High Altitude Carrot Cake Cookies
Soft and chewy carrot cookies, full of warm spices, frosted with cream cheese buttercream.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Electric Mixer (Stand or Hand-Held)
- Medium Cookie Scoop with Release Lever (1 1/2 tbsp capacity)
- Baking Sheet + Parchment Paper
- Paper Towels, for blotting the carrots dry
- Disposable Piping Bags (plus couplers, and tips 1M, 7 and 352)
Ingredients
Cookies
- ½ cup (4 oz) peeled and finely grated carrots
- ¾ cup (12 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 large egg yolks (save the whites for another use)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
Frosting
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 6 oz block cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 3 ¾ cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp corn starch
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount
- sprinkles
- gel food coloring (orange and leaf green)
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- On a plate, blot the grated carrots dry with paper towels. You may need to change the paper towels a few times to remove enough moisture from the carrots. When the carrots are dry enough, barely any moisture should transfer to the paper towels.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a hand held electric mixer), beat the softened butter with the brown sugar for 5 minutes on medium speed, until fluffy.
- Add the dried carrots, egg yolks and vanilla, and mix on low until combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour with the baking soda, salt and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the dough and mix on low just until combined.
- Use a medium cookie scoop with a release lever (approximately 1 1/2 tbsp capacity) to scoop 2 dozen balls of dough. Roll the balls smooth between your hands, and do not flatten the balls. Chill the dough balls in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- Space the cookies 3 inches apart on your baking sheet and bake for 10-11 minutes, until the cookies have spread and the edges set. Cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and cream cheese for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, corn starch, vanilla and salt.
- Increase the speed to medium and beat for several minutes, stopping to scrape the bowl down occasionally, until fluffy.
- Frost your cookies, either with an offset icing spatula or with piping bags and piping tips. Before the buttercream crusts over, decorate with sprinkles. For the rosettes and drop flowers, I used tip 1M. For the carrots, I used tip 7. For the leaves, I used tip 352.
Notes
Store unfrosted cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months. Frosted cookies can be stored in a single layer at room temperature for up to 1 day, or in the refrigerator for several days. Let come to room temperature before serving.
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