Over a decade ago, a blog friend named Janelle shared her “wannabe pumpkin cookies” recipe with us. It was a brilliantly orange carrot cookie recipe with a wonderfully simple orange glaze. I recently put her recipe to the test, and ended up making a few tweaks – less eggs, some added spices, simple mashed carrots – you get the gist. The result is these delicious dairy-free carrot cookies that remind me of perfect little cakes. We enjoy these cookies as is, but I’ve also included frosting and glaze options for a next level dessert.
These Dairy-Free Carrot Cookies are like Heavenly Bites of Carrot Cake
It doesn’t matter if you’re a staunch chewy or crispy cookie fan, or even if you hate carrots! These cakey cookies will win you over. All you’ll taste is a delightfully sweet, tender treat with warm spices. They’re a bit like bites of carrot cake, but with a definite cookie vibe. I think they’re perfect for afternoon tea, Easter, spring or summer gatherings, or even for Christmas cookie exchanges!
I mash the carrots with a fork, which leaves little bits of carrot throughout, and makes these more reminiscent of carrot cake. If preferred, you can pulverize the carrots a bit more in a food processor.
Special Diet Notes: Dairy-Free Carrot Cookies
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, nut-free, peanut-free, optionally soy-free, and vegetarian.
We haven’t tested this recipe egg-free. But if you want a vegan cookie, I would actually try just omitting the egg. It is a fairly moist batter. You can add a splash of water, milk beverage, or aquafaba (for better binding) if it seems dry.
For gluten-free carrot cookies, your favorite gluten-free baking blend should work well, but make sure it has some type of binder, and I would recommend using the egg.
- 1 cup cooked mashed carrot
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg
- ¾ cup dairy-free buttery sticks, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- If you don't have any leftover cooked carrots on hand, peel, slice, and steam carrots for about 15 minutes, or until very tender. (I use 2 very large carrots, or up to 6 if smaller carrots to get 1 cup mashed. Mash the carrots and measure.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the buttery sticks and sugar with a hand mixer or wooden spoon. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Stir in the mashed carrots, and then stir in the flour blend until combined.
- Cover and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes or longer.
- Preheat your oven to 375°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Drop the dough by the rounded tablespoonful onto your prepared baking sheets. They will spread a little, but not too much.
- Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, or until tender but firm. They only turn slightly golden.
- Remove the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
Orange Glaze: Sift 1 cup powdered sugar into a medium bowl. Add 2 tablespoons orange juice and whisk until smooth.
12 Comments
Could you suggest an egg replacer in this recipe? Looks delicious ????
Hi Kate, always look right above the recipe for substitution options. For this one, I have: “I would actually try just omitting the egg. It is a fairly moist batter. You can add a splash of water, milk beverage, or aquafaba (for better binding) if it seems dry.” I haven’t tested it yet, but that’s the first test I would do.
I don’t have vegan butter sticks, but I have the tubs of Earth Balance, palm shortening and assorted different oils……which would be the best substitute?
The Earth Balance should work just fine, or I would use 1/2 cup earth balance, 1/4 cup shortening for “fluffier” cookies. The tub stuff works well, but it often causes the cookies to spread a little more, and sometimes overcrisp around the edges. Using part shortening can mitigate this. Shortening adds more fluff and tenderness, less crisp. I hope that helps!
Can canned pumpkin be substituted for the mashed carrots? Thanks.
I don’t see why not! The texture may be a touch different, but overall, it should work fine.
Haha I love the trickery here! And what a great way to get more carrot consumption into your life!
Oh hey: I put these darling carrot cookies on my Talk of Tomato blog too (Brown Bag Blues is going bye-bye): http://www.talkoftomatoes.com/2010/10/jack-lantern-cookies/
Janelle! I’m so glad to hear from you. Yes, we are updating the site one post at a time since switching to wordpress, so this recipe got a facelifted post this week 🙂 I tried to get to Talk of Tomatoes when I redid this, but there was an error message. I was worried that you weren’t blogging anymore. Will change the link-up now!
Thanks for sharing these cookies—and thanks for the reminder. I have a huge pile of carrots and teen sons. These cookies are PERFECT for a soon-to-be afternoon snack. I scarf them down too;)))
I’m on a low fat diet. Usually you can swap out butter or oil for puréed fruit or vegetable, like pumpkin or apple sauce. I thought I might sun some of the butter for more carrot purée. Has anybody tried this? Or maybe apple sauce would work better? I’d go down to only a 1/4 butter or oil, not get rid of all of it.
I think you can swap some, but I would tread lightly since you are already using mashed carrot. They’re likely to become more cakey with the added moisture.