Description

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?

Ingredients

Scale

1/2 cup vegan butter, softened to room temp
3/4 cup cane sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup maple syrup (bring to room temp)
2 flax eggs (for each egg, mix 1 tbsp flax meal with 2 ½ tbsp water)
2 cups gluten free all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup finely grated carrot*
1 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup chopped nuts of choice (we used pecans)

Cream Cheese Frosting (optional):

1/2 cup vegan butter, softened to room temp
8 oz vegan cream cheese
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350˚F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Make the flax eggs by stirring together 2 tbsp ground flax meal with 5 tbsp water. Let sit to thicken for 15 minutes.
In a medium mixing bowl, stir together all dry ingredients: gluten free flour, almond flour, oats, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a separate mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, maple syrup and flax eggs and beat until incorporated.
Add the dry ingredients to wet and mix until well incorporated. Add in carrots, raisins and nuts and continue mixing.
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, then let cool completely.
While the cookies are baking, beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and beat until stiff. Add vanilla. Make sure to fully chill the cookies before frosting! You can either make a sandwich cookie, or spread icing on top of each individual cookie.

Notes

Use the small holes on a box grater to grate the carrots. Alternatively, you can use a food processor attachment to grate the carrots.

For best results, chill the cookies in the refrigerator for 1 hour before frosting.

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Category: Dessert
Method: Oven
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 Cookie
Calories: 276
Sugar: 29.5 g
Sodium: 201.7 mg
Fat: 8.9 g
Saturated Fat: 2.9 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Carbohydrates: 45.4 g
Fiber: 2.3 g
Protein: 2.5 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg

Keywords: carrot cake cookies