These Carrot Cake Cookies are soft, chewy, and incredibly easy to make using a simple cake mix. With warm spices, shredded carrots, and topped with cream cheese frosting, they deliver all the classic flavors of carrot cake with minimal effort!
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My parents’ anniversary is coming up, and since they had carrot cake for their wedding cake, I thought I’d make these tasty carrot cake cookies for them!
Growing up I was always bummed when they’d get carrot cake to celebrate their anniversary (I wanted something like my buttermilk chocolate cake- or German chocolate cake!)- because who wants to eat carrots in a cake?
This cookie variation of the cake is now up there with some of my favorite desserts.
Why This Recipe Works
Easy: These cookies come together very quickly and only need a few ingredients.
Cake Mix: I love making cookies using cake mix. From Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies to Lemon Cake Mix Cookies, these result in soft and chewy cookies that are delicious.
What You Need For Carrot Cake Cookies:
Boxed Cake Mix: I like to use Duncan Hines or the Betty Crocker brand.
Add-ins: Extra spices and a grated carrot take these cookies to the next level but if you don't have them the cookies will still be delicious.
Frosting: I love to whip a half batch of whipped cream frosting with a little cream cheese, heavy cream, and powdered sugar, but feel free to use store-bought cream cheese frosting if you don't have the time!
How to Make Carrot Cake Cookies:
- Step 1: Melt the butter and then mix with the cake mix, eggs, shredded carrots, and spices.
- Step 2: Scoop dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
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- Step 3: Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes.
- Step 4: Frost with cream cheese frosting and enjoy.
Pro Tip: No Flat Cookies
Using butter makes these cookies nice and fluffy. If you have to substitute the butter with vegetable oil, they will likely be fairly flat. I've found that baking the cookies for an extra 2 minutes helps to keep them a bit thicker.
A good carrot cake cookie recipe should be easy to make, thick, and chewy- and that’s exactly what this recipe is!
Frequently Asked Question
Store cookies, whether frosted or not, in an airtight container. They will last for a week if so!
No, the cake mix will already have those in it. However, I like giving the cookies a little more spice/flavor and texture.
The batter is super sticky and makes it hard to roll into nice even balls. To get perfect round cookies use a cookie/ice cream scoop.
Related Cookie Recipes
If you like this easy cookie recipe, don't miss my Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies, Grinch Cookies, Chewy Chocolate Cookies, Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies!
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Carrot Cake Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 Box Carrot Cake Mix
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup butter melted
Optional Ingredients
- 1 Medium Carrot- grated ½ cup
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ th teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ th teaspoon ground cloves
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cup butter softened to room temp
- 4 oz cream cheese softened to room temp
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- 5 tbs heavy cream
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- Pinch of salt
Optional Decorating Items
- Orange and Green Food Coloring
- Piping Bag
- Small Writing Tip
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl combine the carrot cake mix, eggs, melted butter, shredded carrots, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.1 Box Carrot Cake Mix, 2 eggs, ⅓ cup butter, 1 Medium Carrot- grated, ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ⅛ th teaspoon ground nutmeg, ⅛ th teaspoon ground cloves
- Scoop out cookie dough and place on prepared baking sheet. For perfect round cookies see notes below. *
- Bake for 9-11* minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
- While baking whip up the cream cheese frosting. Combine the butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer and cream until light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla, heavy cream, and salt and whip on high for a few minutes. Then mix in the powdered sugar one cup at a time.½ cup butter, 4 oz cream cheese, 2 teaspoon vanilla, 5 tbs heavy cream, 5 cups powdered sugar, Pinch of salt
- Scoop out 1 cup of frosting and split into two bowls, one bowl getting ⅔rds cup and orange food coloring and the other ⅓rd cup frosting and green food coloring.Orange and Green Food Coloring
- Top the cookies with white cream cheese frosting, pipe on a little carrot, and enjoy!Piping Bag, Small Writing Tip
Notes
Tips and Tricks
- *To get a nice round cookie, use a cookie/ice cream scoop since the batter tends to be very sticky.
- *If you are using butter, you will only need to bake the cookies for 9 minutes. If you are using oil, I find baking them for 11 minutes will help them to be a bit thicker/not as flat.
- *Using oil instead of butter tends to make the cookies flat and not nice and thick. Just keep that in mind if you substitute.
Lisa Killian says
This recipe is so easy and very tasty! Love it!