These vegan carrot cake cookies taste just like my favourite vegan carrot cake with all the fun of a soft and chewy cookie. Frosted and decorated with a simple vegan buttercream, these cookies are perfect for your Easter celebrations, but really are perfect enjoyed year round!
If you’re looking for more carrot cake flavoured treats, make sure to also try my carrot cake pancakes, or these vegan carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
Brown sugar, warm spices and crunchy nuts – these describe my absolute favourite cookie flavours and that’s exactly what we have with these delicious and fun vegan carrot cake cookies.
The cookies themselves have soft and cakey centres with a crispy edge and are bursting with all the flavours you’d expect from a carrot cake. They are then topped with an easy vegan buttercream frosting to really give them that carrot cake taste, but honestly the cookies still taste delicious without it. If you’re prone to enjoy less sweet sweets, then skip the buttercream.
Ever since I decorated my vegan carrot cake with little buttercream piped carrots I’ve wanted an excuse to do them again because they are so incredibly cute, so these carrot cake cookies were the perfect opportunity! All the details for decorating these cookies are below.
Key Ingredients
These cookies use simple, everyday ingredients and don’t require any eggs or egg replacers!
Note all ingredients and their quantities are laid out in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Brown sugar – not only adds sweetness, but the brown sugar adds moisture to the cookies allowing them to spread as they bake and keeping them soft.
- Dairy free butter – I always like to use a good quality dairy free butter substitute for the best flavour. I love and always use Nuttelex Buttery which is an Australian product. In the US, the closest alternative is Earth Balance which I understand to be very similar.
- Vanilla extract – always use vanilla extract not vanilla essence for the best flavour.
- Plain flour – also known as all purpose flour in the US.
- Bicarbonate of soda – also known as baking soda in the US. This gives our cookies lift and helps them puff up as they cook.
- Spices – I am using a combination of ground cinnamon and mixed spice to give the cookies that classic carrot cake flavour.
- Carrot – you’ll need 1 medium sized carrot, peeled and grated using a box grater or food processor.
- Walnuts – adding essential crunch! You can opt to leave them out if you’re not a fan, or substitute with chopped pecans.
Equipment & Tools
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- Electric hand mixer – the cordless KitchenAid mixers make cooking so easy as you don’t need to make sure you’re located near a power point!
- Baking trays – I just started using the NordicWare baking sheets and while they are expensive they are insanely good quality – I wish I had upgraded sooner!
- Cookie scoop – makes measuring and scooping the cookie dough so easy.
- Cooling rack
Step-By-Step Instructions
These easy vegan carrot cake cookies are a one bowl recipe. Start by mixing together the brown sugar, vanilla and the dairy free butter using an electric mixer. You can also use a stand mixer if you prefer. I do recommend you use a mixer as this is going to really allow the butter and sugar to come together.
Next, add in your dry ingredients and continue to mix until combined. The dough might be a little crumbly but that’s ok. It should stick together when you press it with your hands.
Add in the grated carrots and the chopped walnuts and give the cookie dough a final mix. You may need to switch to a spatula in this step to bring the dough together.
From here, you can scoop out balls of dough and place them evenly spaced out on a baking tray lined with baking paper ensuring they have enough space to spread as they cook.
Bake the cookies for 14 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. The cookies will still be very soft when you take them out of the oven but that’s ok, they will continue to firm up as they cool.
👉Tip! For perfect looking cookies, as soon as the cookies have been removed from the oven, use a spoon or a large round cookie cutter that fits over the cookie, to gently shape the cookie back into a circle. This only works if the cookies are still soft so needs to be done immediately before they start to cool.
Once the cookies have cooled on the tray for around 10 minutes, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Decorating the cookies
The super cute buttercream carrots are a simple design that requires a few speciality piping tips, but they are actually really easy to create.
Once the cookies have cooled, you can make your easy buttercream frosting by beating together the dairy free butter and vanilla. Add the icing sugar ½ cup at a time, mixing well between each addition. If the frosting gets a bit stiff, add in a splash of dairy free milk until you reach a creamy consistency. Add a pinch of salt to taste and mix through.
Spoon out 2 x 2-3 tablespoons of buttercream into small bowls and tint one orange and one green – this is going to be for our carrots.
Use a teaspoon or frosting knife to ice the tops of the cookies with the remaining white buttercream.
Fill a small piping bag with either a #66 or #70 leaf piping tip with the green buttercream, and another piping bag with a small open flat, petal tip similar to #124, with the orange buttercream.
In the middle of each cookie, pipe a zigzag of the orange, starting small and getting wider to create your carrot. Use the green to pipe two leaves at the wider end.
Finish off the cookies with a sprinkle of extra chopped walnuts.
👉 The buttercream will crust if left exposed to the air in a cool dry place, but they will still not be suitable for stacking so are best served rather than stored. For a hard setting icing perfect for storing or travelling, use royal icing instead.
Recipe FAQs
While I haven’t tested it myself, I recommend swapping the plain flour for a gluten-free all-purpose flour blend that contains xanthan gum like Bob’s Red Mill. The texture may be slightly different, but they’ll still be delicious.
Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. If you want them to last longer, keep them in the fridge for up to a week.
Yes! You can freeze the baked cookies (before frosting and decorating) for up to 3 months. Place them in an airtight container with baking paper between layers. Thaw at room temperature before frosting or enjoying plain.
Yes, you can! Scoop the dough into balls, place them on a tray, and freeze until solid. Then, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag or container. Bake from frozen, adding an extra 2–3 minutes to the bake time.
If you do make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below! And tag any of your creations on Instagram with @eightforestlane as I would love to see.
More vegan cookie recipes:
Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
Vegan Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
Vegan Carrot Cake Cookies
Ingredients
For the vegan carrot cake cookies:
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 160 grams (⅔ cup) dairy free butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups plain flour/all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda/baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon mixed spice
- Pinch salt
- ¾ cup grated carrot approx 1 medium carrot
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
For the vegan buttercream:
- 60 grams (¼ cup) dairy free butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon dairy free milk
- Pinch salt
- Orange and green gel food colouring optional
- Chopped walnuts extra optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F) and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
- Make the vegan carrot cake cookies. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the brown sugar, dairy-free butter, and vanilla extract using an electric or stand mixer. Mix until light and creamy.
- Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, mixed spice, and salt, then mix until just combined. The dough may look crumbly but should press together easily.
- Fold in the grated carrot and chopped walnuts, using a spatula if needed to bring the dough together.
- Scoop out balls of dough (about 1 ½ tablespoons each) and place them evenly on the prepared tray, leaving space for spreading.
- Bake for 14 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown. The cookies will still be soft but will firm up as they cool.
- Let the cookies cool on the tray for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Make the buttercream. In a bowl, beat the dairy-free butter and vanilla until smooth.
- Add the icing sugar, ½ cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. If the frosting becomes too thick, add a tablespoon of dairy free milk to reach a creamy consistency. Add a pinch of salt to balance the sweetness.
- Decorate the cookies. Set aside 2-3 tablespoons of buttercream in two small bowls. Tint one orange and one green using gel food colouring.
- Spread the remaining white buttercream over the cooled cookies using a spoon or frosting knife.
- Transfer the coloured buttercream into two piping bags. Use a #66 or #70 tip for the orange buttercream (for the carrot) and use a Wilton #48 tip or similar for the green buttercream (for the leaves).
- Pipe a zigzag of orange in the centre of each cookie, starting small at the top and widening towards the bottom to create a carrot shape. Pipe two small green leaves at the wider end. Sprinkle with extra chopped walnuts if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a guide only and is calculated using automated online tools, therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy. We encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe.
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