Lovers of carrot cake behold: Your favorite cake is even better transformed into a cookie! These Carrot Cake Cookies are spiced up with cinnamon and cardamom and topped with irresistible cream cheese icing. Perfect to serve for a brunch or afternoon-tea get-together. This is a classic with a new, special twist that is not to be missed!
What makes these cookies so special?
These little delicious pieces of heaven are kind of like a mixture between a cake, a cookie and a cupcake. They have a soft, moist, cake-like texture, the shape of a cookie and are topped with an irresistible icing, like a cupcake. Their flavor is unique; they feature the classic carrot cake ingredients and are spiced up with the addition of cinnamon and cardamom and a hint of bitter almond in the icing. They are lightly sweet, but not too much so, and are suuuper moist.
How to make these Carrot Cake Cookies?
You basically start as if you’re making a cake. But, instead of molding the mass into a cake mold, you spread it out on a baking tray and cut out cookies after baking it. Make sure you do not leave big spaces when cutting out the cookies, and either treat yourself with the remaining dough while preparing the rest of the cookies, or use it for a carrot crumble on other desserts (Recipe down below).
Without icing you can keep these cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for about 5-7 days.
Finally, you prepare and pipe the frosting just before serving.
I first created this recipe with half of the quantity, but these babies are high in-demand, so I doubled the quantity for the standard recipe. That’s how good these cookies are =)
SPICED CARROT CAKE COOKIES
INGREDIENTS
Spiced Carrot Cake Cookies
- 200 g cane sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 400 g carrots finely grated
- 300 g finely ground almonds or almond flour
- 4 pinches of salt
- Grated zest and 4 tbsp juice of 2 organic lemons
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1 tsp cardamom freshly crushed
- 100 g all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 4 egg whites
Cream Cheese Icing
- 400 g heavy cream
- 200 g cream cheese
- 140 g powdered sugar
- 8 drops of bitter almond extract
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
Spiced Carrot Cake Cookies
- Line the baking tray with parchment paper and grease it with butter, preheat the oven to 180° Celsius (356° Fahrenheit).
- In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and egg yolks with a hand whisk for approx. 3 minutes until fluffy. Add the carrots and all the ingredients up to, and including, the cardamom to the mixture. Mix the flour with the baking powder, add to the bowl as well and mix everything with a spatula until well-incorporated.
- Beat the egg whites with a hand whisk mixer until firm peaks form, then carefully fold into the mixture with a spatula.
- Pour the batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spread it out evenly until about 0.5 cm (0.2 inch) thick. Bake in the center rack of the oven for about 25 minutes until golden brown (check after 20 minutes to see how they look and keep an eye on your oven).
- Allow to cool slightly, remove from the parchment paper, and with a cookie cutter, cut out discs of approx. 3 cm (1.18 inch) in diameter. Make sure the slices are cut out close together so there is not a lot of leftover dough.
Cream Cheese Topping
- Prepare the topping just before serving. In a big bowl, whisk the cream cheese, powdered sugar and both extracts with a hand whisk. Whip the heavy cream with a hand whisk as well until stiff, and carefully fold it into the cream cheese mixture.
- Place the mixture in a piping bag with a corrugated nozzle and pipe onto the cookies. Serve immediately.
Option to use any remaining Cake Dough from Carrot Cake Cookie
CARROT CRUMBLE
INGREDIENTS
Carrot Crumble
Example with 4 tablespoons of leftover dough
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp cane sugar
- 1 tsp cane sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 180° Celsius (356° Fahrenheit), and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- On a cutting board, chop the leftover dough into very small pieces with a knife. Mix the crumbles with butter and 1 tablespoon of sugar, place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and spread it out to a height of approx. 3 mm (0.118 inch). Sprinkle it with 1 teaspoon of additional cane sugar.
- Bake in the preheated oven for approx. 15-20 minutes until golden brown, remove and let it cool completely. Use it as a topping for vanilla ice cream or any other creamy dessert.
