Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cookies (Grain-Free/Dairy-Free)
The Story:
How fun are these carrot cake cookies!? Brimming with that classic flavors of the Easter cake you know and love, these gluten-free carrot cake cookies will be the star of the show for Easter dinner. With no shortage of flavor here, these cookies boast the warm flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, the quintessential carrot cake components of shredded carrots and chopped walnuts for texture, and lastly they are topped with a creamy and slightly tangy cream cheese frosting. The classic remade into cookie form, which is easier in my opinion with no cutting or plates required! Happy Spring!
The Ingredients For Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cookies:
Almond Flour: This grain-free flour makes up the base of the cookie dough and helps with maintaining a delicious moisture and chewiness to the cookies.
Tapioca Flour: This grain-free flour helps balance out the moisture content from the almond flour to create the perfect, fluffy texture while absorbing the liquid ingredients.
Egg Yolks: Egg yolks get added to the batter for the perfect amount of liquid and structure.
Dairy-free Butter: I use Earth Balance butter as it maintains its structure well. Butter is needed for the cookies, frosting and crumble. “You can never have too much butter!”
Sugar: Of course a cookie needs a good dose of sugar.
Brown Sugar: Brown sugar gets added for depth and rich flavor.
Shredded Carrots: Make sure your carrots are finely shredded for this recipe. A cookie cooks for much less time than a cake, so you want to ensure they have a soft texture. I shredded my carrots on the smallest grate, then I also chopped them using a knife.
Chopped Walnuts: Toast your walnuts before chopping to ensure the best flavor! Always toast your nuts!
Baking Powder: The rising agent for these cookies to give them a nice rise and fluff. I just recently found Otto’s Naturals grain-free baking powder and it works perfectly!
Xanthan Gum: This is a replacement aid for gluten, to help your grain-free and gluten-free bakes maintain their moisture and structure.
Cinnamon/Nutmeg/Ginger: These warm spices are necessary to get that traditional carrot cake flavor, and they balance out so well with the cream cheese frosting.
Salt: To offset the sweetness for flavor balance.
Powdered Sugar: The frosting will use powdered sugar. If you cannot tolerate grains, look for organic powdered sugar, which does not use corn starch.
Cream Cheese: Look for a sturdy dairy-free cream cheese so that the frosting holds its texture. I prefer Myioko’s cream cheese. It has a nice tang and sturdy texture.
How to Make Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350. First, let's prep the carrot cake components. Finely shred the carrots and set aside. Now, place the walnuts on a cookie sheet and allow them to toast slightly while the oven is preheating. Remove once they become fragrant, about 10 minutes. Once cooled, coarsely chop them up.
Now to make the cookie batter. Add the butter and both sugars to a bowl (or to a mixer if you would like, but keep it on low speed during the whole process) and begin to work the butter into the sugar until creamy. Next, add in the egg yolks and vanilla extract and mix well, again until creamy and smooth. Next, add in the flour, remaining dry ingredients, and mix until the dough comes together. Lastly, add in those yummy carrot cake goodies of shredded carrots and chopped walnuts.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a big cookie scoop (3 tbsp), scoop out the dough and place on the cookie sheet, leaving a good amount of space in between each cookie. Bake for 13-14 minutes. You want them to have just a slightly golden bottom. Don’t over-bake or you will lose the delicious chewy texture!
Now for the cream cheese frosting! By hand, or with a mixer on low speed, cream the butter with the cream cheese until smooth. Then, add in the powdered sugar and vanilla and cream together until smooth and creamy. I have found the most success with dairy-free buttercream when mixing by hand. Dairy-free butter can become soft very quickly when using a mixer, so just go slow and err on the side of under-mixing to begin with. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use. Let the cookies cool completely before frosting! I then divided my frosting into three. I left one plain, dyed one green, and one orange so that I could pipe on a cute little carrot to make these extra festive!
The Recipe For Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cookies:
Additional Grain-Free, Dairy-Free Desserts:
The Finished Product:
A deliciously moist and flavor packed cookie! Each sweet bite is brimming with the texture and flavors you know and love from carrot cake! Happy Easter!
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