Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies

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For cookies

  • 1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup coarsely grated carrots (2 medium)
  • 1 scant cup walnuts (3 oz), chopped
  • 1/2 cup raisins (2 1/2 oz)

For frosting

  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 1/4 cup honey

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 2 baking sheets.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

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Beat together butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in carrots, nuts, and raisins at low speed, then add flour mixture and beat until just combined.

Drop 1 1/2 tablespoons batter per cookie 2 inches apart on baking sheets and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are lightly browned and springy to the touch, 12 to 16 minutes total. Cool cookies on sheets on racks 1 minute, then transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.

While cookies are baking, blend cream cheese and honey in a food processor until smooth.

Sandwich flat sides of cookies together with a generous tablespoon of cream cheese filling in between.

Makes about 13 cookies.

Gourmet, April 2004

Substitutions: I used 100% whole wheat flour in place of the AP and only granulated sugar because I did not have any brown sugar on hand. I did not add walnuts because I prefer my cookies without nuts.

19 Responses to “Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies”


  1. 1 sparta

    My son and I made these last night. Added pecans and used our own honey. They were just great.

  2. 2 trikeratops

    this is a really good recipe. although, i added alot more raisins, walnuts, and carrots so it came out chunkier, but really scrumptious :)

  3. 3 Jazzy

    These look incredibly tasty.

  4. 4 Allison

    oh. my. I’m making these tonight. I must have them!

  5. 5 sewbee2

    These needed MORE flour! GREAT flavor, but flowed on the cookie sheet like lava as it baked

  6. 6 Jhen

    Well dang, sewbee2 - why not tell how much more flour you needed? These look too awesome, btw!

  7. 7 MarthaAndMe

    These are a great idea. Like carrot cake, only better!

  8. 8 Aaron Miller

    I just made these for my mum, followed the recipe exactly and they were perfect, i grated the carrot on the cheese side of the grater, worked well.

  9. 9 nathenastle

    Thanks for your wes famous chocolate chips i like them very much.

  10. 10 Soyun

    Oh, looks so delicous~
    I must try this recipe.

  11. 11 Meredith

    these look so yummy! if i don’t put raisins in, is there something i should be putting more in of or is it ok to just omit them? i loooooove carrot cake, i’ve just never cared for raisins!

  12. 12 Gastronomer

    Meredith - I don’t think you’ll need to add anything to replace the raisins. Good luck!

  13. 13 fiona

    i like your tagline
    your fiance really like astronomy or is that just for the rhym!?

  14. 14 Gastronomer

    Fiona - My fiance really does like Astronomy. In fact, he’s getting his Ph.D in Physics ;-)

  15. 15 Jane

    This is genius!

  16. 16 UK Foodie

    They look great, will try them sometime soon - thanks for sharing

  17. 17 Hugging the Coast Food Blog

    Carrot Cake Cookies…what a great idea!

  18. 18 Sook

    I would definitely enjoy this version of carrot cake! I love cream cheese frosting, too!

  19. 19 Lisa Sipe

    This recipe is so good! Thank you for sharing. I can’t believe how simple the icing is, it’s amazing!

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