Name: Soft Carrot Cake Cookie Recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 2 h
Ingredients: 1 C butter, softened; 3/4 C sugar (healthy option: substitute 1/3 C agave and 1/2 C sugar, or try Stevia instead!); 3/4 C firmly packed brown sugar; Two large eggs (healthy option: replace one egg with 1/4 C unsweetened applesauce); 2 t. vanilla; 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (healthy option: substitute all or some with Wheat flour); 1 t. baking soda; 2 t. ground cinnamon; 1/2 t. salt; 2 C carrots, grated (about 4 medium carrots); 1 C finely chopped pecans (optional)

Description

Carrot Cake is a favorite because of its delicious spices and oh-so moist yumminess. Now, imagine that in a portable cookie! Complete with melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese frosting, this is one the whole family will love!

Ingredients

Scale

1 C butter, softened
³/₄ C sugar (healthy option: substitute 1/3 C agave and 1/2 C sugar, or try Stevia instead!)
³/₄ C firmly packed brown sugar
Two large eggs (healthy option: replace one egg with 1/4 C unsweetened applesauce)
2 t. vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (healthy option: substitute all or some with Wheat flour)
1 t. baking soda
2 t. ground cinnamon
¹/₂ t. salt
2 C carrots, grated (about 4 medium carrots)
1 C finely chopped pecans (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Combine butter, sugar and brown sugar in bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. You’ll need to scrape the sides of the bowl to mix all ingredients.
Add eggs and vanilla; beat again until well mixed.
In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add creamed ingredients from Steps 2 and 3. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed.
Stir in carrots and pecans.
Grease cookie sheets. Form a rounded tablespoon of dough for each cookie, spaced evenly 2″ – 3″ apart on the sheet.
Bake 11-13 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. Cool completely and frost.

Notes

Frosting Recipe:

INGREDIENTS

4 C powdered sugar
½ C butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
½ t vanilla
Green and Orange food coloring (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Combine powdered sugar, butter, cream cheese and vanilla in bowl; beat at medium speed until smooth and creamy. If using food coloring, then reserve 1/2 C frosting and see step 3.
Frost each cooled cookie with approx. 2 t. frosting.
If using food coloring: divide the reserved frosting in half. Tint one half green and one half orange. Next, spoon each tinted frosting into its own resealable plastic food bags. Snip off a corner of each bag and decorate the tops of cookies. For example, you can make a carrot design on top of each cookie.

Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 1 hour
Category: Dessert

Keywords: vegetable, carrot, cookies, cake