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Carrot Cake Cookies are chewy brown butter cookies filled with warm carrot cake spices, grated carrot, and chopped pecans. Slather them in a luscious brown butter cream cheese frosting!
Why you’ll love Carrot Cake Cookies:
- Easy Cookies – These cookies are easy to make in one bowl with no mixer!
- Shortcut Tips – A simple trick (hello, food processor!) makes grating the carrots a breeze.
- Chewy Not Cakey – Botting out moisture from the carrots keeps these cookies chewy instead of cakey.
- Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting – This frosting alone is worth the price of admission!
Ingredient Overview:
As always, the full recipe with measurements & directions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Use the table of contents (back at the top, below the first image, to navigate).
- Butter – I always use salted buter because in my experience, it lends the best flavor, but feel free to use unsalted butter if that’s what you prefer.
- All-purpose flour – Spoon your flour into the measuring cup, then level it with a flat utensil for best results, or use a scale. Scooping the measuring cup directly into your flour will lead to too much flour, and a potentially dry bake.
- Carrots – Use large carrots, and be sure to wash them first. I don’t bother peeling them! Use up your extra carrots in my Single Layer Carrot Cake!
Recipe Substitutions & Variations:
- Dairy-free – Use your favorite, trusted, dairy-free butter & cream cheese, if desired.
- Nuts – Feel free to use walnuts instead of pecans, or omit the nuts if needed.
How to Make Carrot Cake Cookies:
Step 1: Brown the Butter. Melt butter over medium heat, then continue cooking, stirring lazily, for 5 minutes or so, until foamy & golden brown. This simple step intensifies the flavor of the butter and adds caramely, nutty notes.
Step 2: Make the Cookie Dough. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the room temperature butter with the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients, blotted carrot, and chopped pecans.
Step 3: Roll & Chill. Roll dough into balls 65 to 75 grams in size and chill in the fridge at least 1 hour or up to 48 hours.
Step 4: Bake. Place 5-6 cookies per cookie sheet, and bake at 365 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.
Step 5: Frost. Beat together brown butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Dollop frosting onto the cooled cookies! This frosting is also incredible on my Pineapple Carrot Cake!
Serving + Storing:
Store the frosted cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days. Still have carrots to use up? Make my Mini Carrot Cake!
Expert Tips:
- Grate Carrots Quickly – Use the blades that likely came with your food processor for this – one has small holes like on a box grater.
- Oven Thermometer – An oven thermometer will tell you if your oven is actually running at the temperature you set it to. Your oven may not be accurate. Accurate oven temperature is crucial for most bakes, so I leave an oven thermometer in at all times to keep an eye on my oven’s calibration.
- Kitchen Scale – A food scale is the best way to make sure your flour (and other ingredients!) is at the proper weight, since amounts will vary SO widely based on how you measure it, as well as the measuring cup you use, as they are not standardized.
FAQs:
My cookies came out cakey, what did I do wrong?
As long as you weighed out your carrot before and after blotting, and ensured you blotted enough of the liquid out, the cookies will be chewy. If you skipped this step, they’ll be cakey from the extra moisture.
More Easter Recipes to Love:
- Mini Carrot Cake
- Pineapple Carrot Cake
- Classic Carrot Cake
- Blueberry Cheesecake
- Strawberry Cheesecake
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Carrot Cake Cookies
Carrot Cake Cookies are chewy brown butter cookies filled with warm carrot cake spices, grated carrot, and chopped pecans. Slather them in a luscious brown butter cream cheese frosting!
Ingredients
For the Brown Butter:
- 1 and 1/2 cups salted butter, cubed, 339 grams
For the Carrot:
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp grated carrot, 102 grams – use your food processor grater blade to make this a breeze!
For the Cookies:
- 14 and 1/2 tbsp salted butter, 206 grams (this is the weight after browning)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed, you can use light or dark brown sugar! 163 grams
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 156 grams
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled , 390 grams
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 2/3 cup pecans, chopped
For the Frosting:
- 1/4 cup brown butter , 57 grams
- 8 ounces cream cheese , 226 grams
- 1 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar , 201 grams
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Brown the Butter: Prep this (up to a week ahead) so it has time to cool. Brown the butter for the frosting and cookies together to save a step! Add butter to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt the butter, stirring occasionally. Once it's melted, turn the heat to medium-low, and continue cooking the butter, stirring frequently. The butter will get foamy and bubbly, then turn a deep golden shade with a nutty, caramely aroma. (This will take about 4-6 minutes once the butter has melted.) Pour into a large bowl, making sure to scrape in the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, and pop into the fridge to cool until it's at room temperature. If starting with solid brown butter from the fridge, melt it in the microwave before using. (See note about butter below.)1 and 1/2 cups salted butter, cubed
- Prep the Carrot: Grate your carrot, and measure or weigh it out (weighing is the most accurate!). Place the grated carrot in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Weigh it after removing the liquid – it should now weigh only 64 to 66 grams. Keep squeezing out more liquid until it reaches that weight. If you skip this step, the cookies will have too much liquid and will be cakey and will spread a lot in the oven.1 cup + 2 tbsp grated carrot
- Make Cookie Dough: Measure 206 grams from your room temperature brown butter and add to a large mixing bowl. (Set aside the remaining 57 grams for the frosting. Save any leftover for a future bake!)Whisk the sugars into the room temperature brown butter. Add the eggs and vanilla, and whisk until smooth and combined, about 30-45 seconds. Stir in the dry ingredients, then the carrots and pecans. (This takes a bit of elbow grease – feel free to use a mixer here and don't fret if the dough seems a bit crumbly as you start mixing – it will come together!)3/4 cup brown sugar, packed, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 2 large eggs, at room temperature , 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract , 3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned & leveled , 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon , 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 2/3 cup pecans, chopped, 14 and 1/2 tbsp salted butter
- Scoop & Chill Dough Balls: Scoop dough balls 65 grams in size and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Yield: Feel free to make the cookies 45-50 grams in size to stretch the yield. Start with 1-2 mins less bake time.
- Bake: Preheat your oven to 365℉. Place 5-6 cookies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, with room in between for spreading. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes. The edges will appear set and the cookies will appear a tad puffy on top. Once out of the oven, immediately place a round cutter around the outside of each cookie and swirl the cookie within it to "scoot" them into perfect circles. Then, press down lightly on the top of each cookie with the flat part of a measuring cup, to make a flat surface for the frosting.Let cookies cool on the pan set on a cooling rack until they're set, then transfer to the cooling rack to finish cooling completely.This bake temp may seem odd, but gives the perfect balance of a crisp exterior and chewy interior!
- Make Frosting: Add the melted room temperature brown butter and cream cheese to a medium mixing bowl and cream on high speed with an electric mixer until well combined, about a minute. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, and mix until creamy. If it's not coming together, add 1-2 tsp of milk. Taste, and add a pinch of salt and or cinnamon to taste. Use a small cookie scoop to portion the frosting onto cookies, and spread it with an offset spatula. If your frosting is weepy, refrigerate or freeze it until it's a spreadable consistency!8 ounces cream cheese , 1 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar , 1 tbsp vanilla extract , pinch of salt, 1/4 cup brown butter
- Serve & Store: Enjoy cookies once frosted! Store leftover cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for 4-5 days.
- Freezing Cookie Dough & Make-Ahead Tips: Cookie dough can be balled, frozen on a sheet pan until solid, then transferred to a freezer bag or airtight container. Freeze for 1-2 months. Bake from frozen, adding 1-2 mins to the bake time. The cookies will hardly spread, but will be done when the edges appear and feel just set. Same goes if you refrigerate the dough balls (they keep 3-4 days in the fridge). Add 1 min or so to the bake time. They will not spread out of the fridge either.
Notes
A note about Brown Butter: When you brown butter, you will lose some of the volume, as some of the water content in the butter will evaporate. In theory, browning 1 extra tbsp of butter per stick (or 1/2 cup) will ensure you end up with the correct amount. However, I’ve noticed that when I brown 1 cup of butter + 2 tbsp, I end up with slightly under 1 cup in the end. Keeping the butter at that amount slightly under 1 cup turned out to be the perfect amount for this recipe. So, after your butter is browned, if you care to measure it you should have 206 grams, not 226 (which would be 1 cup). If you do have less than 206, add a bit of water to make up the difference. If you have more, your cookies will spread a bit more, or you can remove some butter to get to 206 grams. 206 grams is equal to 14 and 1/2 tablespoons of butter.
Regular Butter: If you don’t want to brown your butter (but why not!?) use 206 grams or 14.5 tablespoons of regular salted butter instead.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 359kcal, Carbohydrates: 46g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 18g, Saturated Fat: 11g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 5g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 67mg, Sodium: 306mg, Potassium: 87mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 30g, Vitamin A: 1782IU, Vitamin C: 0.4mg, Calcium: 46mg, Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Oh. My. Goodness. Some kind of heaven! Loved these cookies! So moist and flavourful! Another knockout recipe!
So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, Nancy!
How to i make this a single serve recipe???
Hi Bella! Unfortunately, a recipe like this isn’t really meant to be scaled down that far, and that would require quite a bit of math. I’d recommend making 1/2 of the batch and simply freezing any extra cookie dough balls for a later date. Let me know how you like the recipe!
easy to follow and soooo yummy!!!
So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, Stella!
Not sure what happened, but my frosting came out extremely runny. It tried to fix it by adding some extra powdered sugar and cornstarch but it didn’t help. They still tasted amazing though!
Hi Edward! Your brown butter was possibly too warm, or perhaps your kitchen was a bit warm. Either way, the best thing to do for runny frosting is simply to pop it in the fridge or freezer to chill until it comes back to a workable consistency. Glad you enjoyed the recipe either way!
Do you have a gf conversion for flour ?
Hi Paula! I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flour but a number of readers have reported success using a cup for cup gluten-free flour in a number of my cookie recipes (which share the same base recipe as this one) in the same quantity as the regular flour. I can’t guarantee the result since I haven’t tried it myself of course, but it seems to work for others! Let me know how you like the recipe!
soo good, took a little bit to make, but were a real hit!!
So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, Erin!
Been searching and searching seemingly forever for a cookie like these. Excellent flavor and texture. Worth waiting for!! Thank you
So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, Stacey!
Made these today! My new favorite. The brown butter flavor is soooo good.
So glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe, Marrhea!
So soft and yummy! Made it with GF flour and dairy free butter and they turned out amazing!! With or without the frosting these little desserts are a must to make! Follow the instructions to a tee and you will have a delicious carrot cake treat!
So glad to hear these worked well as dairy-free and gluten-free!
I can’t wait to make these — carrot cake is my favorite!
Thanks so much, Dana!