I love those recipes that we all grew up with, they are just too good to miss out on.Get a head start on your spring baking with this fun and delicious twist on carrot cake – Carrot Cake Cookies! Soft and chewy cookies filled with grated carrots, oats, and cinnamon sandwiched with sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting.

This is a fabulous recipe for Easter, Mother’s Day or any Spring occasion. These Carrot Cake Cookies are always met with rave reviews. Prefer a more traditional carrot cake? We have that, too: Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Frosting.To Make this Recipe You’ Will Need the following ingredients::

INGREDIENTS

COOKIES
1 cup butter softened to room temperature*
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup shredded carrots
2 cups quick oats not old-fashioned whole oats
1 cup finely chopped pecans

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
4 oz. Cream Cheese at room temperature****
4 tablespoons butter at room temperature****
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups Powdered sugar
Milk as needed

INSTRUCTIONS

COOKIES
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
With a stand or handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugars together at medium speed until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time and beat just until incorporated followed by vanilla, scraping down the sides as needed. Set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves. With the mixer running on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to wet ingredients. The dough will be thick and you will have to finish mixing by hand. Stir in carrots, oats and pecans by hand just until incorporated – dough will be very thick.
Scoop dough using a 1 ½ inch/1 ½ tablespoon scoop, roll into balls and drop 2” apart. Flatten the tops slightly. If you don’t have a 1 1/2″ cookie scoop, use what you have and adjust cooking time accordingly.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, just until cookies are lightly golden around the edges (take care not to overcook or they won’t be as soft). Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
In a large bowl beat butter, cream cheese and vanilla until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes, scraping down sides as needed. Beat in powdered sugar on low until combined then increase speed to medium-high and beat until thick and creamy, 1-2 minutes. Add milk, a tablespoon at a time to reach desired consistency.
Frost cookies once completely cool and garnish with chopped pecans if desired.