Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, this Carrot Cake Cookies recipe makes it easy and fun not only to eat your vegetables but also to eat carrot cake on the go.
I’ve been making several carrot cake inspired recipes lately and the biggest question I find is – what goes in a carrot cake? Raisins? Coconut? Pineapple? Walnuts? Pecans? I don’t think there’s any right or wrong answer. For my Carrot Cake Cheesecake I made last year, I added the whole works with pineapple and coconut, but then for these Carrot Cake Drop Cookies, I was hesitant in adding pineapple due to the extra moisture; I didn’t want them to spread ridiculously thin. I’m quite pleased with how they turned out – a bit crunchy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside. I wanted a cake-like texture rather than a chewy cookie, and I succeeded.
Carrot cake dates back to war time where carrots were more abundant and cheaper than sweeteners. Soon the classic dessert became popular across the US in restaurants and bakeries. I decided to take that classic cake and marry it with drop cookies, making it easier to eat carrot cake on the go.
You can shred your own carrots using a hand grater or food processor or buy a pre-shredded bag. I used pre-shredded carrots, which were a little big for cookie dough as is, so next time I’d chop them a little more finer. I used walnuts, but you can easily substitute pecans (or leave them out altogether, but I do love the crunchy texture they add).
Carrot Cake Drop Cookies
Yield: 2 dozen
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 17 minutes
Total Time: 32 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup butter-flavored shortening
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/4 cup chopped white chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the sugar and shortening until smooth and creamy, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Gradually beat in the flour mixture then add the carrots, raisins, and walnuts.
- Scoop the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls (I used #40 scoop) and place onto cookie sheets. Flatten slightly. Bake 17-20 minutes or until firm on the edges and starting to brown. Cool on the sheet for 3 minutes then carefully remove to a cooling rack. Cool completely.
- Melt white chocolate and drizzle over cookies. Let harden. Store in an airtight container.
Source: Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion
More Carrot Cake Recipes
Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls
[email protected] says
I think I would rather have these cookies than a piece of carrot cake. I guess because I don’t pay attention to how many cookies I’m eating LOL. THese look so great!
Lily (A Rhubarb Rhapsody) says
I completely adore carrot cake, it rivals any chocolate cake which is really saying something seeing as I’m a huge chocolate devotee! These would make a wonderful lunchbox snack, not sure i could stop at one though. ;)
Becky says
I think my friend would like this better then carot cake.
[email protected] says
Carla,
“just a moose truing to use up what’s in her kitchen made me LOL”
These cookies look scrumptious!
JanetFCTC says
My husband would kill for these! he is a fanatic when it comes to anything resembling carrot cake! Yummy!
Cheryl Illinois says
I think you forgot the spices in this recipe. I added cinnamon and cloves and a little pumpkin pie spice. Otherwise they would have been totally bland. The spices made them good.
Betty says
I agree, these were very bland even with the extra spices.
Carla Cardello says
Thank you for your feedback. Although the cookies were a huge hit as written, I did get a chance to go back and make the recipe again. I did make a few changes based on yours and Cheryl’s results. Thank you for helping me make them better.
Betty says
I’ll have to give them a try again soon. Thanks.
SusieM says
The spices were added into the ingredient list, but never added to the instructions. I just put them in the oven and realized I never put the spices in. That was a lot of work for what I’m sure is going to turn out not very good.
Carla says
My apologies on that. Fixed now.
Darcy Crosman says
I’m really looking forward to baking these cookies. I was wondering what the purpose is of using butter flavored shortening. Is there a reason that you don’t use butter? Also shortening implies something like Crisco- is it the smooth texture? It’s been a while since I’ve used vegetable shortening and would love to hear the reason it’s in the recipe. Thanks
Carla says
When you use butter, the cookies tend to spread out more, resulting in a thinner cookie than what you see. With shortening, they don’t spread and keep their drop cookie shape. I call for butter-flavored as it adds more flavoring (but you can certainly use plain shortening). Crisco is one brand of shortening you can use, and the texture is smooth (and a bit greasy, kinda like when you touch a stick of butter and you have that feeling on your hands). I personally use sticks of shortening that Crisco makes, but you can also buy the tub and measure out the 3/4 cup.
Darcy Crosman says
thanks so much for your reply. I actually just made these using coconut oil which i have in stock and I figured would have the same texture as shortening. I added just a little bit of butter. I made them out of whole wheat flour and I find them out of this world. I will definitely make them for family. I love the cake like texture that you promised. Will look for the sticks of shortening you mentioned. Thanks so much for this fabulous recipe!
CWlaz says
“yield 2” means 2 dozen?
Carla says
Yes.