Nut-free Carrot Cake Cookies
The goodness of a carrot cake in a cookie. These carrot cake cookies are a perfect serving of the flavorful carrots, cinnamon, nutmeg and sunflower seeds.
Servings: 12
Ingredients
For the cookies:
- ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg powder
- A pinch salt
- 1 cup grated carrots about 2 carrots
- ½ cup sunflower seeds See notes
For frosting:
- ½ cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- A splash pure vanilla extract
- Milk for adjusting consistency a tablespoon or so
Instructions
To make the cookies:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F or 175 degrees C. line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer (fitted with paddle attachment) or a deep mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar and brown sugar till light and creamy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated.
- In a mixing bowl, add all purpose flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt and whisk to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to wet and mix until just combined.
- Stir in the grated carrots and sunflower seeds.
- Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets. These cookie do not spread a lot.
- Bake for 12-13 minutes, till the edges just start to brown. Removw fom oven, let cool on the cookie sheets for a few minutes and then transfer t a coling rack and let cool completely.
To make frosting: (See Notes)
- Blend everything together till smooth and creamy. Add milk to adjust consistency.
To make the candied carrot ribbons: (See Notes)
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F or 95 degrees C.
- In a heavy bottomed sauce pan heat together water and sugar on medium high heat. When the syrup attains a gentle boil, add the ribbon and cook for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes take the ribbons out of the sugar syrup, separate and lay on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes till translucent.
- Take the cookie sheet out and while still warm, start curling the ribbons using a straw. Wrap each ribbon gently around a straw, and remove on to plate that has sugar on it.
- Gently roll the curled ribbon in sugar. Repeat till all the ribbons have been curled. You will have to work quickly so that the ribbons don’t cool down too much before curling.
To assemble:
- Once the cookies have cooled down completely, frost them and add candied carrot ribbons or more sunflower seeds.
Notes
You can use pumpkin seeds or a nut of your choice. Make sure to chop them into small pieces.
The cookies taste great even without frosting and the candied carrot ribbons. So these two steps are optional.
