Soft and perfectly sweet carrot cake cookies with a cream cheese icing! Gluten-free, dairy-free, and naturally sweetened with maple syrup. These healthy carrot cake cookies are the perfect springtime (or anytime) treat!

Healthy gluten-free carrot cake cookies on a baking sheet.

What You’ll Need to Make Carrot Cake Cookies

Oat Flour – Either homemade or store-bought oat flour will work in this cookie recipe! Oat flour replaces all purpose flour, making these cookies gluten-free.

Almond Butter – Smooth and unsweetened almond butter helps hold these cookies together. If you don’t have almond butter, you can use any other nut or seed butter you’d like. Cashew butter would make a great substitute here!

Maple Syrup – These healthy carrot cake cookies are naturally sweetened with maple syrup. The maple adds a touch of flavor, and the perfect amount of sweetness.

Shredded Carrots – Wash and peel about three large carrots, then run them down a box grater to make shredded carrots. Or, to make things even easier, simply buy pre-shredded carrots from the store for this dessert recipe!

Overhead image of healthy gluten-free carrot cake cookies on a baking sheet.

Tips and Tricks

Gently flatten each carrot cake cookie before baking. If you skip this step, they’ll bake up like round little balls. Therefore, for a more classic flat-looking cookie, give them a gentle press right before putting in the oven.
Allow your cookies to cool completely before icing! If the cookies are still too warm when iced, the cream cheese icing will melt and slide right off. (I’ve learned from my mistakes here – ha!)
These cookies are best stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. However, if you live in a warm client/are baking these in the summer – it’s best to store them in the fridge instead. If the cookies with cream cheese icing are left in too warm of an environment, the icing may melt and spoil.

close up image of a healthy gluten-free carrot cake cookie with a bite taken out.

Adjust This Recipe to Your Dietary Needs

Make it Dairy-Free: While the cookies themselves are already dairy-free, make a dairy-free cream cheese icing by subbing your favorite non-dairy cream cheese, butter, and milk.

Make it Vegan: For vegan carrot cake cookies, replace the egg with a flax egg, and take the dairy-free icing option above!

Carrot Cake Cookies

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Prep Time15

Cook Time12

Total Time27

Servings cookies

Equipment

1 large bowl
1 medium bowl
1 large baking sheet

Ingredients

For the dry ingredients:

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup oat flour made by pulsing rolled oats in a blender until ground into a flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the wet ingredients:

1/2 cup almond butter unsweetened
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil melted (or butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg at room temperature
1 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans unsalted
1/4 cup raisins

For the cream cheese icing:

1/4 cup cream cheese softened (I used non-dairy cream cheese)
3 tablespoons butter softened (I used non-dairy butter)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk (I used non-dairy milk)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Add all dry ingredients to a large bowl and whisk to combine.
Then, in a separate bowl, add all the wet ingredients except the carrots, walnuts, and raisins, and whisk to combine.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and use mix until fully combined. Then, fold in the carrots, walnuts, and raisins.
Scoop tablespoon-sized balls of cookie dough onto your prepared baking sheet and slightly flatten each ball with the palm of your hand.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges. Then, transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
While cookies cool, make the cream cheese icing by adding all ingredients to a bowl and whisking until smooth and well-combined. Then, spread or pipe cream cheese icing on top of each cooled cookie.

Notes

Nutrition info is for one cookie out of 24 cookies and does not include the cream cheese icing.

These cookies are best stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. However, if you live in a warm client/are baking these in the summer – it’s best to store them in the fridge instead.