Easy Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

These easy carrot cake cookies are soft and delicious and have a tasty cream cheese frosting. They’re made from carrot cake mix, so they’re a a pinch to make with minimal effort!

These carrot cake cookies are perfect for Easter or any occasion where you’re craving carrot cake but don’t want to bake one.

I love using cake mix as a shortcut for baking. I have quite a few cookie recipes on here that include cake mix, including my red velvet ones and my lemon cake mix cookies.

I used Betty Crocker cake mix to make these carrot cake cookies, but I imagine any carrot cake mix will be fine. I used the smaller (15 ounce) box, but I put some suggestions in the notes section of the recipe card if you want to use the larger size box of cake mix.

How to make carrot cake cookies from cake mix

You add the cake mix, eggs, and oil to a bowl and then mix until smooth. I like to chill the dough so it’s easier to work with and the cookies turn out puffier.

To make the frosting, you simply mix the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, and icing sugar.

Super easy!

I love the texture of these cookies. They’re soft, puffy, and the icing just melts in your mouth. I added a touch of cinnamon sugar at the end – this is not necessary, but it is delicious. 😉

I hope you’ll love these soft carrot cake cookies!

Questions? Talk to me in the comments below.

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Easy Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

By Natasha Bull

These easy carrot cake cookies are soft and delicious and have a tasty cream cheese frosting. They're made from carrot cake mix, so they're a a pinch to make with minimal effort!

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 12 minutes mins

Chill time: 30 minutes mins

Total: 52 minutes mins

Servings: 12 cookies

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Ingredients 

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• ▢ 1 (15.25 ounce) box carrot cake mix
• ▢ 1/3 cup vegetable oil e.g. canola
• ▢ 2 eggs

Frosting:

• ▢ 3 ounces cream cheese (1/2 block Philadelphia) softened
• ▢ 2 tablespoons butter softened
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 cups powdered sugar

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Instructions 

• Make sure your butter and cream cheese have some time to come to room temperature before you start this recipe.
• Add the carrot cake mix, vegetable oil, and eggs to a large mixing bowl. Using an electric hand mixer, mix until smooth.
• Chill dough for 30 minutes in the fridge (or 15-20 in the freezer). I recommend this step since the dough is sticky and you will also get slightly puffier cookies with chilling. 
• Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat non-stick mat.
• Make 2" balls and place them on the baking sheet at least 2" apart, if not more since they do spread. Bake for 11-13 minutes until they're set.
• Meanwhile, make the frosting. Add the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract to a medium mixing bowl. Mix using an electric mixer, and gradually add the sugar (about 1/2 cup or so at a time) until the frosting is smooth.
• Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a cooling rack. Give it at least 10 minutes or until they're cool to the touch before you frost them. I sprinkled on some cinnamon sugar for the photos. This step is optional. 
• Store cookies in an airtight container. 

Notes

• My cookies were quite big (I rolled the dough into 2" balls), so if you make them smaller, you can definitely make more than 12. 
• You can use the larger-sized boxes of cake mix (18.25 ounces) as well for this recipe - it'll make about 16 2" cookies (keep everything else in the recipe the same). The batter will be less sticky and the cookies will be more puffy - especially if you chill the dough first.

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