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Vegan Carrot Cake Cookies

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These Vegan Carrot Cake Cookies are a perfect treat with just the right amount of sweetness without overpowering your sweet-tooth. A perfect spring-time cookie or can be enjoyed all year long!

Vegan Carrot Cake Cookies topped with an indulgent vegan cream cheese frosting

Carrot Cake Cookies have everything you love about the classic Vegan Carrot Cake Recipe, but with a twist! These are basically mini carrot cakes that are easily transportable and in the form of a cute little cookie.

Picture this – Everyone really wants you to make a carrot cake for the upcoming get-together, and although you have a killer recipe for carrot cake, you just don’t have the time.

Enter these carrot cake cookies. You show up with these, and although, no, it’s not cake – your crew gets overly excited when they realize they can snag a couple at a time, don’t need a fork and a plate to eat them, AND they taste just as good as that cake they requested.

All the flavors and spices you’d expect in something carrot cake flavored. The freshness that just gets you excited for spring and warmer weather.

These Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies are a healthy treat without tasting healthy at all!

Carrot Cake Cookies Ingredient Spotlight

I decided to up the health factor just a smidge (mostly so I could get away with eating like 3 and maybe even call it breakfast…).

  • Oats – yup, add the oats, and you’re getting more fiber. More healthy carbs. More protein. More texture. More of the good stuff to fill you up.
  • Whole Wheat Flour – I decided to go with a whole wheat flour on this one rather than your normal all-purpose flour. Again, more whole grain foods are definitely the way to go, and you can’t even tell the difference in taste on this one.
  • Carrots – Well this one’s obvious. You definitely need to add carrots if we’re going for a carrot cake cookie. If you’ve never had carrot cake or carrot cake cookies, I’m sure there’s so much confusion over how the hell this can be any good? I mean – does it taste like a salad in cookie form??? Absolutely not! The spices and sweetener compliment the carrots in the best of ways. Kind of like zucchini bread!
  • Walnuts – I love the addition of walnuts in my carrot cake. It adds a crunch. A texture. But of course, you can omit them if you’re not into the nuts.
  • Coconut – Same goes here. You do not have to add coconut if you don’t like it. I just feel like it adds a spring-y fresh element that pairs nicely with the other ingredients.
  • Raisins – I know this one’s totally controversial. Do raisins belong in cookies? Do raisins belong in anything? Maybe they ruin cookies for you. Guess what,  you can leave them out if you’d like!
  • So I know I said you can leave out the walnuts, coconut, and raisins, and while that’s true, I wouldn’t necessarily leave them all out. Omitting just one won’t make a difference in the texture. Omitting all probably will.
  • Pure Maple Syrup – I love this alternative for sweetening cookies and baking goods. Just make sure you’re using pure maple syrup, not the pancake syrup.
Stacked carrot cake cookies with fresh carrots in the background.

So now that we’ve talked about some of the key ingredients, you’re probably wondering how they all come together to make this delicious treat!

How do you make carrot cake cookies from scratch? Girlfriend, it couldn’t be easier!

Step by Step Instructions for Carrot Cake Cookies

Step 1 – Preheat oven and line 2 baking sheets with parchment

Step 2 – Whisk oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and ginger

Step 3 – Add carrots, walnuts, coconut, and raisins, and stir.

Step 4 – In another bowl, whisk syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla and add to the dry ingredients. Stir to combine.

Step 5 – Scoop dough out onto baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Slightly flatten.

Step 6 – Bake 15-17 minutes. Rest about 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Step 7 – To make frosting, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in vanilla. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and slowly mix in. Add more sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until you’ve reached desired consistency. Frost cooled cookies.

So easy, right? I love everything about these carrot cake cookies:

  • easy to find ingredients
  • pretty damn fail-proof
  • quicker than making cake
  • totally friendly on the wallet

Insider Pro Tips

Grate your carrots the right way

When you grate your carrots, be sure to grate them as small as possible in order to get the most uniform cookies. Sure, a larger grate will work, but the slices won’t look as neat. Plus having the finer carrot pieces ensures they get evenly dispersed throughout the cookie.

Use a scoop

If you want all your cookies to be the same size, use a cookie scoop to round out out your dough. This also promotes even cooking throughout the cookies.

If you only have rolled oats on hand

I don’t know about you, but if I only have rolled oats on hand, I’m not going to make a special trip to grab instant or quick cooking oats. Just pulse the rolled oats in the blender or food processor a few times, and you’ll be good to go!

Carrot Cake Cookies FAQs

How do you transport cookies?

I would highly recommend frosting these until you get them where they need to go. You run the risk of messing up the frosting if you do. The other option is to only frost some of them, making those the ones that are on the top layer of your transportation container.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe last option is to frost them a couple of days before you need to take them where you’re going and then let them set in the refrigerator. This will give the carrot cake cookies and frosting time to set up a bit and won’t get quite as messed up if a cookie is stacked on top.

How long should you let cookies cool before storing?

You definitely want these to cool all the way. Maybe 2-3 hours or so, depending on the temperature in your home.

How do I know when they are done baking?

For this (and most) cookies, I like to go for a slightly underdone bake when I pull them out of the oven. They’ll cook a couple more minutes on the baking sheet and then will stay softer for longer.

What are some different variations I can try?

You can easily turn these into sandwich cookies. Just match up 2 cookies of similar sizes (this is where the cookie scoop comes in handy) and smash some frosting in between.u003cbr/u003eAdd different chips or nuts in the batter. Wouldn’t cinnamon or white chocolate chips be so good in this cookie?

How long will carrot cake cookies last and how do I store them?

They’ll last about 5-7 days, depending on how you store them. Longer if you store them in the refrigerator, in an air-tight container. More in the 5-day range if you leave them at room temperature. Feel free to freeze them once completely cooled in an air-tight container and defrost when you’re ready to indulge again.

Hand holding a vegan cream cheese frosted cookie.

Looking for more Vegan Dessert Recipes?

LEMON BLUEBERRY POUND CAKE
VEGAN CARROT CAKE

If you are feeling more like a vegan chocolate treat, you have got to check out this Vegan Chocolate Fondue, it will make for a fun family activity or date night idea!

Keeping the chocolate theme going, we also have Vegan Thin Mints, Vegan Peanut Butter Eggs and Plant-based Chocolate Chip Cookies


Now that you know how to easy it is to make this carrot cake cookie recipe, please give it a star rating below and comment letting me know how it turned out for you.

Vegan Carrot Cake Cookies

Vegan Carrot Cake Cookies topped with an indulgent vegan cream cheese frosting

These Vegan Carrot Cake Cookies are a perfect treat with just the right amount of sweetness without overpowering your sweet-tooth. A perfect spring-time cookie or can be enjoyed all year long!

Holly Waterfall
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 17 minutes
Total Time 32 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 cup quick cooking oats
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 1/2 cup grated carrots
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1/2 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/2 cup raisins optional
  • 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the quick oats, whole wheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and ginger until combined.
  • Add the grated carrots, chopped walnuts, coconut, and raisins if using. Stir until combined.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the syrup, melted coconut oil, and vanilla. Stir combined liquid into the dry ingredients until it all comes together.
  • Using a 1/4 cup, scoop dough out onto the prepared baking sheet. Arrange scoops about 2 inches apart. With your fingers, slightly flatten the mounds. Note that these will not spread much, so the way you put them in the oven is how they will look coming out.
  • Bake for 15-17 minutes or until set and becoming golden. Allow to rest about 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to wire rack. Cool completely before frosting, if desired.
  • In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until completely smooth. Add vanilla and mix through.
  • Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and slowly mix in. Once combined, add more powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until you've reached your desired consistency. Frost cooled cookies.

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