Carrot Cake Cookies
These carrot cake cookies are very chewy and full of carrots and spices. These cookies are stuffed with cream cheese filling. They are an even easier and more fun to eat version of carrot cake!
These carrot cake cookies combine the joy of fresh baked cookies with the springtime fun of carrot cake. The cookies are soft and chewy and the cream cheese filling tastes even better than a cream cheese frosting. They are perfect desserts for Easter or any spring celebrations!
For other carrot cake recipes try, Pumpkin Carrot Cake, Mini Carrot Cake, and Brown Butter Carrot Cake.
Why This Carrot Cake Cookie Recipe Works
- Carrot cake flavor- Who doesn’t love the taste of carrot cake? It is a fun twist on one of my favorite cakes and it is even better in cookie-form!
- Cheesecake filling- These cookies have cheese cake where traditional carrot cake has cream cheese frosting. It fills the same role, but tastes even better!
- Easy recipe- While making a cheesecake stuffed cookie takes a few extra steps, this carrot cake cookies recipe is much easier than a full cheesecake or whole cake and are broken down into easy to follow steps.
Step by Step Recipe Video
Ingredient Notes for Carrot Cake Cookies
Here are some notes on the ingredients. For a full list of ingredients, check out the recipe card below.
- Cream Cheese- Pull this out 2 hours before baking to get it to room temperature.
- Unsalted butter- Melt this before you need it so it has time to cool to room temperature.
- Brown sugar- I used light brown sugar for this, but dark will work as well.
- Egg yolk- Pull the large eggs out 2 hours before baking to get it to room temperature.
- Carrots- These need to be freshly grated to get the correct texture. Make sure that you grate them finely so they mix into your batter nicely. The fine side of a box grater will work.
- Powdered sugar- Be sure to sift your powdered sugar for best results to avoid gritty frosting.
Ingredient Substitutions
- Dairy free- You can use your favorite dairy free options for this recipe!
- Gluten free- I haven’t tested this gluten free. Let me know if you do.
Step By Step Instructions – Cream Cheese Filling
Here is how to make this cream cheese filling in 2 easy steps. This uses a hand mixer.
STEP 1: Mix cheesecake filling. Put the cream cheese in a small bowl and beat with a hand mixer on high speed until it is creamy. Then, add in the sugar and vanilla extract and mix it until it is combined.
STEP 2: Freeze cheesecake. Place wax paper on a cookie sheet, then use a 1/2 TBSP to scoop 14 dollops of cheesecake. Place them in the freezer until they are solid. Be gentle to not deflate your cheesecake.
Step By Step Instructions – Cookies
Here is how to make and bake these carrot cake cookies. This recipe uses an electric mixer. I used a stand mixer with paddle attachment.
STEP 1: Prep dry ingredients. Grate carrots using a fine grater until you have 1 packed cup full. Then, use paper towels to absorb the excess moisture.
Next sift together the all purpose flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
STEP 2: Wet ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer mix the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar on high speed for 2 minutes.
STEP 3: Combine. Add the grated carrots, vanilla extract, and egg yolks to the wet ingredients. Mix on medium speed until combined.
Then, add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until combined.
STEP 4: Prep. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Let the dough rest for 10 minutes to allow the gluten to absorb.
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STEP 5: Scoop dough. Use a large cookie scoop (2 TBSP or 2 oz) to scoop cookie dough balls. Before removing them from the scoop press your thumb into the dough to create an indent deep into the cookie. Place a cheesecake dollop inside and work the dough back over it.
After creating all of your dough balls place them back in the freezer for 10 minutes to get them cold to prevent spreading.
STEP 6: Bake cookies. Place 6 cookie dough balls per prepared baking sheet and bake 1 sheet at a time. Bake each sheet 13-15 minutes.
Tip: Be extra careful not to knock the air out of the cheesecake.
STEP 7: Cool. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled I recommend chilling them before eating.
Decorating the Cookies
This part is optional, but makes the cookies SO cute! Plus the tangy cream cheese frosting is delicious. Make sure you have cooled cookies before decorating.
STEP 1: Beat cream cheese and butter. Combine butter and cream cheese, then beat on high speed until creamy. Then, add the powdered sugar and vanilla and mix again until combined. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl.
STEP 2: Dye. Place 2/3 of the frosting into a small bowl and 1/3 into a separate bowl. Use orange food gel dye to dye the 2/3 frosting orange and dye the 1/3 green.
STEP 3: Pipe. Pipe one carrot on top of each cookie. I used a Wilton 4 tip for the carrot and a Wilton 65 for the leaves.
Expert Baking Tips
- Be very gentle every time you handle the cheesecake filling as it is easy to deflate a cheesecake if you knock it too much.
- Properly measure your flour- Make sure the flour is spooned and leveled. If you stick the measuring cup directly into the flour, it will compact the flour giving you too much flour. Compacted flour can cause the cookies to not spread.
- If the cookies are spreading, make sure you are using parchment paper on the cookie sheet. If they are still spreading too much this could be the butter was too warm before adding the ingredients. If it still spreads too much, you chill the cookie dough balls for 10-15 minutes. This recipe has high moisture so chilling is extra important.
- If you live at high altitude, add an extra 2 Tablespoons of flour. This will help with the spread.
- The cookies should be slightly underdone, because they will continue to cook as they cool. This helps to make sure they have the right texture and don’t over bake.
- Make sure to grate fresh carrots and absorb enough moisture from them. There can be too much moisture until you absorb it, but letting them dry out in the air can also make them hard and unpleasant. I find full size carrots easier to grate, but baby carrots are fine.
FAQ
It would be more challenging to get a satisfying cheesecake filling in a smaller cookie. I have not recipe tested this as a smaller thumbprint cookie.
Yes they can! Store the cookie dough balls in an airtight container or use plastic wrap. Store in the freezer for 30 days. Let the cookie dough balls thaw before baking.
Since the cheesecake filling needs to be frozen these cookies cannot be chilled overnight in the fridge. However, you can create the cookie dough balls and freeze them overnight. then, let them sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before baking them.
Recipe Variations
- You can skip the cream cheese filling.
- You can also choose not to the top the cookie with the carrot decoration
Special Tools
- Parchment paper: I use premade sheets of parchment paper vs the roll of parchment paper. It makes baking a lot easier!
- Large cookie scoop: I love this OXO cookie scoop.
Storing and Freezing
Store the carrot cake cookies in the refrigerator in an air-tight container up to 5 days.
Freezing
Freeze the baked cookies in an airtight container, such as a freezer bag, and freeze up to 30 days. Thaw for 1-2 hours before eating.
Other Cookie Recipes To Try
Try These Other Cookie Recipes
Make sure to leave a STAR REVIEW if you loved this recipe! Make sure to tag me on Instagram @stephaniesweettreats. To get more ideas follow me on Pinterest.
Carrot Cake Cookies
Ingredients
Cheesecake Filling
- 6 oz Cream cheese, room temperature
- 3 TBSP White granulated sugar
- 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
Carrot Cookies
- 3 cups All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Ground nutmeg
- 1 cup Unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 cup Brown sugar, packed light or dark
- 1/2 cup White granulated sugar
- 1 cup Finely grated carrots, Make sure to grate them fresh. Don't use pre-shredded
- 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
- 2 Large egg yolks, room temperature
Frosting for Decoration
- 2 oz Cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 TBSP Unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup Powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Cheesecake Filling
- In a small bowl using a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese on high speed until creamy. Add in the sugar and vanilla and mix until combined.6 oz Cream cheese, 3 TBSP White granulated sugar, 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
- Place wax paper on a cookie sheet. Use a 1/2 TBSP to scoop 14 cheesecake dollops. Place in the freezer. Let it freeze until solid.
Carrot Cake Cookies
- Grate the carrots using the fine grater. Also, make sure its a packed 1 cup. Then, use 2 paper towels to soak it up. Repeat until a lot of the moisture is taken out.1 cup Finely grated carrots
- In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.3 cups All-purpose flour, 1 tsp Baking soda, 1 tsp Salt, 2 tsp Ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp Ground nutmeg
- Using a mixer, mix the melted butter (make sure it is cooled completely), brown sugar, and sugar on high speed for 2 minutes.1 cup Unsalted butter, 1 cup Brown sugar, 1/2 cup White granulated sugar
- Add in the grated carrots, vanilla, and egg yolks. Mix on medium until combined.1 tsp Pure vanilla extract, 2 Large egg yolks
- Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes to allow the gluten to absorb into the dough.
- Use a large cookie scoop ( 2oz or 2 TBSP) and scoop the dough. Before removing the cookie dough ball from the scoop. Press your thumb into the dough. Create a deep well into the cookie. Place the frozen cheesecake dollop into the hole. Then, cover the cheesecake filling with the cookie dough. Place the cookies back in the freezer for 10 minutes to get them cold before baking to prevent the wetness from causing spreading.
- Place 6 cookie dough balls per cookie sheet. Bake 1 sheet at a time. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Be careful not to jostle the cookies too much and deflate the cheesecake.
- Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. They taste best if stored in the fridge.
Frosting for Decoration
- This part is optional, but it makes the cookies so cute! Using a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on high speed. Then, add in the powdered sugar and vanilla and mix until smooth.2 oz Cream cheese, 2 TBSP Unsalted butter, 3/4 cup Powdered sugar, 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
- Place 2/3rds of the frosting in one small bowl and the other 1/3rd into another bowl. Use food gel dye to dye the bowl with more frosting orange and the other green.
- Pipe one carrot on top of the cookies. I used Wilton 4 for the carrot and Wilton 65 for the leaves.
Hi, the scoop you have listed under special tools is a 3 tablespoon scoop but the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons. I noticed a lot of comments of extra batter so I was wondering Which is correct?
Thanks!
Hi! I read that the cookie batter is purposely made a little drier because of the moist cheesecake filling but i wondering if adding a tsp of milk in the cookie batter would make these more moist? Or would it ruin the outcome?
These are very good cookies! But I had a lot of dough left over. I used 2 TBSP to scoop the dough and ended up with 7 extra cookies that didn’t get any filling in them.
I made these cookies for a coworker friend and they were a HIT! Super easy to make, and delicious! Definitely going to be going in my rotation.
Loved these cookies! I made them smaller because I wanted more cookies for work. I stuffed them with a tsp of filling. They came out awesome!
Thank you!
These cookies took longer to make than I expected, but they still turned out delicious! I took them to work and someone told me they may be a tad salty? I didn’t really get that…but maybe next time I’ll do a little less and see if there’s really a difference. The cream cheese filling makes the cookies even better!
I doubled this recipe and got 28 cookies out of it. Only one wasn’t filled, ran out of the filling(ate some of it haha). I did disregard the measuring sizes for the scoops in the recipe because there was much more filling and dough left over. So for the cookie dough I measured 68 grams on the scale per cookies, and the filling I put ONE tablespoon that was frozen in the middle, not half a tablespoon. Because there was with a lot left over and didn’t want to waste it! Also, my cookie dough was pretty crumbly and initially I thought there was too much flour in this recipe(I did the spoon & level method) and that they wouldn’t bake right. But I went ahead and baked them anyways and was surprised they actually turned out fine! Overall, it is a good recipe but maybe queak it up to your liking of cookie. They are super chewy which I love!
So the cookie dough is more dry, because the cheesecake center has a lot of moisture. So they balance each other. Although when I made it wasn’t crumbly. I’m glad you liked these!
Has anyone successfully added raisins to this recipe? I’m definitely a die hard / for life / ALWAYS raisins in my carrot cake person. Only problem I can think of is the size of the raisins may lead to the filling seeping out?! Hoping someone has tried and had positive results 🤞🏻
I know this is a little late, but I added raisins to half the batter. I also LOVE raisins! They were PERFECT and a huge hit. I used golden raisins.
My family ADORED these! I first spotted the recipe on your instagram page. (Thank you for posting a short video of the process. It was helpful to see it done and much more convenient than an entire full-length video!) I knew I had to give them a try as we’re grab-and-go people who don’t ever manage to eat a regular cake. These hit the spot! They satisfied the want for carrot cake, but were a million times more convenient and they were a beautifully chewy yet still soft and cake-adjacent cookie. I’m not sure how you did it, but these are genius and I’ll be keeping the recipe in my rotation. Thank you so much!
*They really are much better out of the fridge, as indicated in the recipe. I got too curious and tried one before I’d chilled them, and while it was good, it wasn’t anywhere near as good as they are out of the fridge.
Amazing cookies! I don’t even like carrot cake or cheesecake and I am in love with these! I thought it was going to be difficult to make but surprisingly it was pretty easy.
Will there be a big difference if I used pre-grated carrots?
The carrots will be dry but also very big compared to when you do it yourself. Instead of carrot blending in nicely to the cookies, the carrot will be a lot “chewier”.
The best cookies I’ve ever had in my life. They were such a hit on Easter. I followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfectly.
I doubled the recipe for the cream cheese filling, and ended up with a bunch of frozen cream cheese to use for future cookies. (Yay!)
I ended up getting a total of 28 filled cookies with this recipe instead of 14.
There was WAY too much flour, so be careful when adding the flour because I had to take out some of the unmixed flour and add some cream to make the dough soft enough to use.
Pretty good recipe though!
I made these and mine turned out very puffy, do you have any tips to make them more flat?
In my experience, baking powder makes things rise. If your cookies rose, you possibly might’ve added too much bk powder.
See comment above…
I was so excited to make these for Easter. Due to time constraints, I mixed the dough up last night and also froze the little cream cheese balls. In the morning I let the dough sit for 30 minutes before assembling and baking. They baked beautifully at 16 minutes, as we are at 5600 ft elevation and the dough was still a little cool from chilling overnight in the refrigerator. I will chill them for serving this afternoon, after they are cooled and decorated.
Can I bake the cookie dough balls if they are frozen like straight out of the freezer?
Made this for Easter for myself and a friend and they are delicious. I will be making them again for sure.
These came out so perfect & delicious! My family and I love them! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with others and for providing such great tips and details.
Great recipe. Ingredients made for 14 stuffed cookies and 6 plain cookies.
Taste delicious
These are VERY good!…but the Cream Cheese recipe makes 14 Balls…The batter makes wayyy more cookies. Probably about 18 maybe 20. I used a 2 TBSP Cookie Scoop like it said…half way through I even started doing a HEAVY scoop…still had lots of batter left.
i have to agree! the recipe does make some pretty good cookies, but i ended up with 14 (2 oz balls) of dough to stuff with cream cheese, and made another 9 balls (30 grams each) to put in the freezer, as there was no filling for them.
i’m very confident that the cookies were the correct size because i used a scale and the baking time was perfect for the 2-ounce size.
also for anyone who hasn’t made the recipe yet – i “grated” about 140 grams of baby carrots to fine in a food processor (a little more than the recipe calls for because you WILL lose some before it makes it to the measuring cup) and it worked perfectly, totally recommend if you’re lazy like me and don’t want to grate the carrot by hand!!
Absolutely delicious! i followed measurements to a T and ended up with with 20 medium sized cookies
Technically i haven’t made these yet but i would like to say the layout of your recipe (putting the ingredient amounts under each step) is fantastic and should be common practice. You are truly doing the lords work i hope your pillow is always cold and your pockets are always heavy.
Would these work out gluten-free?
Just wondering why these metric measurements are all listed in ml instead of grams like most of your recipes?
There was an error, so I went in and fixed it!
Are these easy to freeze and thaw? I want to make them for my sister ahead of time and bring them to her after she’s had her baby.
They are easy to thaw! Just like any cookies.
Hello, I’m so excited to try making these this Easter—I was wondering if you think the recipe would still work if I were to add some finely chopped walnuts? Thank you in advance!
You can add the walnuts!
These cookies turned out amazing! They are so soft and fluffy. The cream cheese filling isn’t too sweet, which is perfect for me. Great recipe!
Delicious! Made the 14 stuffed cookies and some plain ones which are also delicious! Definitely be making again.