazz to storebought frosting if you want to do something a little fun. Use a spatula to scrape the store bought frosting into a bowl and experiment with adding small amounts of vanilla extract, lemon zest, or food coloring. Make the recipe your own by adding your own little twist.

If you want to make it from scratch use our Easy Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe. (Easy Carrot Cake Cookies and Easy Cream Cheese Frosting... notice a theme here?)

How to Make Easy Carrot Cake Cookies Step-by-Step

Step #1: Gather your ingredients before you start so you can throw these together quickly.

1 cup salted butter
1 cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups all purpose flour
2 ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups carrots, grated
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 container (small) pre-made cream cheese frosting

Step #2: Preheat the oven to 375.

Step #3: Spray a [easyazon_link identifier="B01FW4ZFJ4" locale="US" tag="allshecooksblog-20"]whoopie pie pan[/easyazon_link] (which is what we used) or other cookie sheet with non-stick spray.

Step #4: In a large bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Cream the butter, sugars and eggs together. Add the vanilla and mix.

Step #5: Mix in the cinnamon, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add in flour and mix well.

Step #6: Fold in shredded carrot.

Step #7: Once the batter is thoroughly mixed, drop into greased whoopie pie pan.

Step #8: Bake at 375° for 13-15 minutes. Remove from oven, allow to fully cool, and frost with cream cheese frosting. Decorate with [easyazon_link identifier="B01N7DHCXF" locale="US" tag="allshecooksblog-20"]chopped pecans[/easyazon_link] around the edges of the cookies.

An Easy Carrot Cake Cookies Variation

Instead of frosting each cookie individually and adding pecan pieces, try making a carrot cake cookie whoopie pie by adding a thick layer of cream cheese frosting onto a carrot cake cookie and adding another carrot cake cookie on top. Yum!

Looking for more cookie recipes?

Don't just stop at Easy Carrot Cake Cookies! Try these recipes:

Recipe