So you know you’ve stumbled on a good cookie recipe when you bring it to duck camp and your sister arrives 5 days after you, tastes the cookie and mentions how great they – after 5 days. Carrot cake is such a classic Easter dessert to me, but our Easter celebrations are kind of casual and while we do sometimes have fancy desserts we also spend the afternoon and evening playing games around the table. These cookies are a great, grab and enjoy, but don’t worry about getting out any more of the fancy china dessert that is still prefect for the season.
These carrot cake cookies definitely remind me of a cake because they are moist with a tender crumb to them. They’re chock full of not only carrots but raisins and nuts too – a must for me in a good carrot cake. And what is carrot cake without cream cheese frosting? We brighten this frosting up with a little bit of orange zest.
Here’s what you need:
First thing we’re going to do is cream some butter into a combination of granulated and brown sugar and until light and fluffy. Then add in a couple eggs and some vanilla.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg (I always fresh grate my nutmeg). Slowly add the flour to the creamed mixture and stir until just combined. Add the carrots and stir until combined.
Stir in pecans and raisins.
And here’s your dough – it’s a little on the soft side and not too stiff like some cookie doughs. It is like a hybrid cake and cookie dough, and you know it’s going to turn out soft and cakey cookie form.
Scoop onto a parchment lined baking sheet in 1 and a ½ T portions (I use my OXO medium cookie scoop). Then bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes.
Cook on a baking sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cool, make the frosting. Start by beating together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. The stir in a little orange zest.
Beat in vanilla and powdered sugar.
To frost the cookies, I like to put the frosting in a Ziploc bag and snip off a corner to make a make-shift pastry bag. I find it so much easier to frost cookies this way versus spreading frosting with a knife – especially when I’m not doing any more decorating. Just gently squeeze to push the frosting out and onto the cookies.
Store cookies in an airtight container so they stay moist, making sure to put a sheet of parchment between the layers. I can attest that they stayed moist for at least a week!
Adapted from Cooking Classy but tweaked things to my liking with fresh ground nutmeg, raisins (you need raisins in carrot cake, in my opinion) and orange zest in the frosting.
- 3 c flour
- 1 t baking soda
- ½ t baking powder
- ½ t salt
- 2 t ground cinnamon
- ½ t ground ginger
- ¼ t fresh grated nutmeg
- 2 sticks, 1 c unsalted butter, softened
- 1 c sugar
- ½ c dark brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 t vanilla
- 2 ½ c finely grated carrots, about a pound
- ½ c chopped pecans
- ½ c raisins chopped
- FROSTING:
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- 10 T butter, softened
- 2 t orange zest
- 1 t vanilla
- 3 c powdered sugar
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- Cream together butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes on medium speed in a stand mixer. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until almost combined. Stir in carrots. Stir in pecans and raisins until just combined.
- Drop 1 ½ T portions of the dough on baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
- Bake 10-12 minutes until set and still soft to the touch.
- Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the frosting. Beat together cream cheese and butter until well mixed. Beat in orange zest. Beat in vanilla and powdered sugar.
- Frost cookies. I use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off to make a makeshift pastry bag.
- Store in an airtight container with parchment between the layers of cookies.
Sound delicious, but I prefer dates to raisins.
I’ll have to try dates sometime, I love dates!