Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies
These carrot cake whoopie pies are everything we love about the iconic cake, in cookie form! Chewy spiced cookies are sandwiched together with a sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting. They're a tasty individual-sized treat, and they're ready in just 30 minutes!
For more delicious carrot cake recipes, try our carrot cake banana bread and our moist carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
Table of contents
If you like carrot cake, you're going to love these carrot cake whoopie pies. They're quick and easy to make, fun to eat, and have built-in portion control!
Two soft, spiced carrot cookies are sandwiched together with a thick layer of sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting. They're perfectly spiced with warming cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg and the frosting makes them taste just like the cake.
We make them quite small because, with the oats, carrots, raisins, and walnuts, they're a hearty and filling cookie.
They make a delightful treat at easter or anytime in the fall. They pack up well for potlucks, parties, or cookie exchanges. Just make sure to grab one for yourself because they always disappear quickly!
What is a whoopie pie?
A whoopie pie is a cookie sandwich made from two round mound-shaped pieces of cake or cookie with a sweet creamy filling or frosting between them. They're most often made from chocolate cake but are also sometimes found in other flavors like pumpkin or gingerbread.
While the exact origin of the whoopie pie is unknown, it's said they get their name from working men who received them from their partners in their lunch boxes. When they opened them and saw the delightful treat they would shout “whoopie”!
Carrot cake whoopie pie ingredients
These carrot cake whoopie pies are made from scratch with kitchen-staple ingredients. Here's everything you need to make the carrot cake cookies:
- Butter – we use unsalted butter for baking but if salted butter is what you have on hand, you can skip the added salt.
- Brown sugar + white sugar – we've experimented with the best sugar mix and found that the combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar gives these cookies the right amount of sweetness and an ideal texture.
- Eggs – use large eggs. And ideally, they should be at room temperature.
- Vanilla – real vanilla extract will give you the best flavor.
- All-purpose flour – all-purpose flour is the most versatile flour for baking. You can swap for a 1:1 gluten-free blend if needed.
- Baking powder
- Spices – we use a warming mix of cinnamon, sea salt, allspice, and nutmeg. You could also use our homemade pumpkin pie spice.
- Rolled oats – rolled oats give these cookies a hearty texture. Use certified gluten-free if needed.
- Carrots – finely shredded carrots.
- Raisins – raisins add a sweet chewy element to these cookies. If they seem quite dried out, you can easily plump them up by soaking them in a bit of warm water for a few minutes.
- Walnuts – the walnuts are optional but they give these cookies a nice crunch.
Here's what you need for the cream cheese frosting:
- Cream cheese – we use regular cream cheese but feel free to use light if you prefer. Make sure it's softened for easy mixing.
- Butter – the best frosting is always made with salted butter!
- Powdered sugar
How to make carrot cake whoopie pies
A carrot cake whoopie pie is a delicious dessert, and they're surprisingly simple to make. Here's how they come together in a few easy steps:
- While your oven preheats, cream the butter with both sugars and then add the egg and the vanilla until everything is creamy.
- In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices together.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones and then fold in the oats, grated carrots, raisins, and walnuts.
- Drop a tablespoon of the cookie dough at a time onto the prepared baking sheets, and bake until the cookies start to brown around the edges.
- Let them cool completely on a wire rack – warm cookies will melt the frosting!
- Meanwhile, beat together the frosting ingredients. To assemble, spread some frosting onto one cookie and then top with another. Repeat until all of the cookies are used up. Dig in!
Full recipe instructions are in the recipe card below.
Tips for making the best carrot cake whoopie pies
Here are three simple tips for making the best carrot cake whoopie pies:
- Bring all your ingredients to room temperature. This ensures that the butter and eggs are easily combined.
- Use the small grate for the carrots. They will mix better into the batter and soften up easily when baked.
- Line your baking sheet with parchment paper. This prevents the cookies from sticking and makes for easy clean-up!
Recipe FAQs
The cream cheese frosting can spoil so these carrot cake whoopie pies should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Yep! Store them in an airtight container or resealable silicone bag (we like these stasher ones) and they will keep in your freezer for 1-2 months. When you're ready to enjoy them, thaw them at room temperature.
Sure! If you're not a raisin fan, just skip them.
Favorite cookie recipes
Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies Recipe
If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon EACH: cinnamon and sea salt
- ½ teaspoon EACH: allspice and nutmeg
- 2 ½ cups rolled oats
- 1 cup carrot, finely shredded
- ¼ cup raisins
- ¼ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ¾ cup cream cheese, softened
- 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, cream the butter and both sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until very creamy, about 2 minutes.1 cup butter, ¾ cup brown sugar, ½ cup white sugar, 2 large eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, allspice, and nutmeg.1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon EACH: cinnamon and sea salt, ½ teaspoon EACH: allspice and nutmeg
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat until just combined. Stir in oats, carrots, raisins, and walnuts.2 ½ cups rolled oats, 1 cup carrot, ¼ cup raisins, ¼ cup walnuts
- Drop by heaping tablespoons onto an un-greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the cookies are just starting to get brown along the edges.
- Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to a cookie sheet to cool completely.
- For the frosting, beat the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Once the cookies are completely cool spread the frosting onto the bottom half of half the cookies. Top each with the remaining half of the cookies.¾ cup cream cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 cup powdered sugar
Notes
For more inspiration, check out all of our cookie recipes!
Made these tonight for dinner with friends. Awesome combination, though I’ll admit I’m not too sure what the carrot did for the recipe – I wonder if it would have been similar without or with something else offering more flavor. Omitted nutmeg, not a big fan — my cookies spread a lot, and I did heaping tablespoons, then heaping tea spoons (realized I wanted smaller sandwiches) and adjusted baking time accordingly, (12 min for the large, and did 8-9 minutes on small) and even while I watched like a hawk they spread but weren’t finished baking. As a result, my cookies were delicate. I think I would do less butter next time. Frosting was good, I added a little vanilla. Overall we all loved them for the taste. Just would have loved if they were a little sturdier.
They may have spread more than usual if your home was very warm. That happens to me when I bake in the summer. If you pop the cookies (on a baking sheet) into your fridge for 15 minutes they will cook down and won’t spread as much.
Looks delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
these look yummy!