These carrot cake cookies have all of the warm and delicious flavors of carrot cake baked into a soft and chewy cookie!
Happy Friday everybody! Is anything better than Friday? I really don’t think so! Sure you still have to wake up and go to work or school – but the promise of the weekend is ahead. It is such a great feeling! And what better way to celebrate Friday than with cookies – carrot cake cookies to be exact. How’s that for some alliteration?!
These aren’t just any carrot cake cookies – these are for the Mystery Dish challenge! That’s right, it is already time for another Mystery Dish challenge. In case you missed some of my other posts, Mystery Dish is a fun group that I’m part of with some of my blogging friends. Every month, the host sends out a list of ingredients, and we have to come up with something using the “mystery” ingredients. It is kind of like the show Chopped, with a lot less pressure!
Our lovely host this month was Kat at I Want Crazy. She picked Boxed Cake Mix, Peeps, Oats, Ginger, Honey, Wine, Shallots, Coconut, Shrimp, Cherry Tomatoes, Kiwi, Dried Fruit, and Cinnamon, and challenged us to use three ingredients.
Coconut, cinnamon, and ginger jumped out at me, and I decided that carrot cake cookies would be the perfect thing to make!
Does carrot cake remind you of fall or of Easter? I was so excited that my Mystery Dish Recipe could also be Easter themed!
And then I realized that so many people associate carrot cake and the warm spices in it (cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg) with fall. But what about the coconut, white chocolate, and carrots?? Those are definitely spring / Easter! So I guess the answer is that you should make these cookies year round :).
And really, these carrot cake cookies would be a crowd pleaser year round – they are great! I mean first of all, the dough starts out with browned butter – I don’t think there has ever been anything that starts with browned butter that hasn’t been amazing.
And then listen to all the delicious things that are in here: brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, coconut, white chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, and walnuts. And of course, carrots! Ok, perhaps the carrots aren’t quite as exciting as some of the other ingredients, but they really do bring something special to these cookies. And you really can’t have a carrot cake cookie without carrots.
Even though the cookies taste like carrot cake, the texture is nothing like cake at all. These are so soft and chewy – the perfect cookie texture! It is such a fun twist on classic carrot cake. And if you want to really make these more like carrot cake and spread some cream cheese frosting on top, I fully support that!
Look at all the other amazing dishes that my friends made! The links are below the picture collage, so be sure to check out their awesome recipes.
1. Coconut Shrimp with Thai Chili Ginger Sauce by Joyful Healthy Eats
2. Sangria Poached Pears by Baking a Moment
3. Baked Mini Carrot Cake Donuts by Culinary Couture Blog
4. Funfetti Cookies with Peeps Marshmallow Frosting by I Dig Pinterest
5. Carrot Oatmeal Cookies by Yummy Healthy Easy
6. Gooey Oatmeal Cranberry Bars by I Want Crazy
7. Honey Lime Coconut Oatmeal Cookies by Blahnik Baker
8. Chocolate Almond Date Balls by The Well Floured Kitchen
9. Tropical Kiwi Fruit Muffins by The Pajama Chef
10. Nesting Peeps Cupcakes by The Dessert Chronicles
11. Carrot Cake Cookies by Chez CateyLou
These carrot cake cookies have all of the warm and delicious flavors of carrot cake baked into a soft and chewy, not cakey, cookie!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots (about 2 medium-large carrots)
- 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips and / or cinnamon chips
- 1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
- 1/4 cup white chocolate chips (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
- Add the butter to a small frying pan, and melt it over medium heat, swirling occasionally. Once the butter is melted, swirl the pan constantly, until the butter is slightly golden brown and smells nutty. It burns quickly, so be careful!
- Place the browned butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the sugars and mix until well incorporated. Add the egg and mix very well, then add the yolk and mix again, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in the vanilla.
- Stir in the carrots.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients, and mix until the flour is just incorporated. This is a very wet cookie dough.
- Stir in the coconut, white chocolate chips, and nuts (if using). Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
- Spoon the cookie dough onto the sheet, about 2T of dough per cookie. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, until the edges are slightly golden brown. If desired, place a few chocolate chips on each cookie right when they come out of the oven. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for a few minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Java Cupcake
If you are a cinnamon lover, I have some great recipes for you!
Love that you guys do a mystery ingredient each week! Super cool. And you’re right, Friday is by far the best day of the week! Such promise, such hope, such excitement… which then comes to a quick and sad close on Sunday night, haha. These cookies look so good!
Thanks, Chris! I’m going through the sad Sunday night close right now
Guess I need to eat a cookie!
What a cool idea, to make cookies with carrot cake flavors! I guess if I had to choose, I associate carrot cake more with spring than with fall, but I sure as heck wouldn’t say no to carrot cake (or carrot cake cookies) any time of year. Yum!
Thank you so much! And I’m so glad we are on the same page with carrot cake being more of a spring food!
Your cookies look AMAZING!!! These are the kind of cookies my boys love. I’ll definitely have to try them – pinning to my cookie board! Awesome job on the Mystery Dish this month! Can’t wait for next month! 😉
Thanks, Jen! And thanks for pinning! I love Mystery Dish!
What a fun group! Whenever I watch Chopped I pause the TV after they reveal the ingredients and I try to think of what I would cook up. Even though I’m not really on the show I still panic! I don’t know how they do it on the spot.
These cookies sound delicious! I love carrot cake and cookies, so carrot cake cookies should be even better! Happy Friday friend : )
Haha Natalie that is so funny!! I can just picture you panicking on your couch watching chopped! Hope you had a great weekend!
Ooo I’ve never had a cookie with a carrot flavor. This ought to be good!
Thanks, Connie! This was my first carrot-y cookie – I loved them!
Happy Friday! I sure do love cookies and these look delicious! I think of carrot cake too this time of the year so these would be a great addition to an Easter dessert table.
Thanks, Tina!
Fridays are the bomb! I love that you took flavors that usually go in a cake and put them in cookies! While spices typically remind be of fall and winter, carrot cake always reminds me of Easter! I like your idea of having it year round, though.
Thanks, Beth! Carrot cake is so good but sometimes cookies are so much easier to make
Thank you for giving me an excuse to finally buy cinnamon chips!! I can’t wait to try these 😀
Thanks, Dani! Hope you are doing well!
What a lovely twist on a carrot cake, Cate! (ooh, more alliteration there for you!) I think these definitely seem perfect for spring … and somehow Easter-appropriate, too, like you said. Great idea!
Thanks, Helen! Loving the alliteration with my name!!
Oh I love anything carrot cake!! Wow, your cookies look delicious!
These cookies would be good as a sandwich cookie with Cream Cheese Icing in the middle!!!
Thank you so much, Michael! These would make amazing sandwich cookies!
These cookies are so much easier than making a whole cake! And i can still get all my favorite carrot cake flavor. Win/win if you ask me!
Thanks, Joanne! I’m with you – a whole cake is just too much work sometimes!
Mmmm, these look so good! A mystery dish challenge sounds so fun
Thanks, Chloe!
I’ve been craving carrot cake so much! Made two this week.
These cookies look so delicious, I might just have to have my third serving of carrot cake goodness now!
Thanks, Graham! I fully support triple dose of carrot cake!
these cookies sound so fun! great idea for mystery dish
Thanks, Sarah!
Yay!! Carrot cake in a cookie. I love the way you used the ingredients. And Friday is just the best!! Cookies and a cocktail
Thanks, Zainab! I am missing Friday right now
But I guess I can still have a cookie, and a cocktail! 
I usually think of carrot cake as a spring time treat, but I love the idea of having it year round
Gorgeous cookies!
Thanks, Megan!
These cookies are so gorgeous, Cate. Love that you turned carrot cake into cookies. Definitely a huge success and now I’m craving one of those. I am all over those cinnamon chips, btw.
Thanks, Kathi!! I loooove cinnamon chips. Always looking for an excuse to sneak them into things!
It’s been forever since I’ve put carrots in a baked good. That definitely needs to change. These look downright indulging. Have a beautiful Monday!
Wow, Cate! These cookies look so chewy and delish, and LOADED with so many goodies! I love the white chocolate chips and cinnamon chips- such a great touch! And ps- I definitely associate carrot cake with Spring. Pinning 😉
My family and I just got back from vacation, and one night we had carrot cake cookies for dessert. These weren’t a cookie so much as two really thin pieces of cake with a boatload of icing in the middle. Delicious, yes. Cookie-like, no.
Your cookies are more what I was thinking of … an actual cookie!!
I’m totally with you – carrot cake is 100% spring! I mean, it’s what the Easter Bunny eats, right?!? 😉
These cookies look fantastic! Love anything carrot cake – so perfect for spring
Love how you incorporated the flavors into these cookies for the Mystery Dish – you totally rocked these girl 
Pinning 
Love the carrot cake cookie idea and the cinnamon chip/ white chocolate combo. YUM! Can taste it right now!
Mmm, these sound so good! Love carrot cake and these cookies need to happen soon! Pinned!
Thanks, Anna! If you like carrot cake you will love these!!
These look amazing! So springy and perfect! Who would have thought carrot cake and cookies, but it sounds like the perfect combo!
So I went perusing through your “cinnamon” tag, as I normally do since cinnamon is my fav thing ever, and I found THIS amazing recipe. Why did I never think of doing this?? Carrot cake is my favorite cake! This is just as amazing, I’m sure! Saving this one for the fall
Hi Lynn! I loved these carrot cake cookies – if you like cinnamon you are going to flip for these! Let me know if you try them!