Ingredients
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extraact
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 c. packed shredded carrots (from 2 medium carrots)
3/4 c. unsweetened shredded dried coconut
1/2 c. raisins
2 c. old-fashioned oats
1 c. powdered sugar
1 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tsp. milk
1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
Preparation
Step 1Preheat oven to 350º and line a baking sheet with parchment. In a bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, until incorporated, then add vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture until well-combined.
Step 2 Stir in carrots, coconut, raisins, and oats and mix until just combined.
Step 3Scoop 1” rounds of dough onto baking sheet. Bake until golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool.
Step 4Make glaze: Beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until combined. Drizzle glaze over each cookie and let harden before serving.
Give the carrots a squeeze Like with classic carrot cake, carrots keep this cookie soft and moist, BUT there is such a thing as too moist. To avoid overly saturated batter, before adding the carrots to the bowl, lay them on a paper towel or clean tea towel in one layer and top with another paper towel or clean dish rag. Roll the towel, pressing the water out of the carrots. You should only need to do this once to remove some liquid from the carrots. Chill the dough While it’s not 100% mandatory, if you’ve got the time and space, chill your cookie dough balls after scooping them. Even 20 minutes in the refrigerator will allow the dry ingredients time to absorb moisture and help keep the cookies from spreading too quickly as they bake. Get the perfect drizzle For an extra sharp cream cheese drizzle, cut a tiny hole into the corner of a disposable plastic storage bag or piping bag, fill with icing, and hold the bag perpendicular to the cookie as you pipe. It is also 100% acceptable to use a knife to smear the cream cheese frosting on the bottoms of the cookies and sandwich them together. Make them ahead After scooping the dough, place the dough balls on a sheet tray in the freezer to completely harden. Move them to a zip-top freezer-safe bag and they will keep for up to 9 months. You can also bake them and freeze the baked cookies for up to 1 month. Since the frosting contains cream cheese, it is best to refrigerate any extra frosting. Refrigeration will dry the cookies out so it’s best to frost these as you’re ready to eat them and keep leftover unfrosted cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Feeling ambitious? Whip up a batch of refreshing oat milk to dunk your cookies in or make some caramel for an extra decadent drizzle on top. For another fun twist on Carrot Cake, try our Carrot Cake Cheesecake. If you’ve made this recipe, we’d love to know how you liked it—be sure to leave us a comment and rating down below! Editor’s Note: The introduction to this recipe was updated on April 6, 2022 to include more information about the dish.
