Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches with Cream Cheese Frosting pack all the traditional flavors of a classic carrot cake but are super easy to make and are ready to eat in half the time.
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I love carrot cake because it's moist and delicious with a heavy crumb and is chock full of nuts and warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger; and is usually topped with a delightful cream cheese frosting. These Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches with Cream Cheese Frosting do just the trick!
Some places put little carrot decorations on there too, which is freaking adorable.
I adore a good carrot cake, but in general I have neither the time nor the patience for making layer cakes. And I know that carrot cakes can be made as sheet cakes, but half of the fun of a carrot cake is that perfect slice of orangey brown cake with creamy white frosting between the layers and little hints of pecans and raisins peeking out.
And now that being said, I love this recipe for carrot cake cookies, because sometimes you just don’t want to spend hours creating that perfect layer cake, but you still want all of the traditional flavors of a carrot cake.
Some other cookies you'll love:
Ingredients Needed
- Butter
- Brown Sugar
- Eggs
- Pure Vanilla Extract
- All purpose flour
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Cinnamon
- Salt
- Carrots
- Raisins
- Pecans
- Cream Cheese
- Powdered Sugar
Tips for Making the best Carrot Cake Cookies
The batter for these cookies is very thick even before you add the carrots, raisins and pecans. Try not to overmix the batter, as that will result in a tougher cookie.
Measuring Pecans – the recipe calls for a half of cup of pecans, chopped. This means measure out a half cup of pecans, and then chop them. If you chop them first and then measure you’ll actually end up with a much larger amount of pecans by weight because the smaller pieces take up less room in the measuring cup.
The frosting can be made up to a week ahead of time. Just let it come to room temperature, and then beat it with a hand mixer for a minute or two to get it fluffy again before using.
I chose to make cookie sandwiches for this recipe, but you could also just frost the tops of the cookies and have individual cookie servings if you’d like.
The cookies do not spread much in the oven, so if you’d like a wider, flatter cookie you can spray the bottom of a glass with non-stick spray and use it to press down on the cookie dough before baking. If you leave it as is, you will have a rounder, taller cookie.
Substitutions and Additions for Carrot Cake Cookies
Light or dark brown sugar will work here. I almost always use dark brown because it has more flavor.
White raisins would be AMAZING in the cookies.
Pecans are traditional, but you could use chopped walnuts if you have them on hand.
I only used cinnamon, but you could add other spices if you’d like – nutmeg, cloves, allspice would all taste great. ¼ teaspoon to ½ teaspoon of any.
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Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup grated carrots
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup pecans chopped
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 4 tablespoon butter room temperature
- 1.5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until well combined, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Add the baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt and mix to combine, then add the flour and mix to combine.
- Gently stir in the carrots, raisins and pecans. Batter will be very thick.
- Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with parchment. If you want larger flatter cookies, spray the bottom of a glass with non-stick spray and press down on each cookie to flatten it a bit.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until edges of the cookies are browned and the cookies are set. Cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes and then remove to a wire cooling rack.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Using a hand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese until well combined.
- Add the powdered sugar a half cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
- Frost the cookies either individually or add frosting the the bottom of a cookie, and press another cookie on top to make carrot cake cookie sandwiches.
I would love to try these cookies but the recipe doesn’t appear. Am I missing something? Snooping list, tips, substations and links to other recipes are but no recipe for these. Would appreciate the recipe. They look scrumptious. Thanks
Hi Kate! The recipe card is not appearing? I'm so sorry about that - it shows on my end!
I'll copy the recipe here for you! I hope you love them as much as I do!
Sara
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
Cream Cheese Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
INSTRUCTIONS
To Make Carrot Cake Cookies
Preheat oven to 325.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until well combined, about 3-4 minutes.
Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Add the baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt and mix to combine, then add the flour and mix to combine.
Gently stir in the carrots, raisins and pecans. Batter will be very thick.
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with parchment. If you want larger flatter cookies, spray the bottom of a glass with non-stick spray and press down on each cookie to flatten it a bit.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until edges of the cookies are browned and the cookies are set. Cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes and then remove to a wire cooling rack.
To Make the Cream Cheese Frosting
Using a hand mixer, cream together the butter and cream cheese until well combined.
Add the powdered sugar a half cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
Frost the cookies either individually or add frosting the the bottom of a cookie, and press another cookie on top to make carrot cake cookie sandwiches.
I can hardly wait to try this!!! Carrot cake was our family fav growing up! My older Brother and I have Birthdays two days apart in Oct. It's always been a humous family fact that we were so poor that Mama just baked one Carrot cake for us to share! Lol! I will be sure to take him some of these! Thanks for sharing this recipe! ♡♥︎♡
I hope you love them as much as we do!!! My husband's birthday is a week from mine, so I'm completely familiar with having to share birthday parties! 😀
Do you have the calorie number, sounds good.
Could the raisins and pecans be omitted from the recipe? Will the cookies turn out without those ingredients?
I think you definitely could, but I haven't tested it that way, so I'm not sure what that would do to the texture of the finished cookie. If you try it, please let me know how it turns out!!
Sara
Hi Sara,
I would love to try this recipe. I was curious on any changes with flour or other ingredients and cooking time at 8300 ft , altitude?
Thank you for all you do,
Diane
Hi Diane! I'm so sorry, but I've never lived at high altitude, so I'm not familiar with how to adjust, and I dont want to steer you in the wrong direction. For anything baking related, I always turn to King Arthur Flour - https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/resources/high-altitude-baking - Here is a link to a page talking specifically about high altitude baking! I hope it helps, and please let me know how the cookies turn out!!
Sara