Carrot cake season is officially here, and no, you don't have to bake a whole cake to celebrate. These Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cookies are stuffed with a dairy free cream cheese filling for a fun twist on a classic cake recipe.. Whether you're baking for Easter, a spring gathering, or just because, this is the recipe! Allergy friendly, totally delicious, and handheld for ease.
We're taking everything you love about traditional carrot cake and turning it into the ultimate stuffed cookie. The soft and chewy cookies are packed with real carrots and plenty of spice, then stuffed with a sweet and simple, but tangy, cream cheese frosting. Why put frosting on top of a cookie when you can hide it inside like a delicious little secret?
Why You'll Love These Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cookies
- Allergy friendly and healthier: these healthy carrot cake cookies are gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free without compromising on taste. This is kind of my whole thing, and these cookies deliver. They use a fraction of the sugar of a traditional cookie recipe and still manage to be the first thing gone at every gathering.
- Wow factor: stuffed cookies always impress and these cookies bring the flavors of carrot cake into cookie form. They're perfect for gatherings or celebrations since they are a handheld treat.
- Easy than they look they make look fancy, but these stuffed carrot cake cookies are easy to make.
- Customizable: load these up with your favorite carrot cake add-ins or keep them simple. The base dough is your canvas.
Want more gluten-free cookies for spring? Try my Gluten Free Coffee Cake Cookies, Gluten Free Blueberry Chocolate Chip Cookies, or Gluten Free Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cookie Ingredients
- Tigernut flour: don't let the name fool you, tigernut is completely nut free and works as a fantastic alternative to almond flour. It adds a subtle natural sweetness without any added sugar, which means we can keep the overall sugar content lower without sacrificing flavor.
- Gluten-free flour: be sure to use a 1:1 gluten-free all purpose flour blend with xanthan gum for the best outcome.
- Tapioca flour: adding a little bit of tapioca starch to gluten free baked goods helps keep the texture soft and chewy.
- Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger: our main blend of sweet spices in this carrot cake cookies recipe to provide the perfect balance of flavor.
- Coconut oil: the main fat for these cookies.
- Coconut sugar: an unrefined sweetener that adds a subtle caramel-like depth. It's a great lower-glycemic swap for white sugar and works beautifully in spiced baked goods like these.
- Applesauce: helps reduce the amount of oil needed and keeps the cookie texture soft.
- Egg: you'll need 1 large egg for this recipe.
- Baking soda, vanilla extract, salt
- Grated carrots: use fresh, peeled carrots, and no, you don't need to squeeze out the moisture. Just shred and toss them right into the dough. More on the easiest way to do this below.
- Walnuts, raisins, add-ins: add in your favorites from nuts, raisins & coconut or leave them out!
- Cream cheese: stick to a plant based variety to keep these cookies dairy free, but whatever cream cheese you like will work.
- Powdered sugar: to keep this recipe refined sugar free, just blend 1 cup of coconut sugar with 1 tablespoon of tapioca starch for a healthier powdered sugar.
How to Make Stuffed Carrot Cake Cookies
- First make the cream cheese filling by beating together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a small bowl. Scoop teaspoon sized dollops onto a parchment lined tray (or use a piping bag) and freeze for an hour.
- Whisk together the flours, baking soda, and spices in a medium bowl.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream together the coconut oil and sugar in a large bowl. Add the applesauce, egg, and vanilla and beat to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until just combined.
- Fold in the carrot shreds, walnuts, and raisins.
- Refrigerate the carrot cake cookie dough while you preheat the oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- When ready, use a large cookie scoop to scoop dough balls that are about 35g (about 2-3 Tbsp). Flatten the cookie in your hand and add a cream cheese dollop to the middle. Fold the cookie around the filling and roll in your hand to create a smooth ball. Place the cookie on the prepared baking sheet.
- Repeat with the rest of the dough, placing cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. You should get about 18-24 cookies. Make sure to keep the filling in the freezer as needed. As the cream cheese comes to room temperature, it melts and will be difficult to handle.
- Bake for 18-22 min, until golden brown and center looks almost done (it should seem a little underdone).
- Let cookies cool for 10 min on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Substitutions and Variations
- Tigernut flour: you can use almond flour instead, if tolerated.
- Coconut Oil: I haven't tested using butter or dairy-free butter in this recipe, but it should work.
- Coconut sugar: if you don't have coconut sugar, you can use ¼ cup of dark brown sugar and ¼ of white sugar.
- Orange zest: if you'd like to add a twist to these cookies, add ¼-1 teaspoon of fresh orange zest to the batter. The more you use, the stronger the flavor becomes, but orange does enhance the carrot flavor.
- Add-ins: switch up the walnuts for pecans or leave out all together for a nut free option. Switch up the raisins for chopped dates and shredded coconut is another great addition. You can even try adding some white chocolate chips to the batter! I do not suggest adding pineapple to the these cookies. The extra moisture throws off the dough texture and it's just not worth the trouble.
Storage
Store these gluten-free carrot cake cookies in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Due to the cream cheese filling, these need to stay stored in the cold, but you can bring them out to room temperature for serving.
These cookies taste best fresh and I don't suggest freezing them, as the filling won't be the same once frozen and thawed. If you need to prep ahead, the frozen cream cheese filling dollops can be made up to a week in advance and kept in the freezer until you're ready to bake.
FAQ
Although you can shred the fresh carrots by hand using a box grater, it's much easier to use the food processor. I'm not sure why more people don't recommend this. Just peel your carrots, chop off the ends, and pop them through the food processor.
You don't have to use a scale, but it does make things more efficient and uniform. Without a scale, use a large cookie scoop or about 2–3 tablespoons of dough per cookie. The key is making sure you have enough dough to fully wrap around the cream cheese filling without any gaps or thin spots, otherwise the filling leaks out during baking.
Yes, these carrot cake cookies are fully dairy-free gluten-free! Just make sure your gluten free flour blend is certified gluten free and wheat free if necessary. Be sure to use a dairy free cream cheese to keep them completely dairy free.
I have not tested a vegan version of these cookies, but if you try an egg substitute, like a flax egg, let us know how it went!
Any cream cheese will work for the cream cheese filling of these carrot cookies. Kite Hill and Violife are the two most reliable dairy free options for baking. Both have a clean flavor and a firm enough texture to hold up in the filling. Avoid anything labeled "cream cheese spread", the higher water content makes the filling too soft to work with.
If you are making these for a celebration or get together, I suggest not making them more than a day before so they are fresh and taste best! You can make the frozen cream cheese dollops up to a week in advance and keep them in the freezer until ready to make the dough and bake.
More Gluten Free Carrot Recipes
Gluten Free Carrot Coffee Cake
Stuffed Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cookies
Equipment
- Baking trays
Ingredients
Cream Cheese Filling
- 4 oz. cream cheese of choice I used a plant-based variety
- ¼ cup powdered sugar*
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Cookies
- 1 cup 1:1 gluten free flour
- ½ cup sifted tigernut flour or almond flour
- 2 tablespoon tapioca starch
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- ⅓ cup coconut oil softened
- ⅓ cup applesauce room temp
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- 1 egg room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- ½ cup raisins
Instructions
- Combine all the cream cheese filling ingredients in a small bowl and beat until well combined and fluffy. If you're using vegan cream cheese, it can sometimes start to melt and not get fluffy, that's okay! Scoop teaspoon sized dollops onto a tray or plate lined with parchment paper and freeze for an hour. You should get at least 18 dollops, but up to 24.
- When ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Whisk the flours, baking soda, and spices together in a bowl and set aside.
- Beat the coconut oil and sugar in a larger bowl until creamed together. Add the applesauce, egg, and vanilla and beat to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients and beat on low until just combined.
- Fold in the carrots, walnuts, and raisins.
- If the dough is too wet and hard to work with for any reason, let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes until you can work with it.
- Use a large cookie scoop to scoop balls of dough that are about 35g. This is about 2-3 Tbsp. You should want enough dough to be able to wrap around a dollop of cream cheese filling without gaping or tearing apart.
- Flatten the dough in your hand and add one of the frozen cream cheese dollops. Fold the cookie around the cream cheese and roll into an even ball. Place on the cookie sheet.
- Repeat with the remaining dough, you should get about 18 cookies
- Place the cookies 2 inches apart on the baking sheet and bake for 18-22 min, until center looks done. It is best to place the cookie sheet in the middle of the oven, so you’ll bake one sheet at a time while the other cookies remain in the fridge.
- Let cool for 10 min on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling
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