Carrot Cake Cookies

These soft and chewy carrot cake cookies are gluten free and vegan and have a rich, tangy (optional) cream cheese filling. Hearty oats, warming spices, shredded carrot, golden raisins, pecans – what's not to love? Video below!

We both absolutely love a good carrot cake (these carrot cake cupcakes are the BEST). While brainstorming some new holiday cookie recipes, we thought carrot cake sounded like fantastic inspiration for a cookie!

These decadent sandwich cookies are tender and chewy, perfectly spiced, packed with texture (carrots, raisins, nuts) and filled with a luscious cream cheese frosting. The cookies are also fantastic without the frosting, so you can make them either way.

You can make these carrot cake cookies ahead of time, so they're perfect for holiday entertaining. They'll be a welcome addition to our Thanksgiving dessert spread this year!

Ingredients

• Vegan butter: soften at room temperature.
• Cane sugar: you can substitute with coconut sugar if desired.
• Maple syrup: bring to room temperature.
• Vanilla extract
• Flax eggs: to make one flax egg, combine 1 tablespoon ground flax meal with 2 ½ tablespoon of water. Read more about flax eggs and how to use them here.
• Gluten free all purpose flour: if using regular all purpose flour, leave out the almond flour.
• Almond flour: we find that almond flour helps add more moisture to gluten free and vegan baked goods.
• Oats: old fashioned whole rolled oats work best.
• Carrots: Use whole carrots, not the baby carrots packed in water, which contain too much moisture.
• Raisins: we used golden raisins, but regular raisins (or even chopped dates) work, too.
• Chopped nuts: we used pecans, but walnuts would also be great.
• Spices & baking essentials: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, salt

Cream cheese frosting

If you decide to make the cream cheese frosting filling, you'll just need a few simple ingredients: vegan butter, vegan cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. Use leftovers on cakes or cupcakes!

Not a fan of cream cheese frosting? You can also use regular vanilla buttercream.

Instructions

Make the flax eggs by stirring together 2 tablespoon ground flax meal with 5 tablespoon water. Let thicken for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, get the oven preheating to 350˚F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Dry ingredients: Stir together all dry ingredients (GF flour, almond flour, oats, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, salt).

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, maple syrup and flax eggs and beat until incorporated.

Mix wet and dry: add the dry ingredients to wet and mix until well incorporated. Add in carrots, raisins and nuts.

Bake: Use a cookie scoop to portion the dough. Gently flatten each cookie with the back of a measuring cup (these do not spread much on their own). Bake for 9-11 minutes.

Make the frosting: While the cookies are baking, beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, ½ cup at a time, and beat until stiff. Add vanilla. Make sure to fully chill the cookies before frosting!

Tips & FAQs

• These cookies do not spread well on their own. We suggest flattening each cookie slightly using the bottom of a measuring cup before baking for best results. If you skip this step, you risk ending up with an under-baked center.
• The dough does not need to be chilled before baking. In fact, this will actually prevent them from spreading in the oven.
• For best results, chill the cookies for at least one hour before frosting.
• Use the small holes on a box grater to grate the carrots. Alternatively, you can use a food processor attachment to grate the carrots.

Variations

• For an even softer, basic cookie, leave out the chopped nuts and raisins.
• For a sweeter cookie, add chocolate chips.
• Use chopped dates in place of raisins.

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Storage

Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They're best eaten within 3-4 days. If you live somewhere warm, you may want to refrigerate so the frosting doesn't melt.

You can also freeze the carrot cake cookies without frosting. To do so, place the cookies flat (not touching) on parchment paper-lined tray and freeze, then transfer to a freezer bag.

Defrost cookies by allowing them to warm to room temperature for a few hours. Or, microwave each cookie for 30 seconds.

More vegan cookie recipes you'll love:

• Classic Sugar Cookies
• Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• Linzer Cookies
• Samoa Cookies
• Peanut Butter Cookies

If you make these vegan and gluten free carrot cake cookies, we’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below! We also love to see your creations on Instagram – tag us at @crowded_kitchen so we can see what you’ve been cooking.

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