Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches
Carrot cake sandwich cookies are like eating carrot cake, but in cookie form! These sweet and chewy cookies include old-fashioned oats, grated carrots, cinnamon, and ginger and are filled with cream cheese frosting.
My husband’s favorite cake is carrot cake and for years I made him a layered carrot cake for his birthday (until he went ahead and changed his birthday dessert preference to pie).
While we love a good carrot cake in this house, these carrot cake cookie sandwiches are much faster to make but still pack the rich flavors of carrot cake.
Looking for other larger-than-life cookies? Check out these Strawberry Crunch Cookies, Old-Fashioned Ginger Snap Cookies, and Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Why You’ll Love This Carrot Cake Cookie Recipe
- Perfect for Carrot Cake Lovers – These could be considered carrot cake whoopie pies and remind me of oatmeal creme pies (but a homemade and way more delicious version, in my opinion). If you love classic carrot cake, you’ll love this fun spin on them.
- Packed with Flavor – The warm spices of cinnamon and ginger complement the carrot cake flavor beautifully.
- Easy to Make – Simply bake the cookies, let them cool, then add the frosting before sandwiching two cookies together.
Ingredients
- salted butter – I prefer using room temperature salted butter in my baking. You may also use unsalted butter. Add a bit extra salt (1/4 teaspoon) to the dough if doing so.
- brown sugar
- granulated sugar
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- shredded carrots – you can buy these pre-shredded, or shred them yourself. I used about 2 large unpeeled carrots. Baby carrots won’t work as well because they are generally packed with water and excess moisture. If that’s all you have, just make sure to use extra paper towels to soak up all the added water.
- oats – I recommend using old fashioned oats for this recipe.
- all-purpose flour
- ground cinnamon
- ground ginger
- baking soda
- salt
For the cream filling:
- salted butter
- cream cheese – use full-fat block cream cheese for this recipe
- vanilla extract
- powdered sugar
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step One: With a hand mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl for about 2 minutes.
Step Two: Add the eggs one at a time. Then add the vanilla extract, and shredded carrot.
Step Three: Add the oats to the bowl. In a separate medium bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the large bowl, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to incorporate all the ingredients.
Step Four: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop the cookie dough into 2 tablespoon-sized balls on the baking sheet and chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. Bake the cookies on a prepared baking sheet for about 14 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step Five: Allow the cookies to cool completely before frosting them. This recipe makes 36 cookies or 18 cookie sandwiches.
Storage
These cookies can hang out at room temperature for a bit, but if you’re storing them overnight, make sure to keep them in the fridge. Store the cookies for up to 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
You can also freeze them by storing them in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Allow them to thaw at room temperature for an hour before eating.
Equipment
- box grater – for grating the carrots
- electric mixer – stand mixer with paddle attachment or hand mixer
- piping bag – for piping the filling onto the carrot cookies
- mixing bowls – medium mixing bowl and large bowl
- cookie scoop – medium cookie scoop (2-tablespoon size)
- baking sheet
- wire rack
Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar light or dark brown sugar work
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 3 cups old-fashioned oats
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the cream cheese filling
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened full-fat block of cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Before making the cookie dough, shred the carrots and set them aside on a paper towel. The paper towel absorbs excess moisture from the carrots.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time and then add the vanilla extract. Add in the shredded carrots and old-fashioned oats.
- In a separate medium-sized bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add the ground cinnamon and ginger to the bowl of dry ingredients. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the large bowl and mix until just combined. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop out 2-tablespoon-sized cookie dough balls onto the baking sheet and chill them in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. You should have 36 cookies total (for 18 cookie sandwiches). Preheat oven to 350℉.
- Once chilled, bake the cookies on the parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Separate the dough balls by about 2 inches. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown around the edges but a bit undone in the middle. *See note below for perfectly round cookies.* Let the cookies cool on a wire rack while you make the frosting for the filling.
Make the cream cheese frosting
- In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter and cream cheese for about 2 minutes with an electric mixer. Add the vanilla extract, then gradually add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to incorporate all the dry ingredients.
- Add the frosting to a piping bag* and pipe the frosting on the bottom of 18 of the cookies, then top the frosting of each cookie with another cookie. Serve immediately or store in the fridge before serving.
Would love a gram conversion option for this! Great recipe
Thank you for the reminder on this! I added a gram conversion and will work on doing it for the rest of my recipes. So glad you enjoyed this one!
Made a double batch of these for a work potluck party and they were a hit! Thank you! Awesome recipe!!!