These Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cookies are tasty, easy to make, have a great texture and are loved by all who try them - gluten free or not!

Note: This recipe was first posted on my original blog, Celebration Generation, on October 22, 2020. It was transferred over to this blog - existing comments and all - on Feb 25, 2021

These carrot cake cookies really morphed from the time I decided to do a carrot cake cookie, and what ended up as the final product. The very first version turned out so horribly, I almost didn't continue to pursue the idea! No flavour, horrible texture... really bad. It was a rare, upsetting occurrence for me!

The second - and final - version cut out the pineapple, and went from being just a basic dropped cookie, to being sandwich cookies. Carrot cake needs cream cheese frosting, and the cookies needed the same - accented with both maple syrup and orange zest.

These are *wildly* good!

It’s a chewy carrot cake cookie that’s packed with flavour, perfectly complemented with the filling. The cookies themselves are actually pretty healthy (if you skip the filling!), and hold their own as a quick snack.

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cookies

As I’d mentioned earlier, these cookies actually hold up really well as a standalone cookie, if you’re not so much into frosting and/or sandwich cookies in general.

These gluten-free cookies are dense - in a pleasant way - soft, chewy, and absolutely lack any of the bad textures and flavours normally associated with gluten-free cookies. There’s no gummy texture, no chalkiness, and no weird flavours.

That’s the benefit of designing these gluten-free cookie recipes from the ground up! When you look at the flavours and properties of each of the available gluten-free flours, you can choose which - and what proportions - you’ll use, based on what you want the final product to be.

So, when designing this recipe, I wanted a good base that would hold up to the moisture coming from the grated carrots, without being overly aggressive.

I wanted the “Carrot Cake” flavours to shine, as this is a carrot cake cookie, specifically!

The spice levels are nicely balanced in these Gluten Free Carrot Cake Cookies - they’re definitely there, but not super in-your-face. They’re balanced out with the flavours coming from the flours, brown sugar, carrots, orange, walnuts, and raisins.

The Carrot Cake Frosting

Now, while these Gluten-free Carrot Cake Cookies are delicious on their own, I’m a big fan of the “Anything can be a frosting vector if you think about it” way of thinking.

So, I designed the filling to be based around the carrot cake frosting I usually make - the usually cream cheese and icing sugar base, but with a bit of maple syrup and orange zest included.

I love the contrast of flavours and textures that the frosting provides to the finished gluten-free carrot cake sandwich cookie.

Smooth and creamy, in between very textured, chewy cookies.

Light, bright, citrus sweetness, against the spicy / earthy of the cookies.

Really, just a fabulous combination all around.

How to Make Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cookies

Before I get to the recipe for the carrot cake cookies, I want to give a few pieces of advice to help you along with these:

1. Use Parchment Paper!

I’m a big fan of using parchment paper in general, but it especially goes a long way to ensuring success with these cookies specifically.

The parchment paper ensures that your cookies won’t stick to the pan. Also, when it comes to flattening, it helps prevent them from sticking to the bottom of another pan! More on that in a minute...

Flatten Your Cookies

I don’t like really huge sandwich cookies - height wise - as I find them difficult to eat. So, I recommend keeping height in check when baking the cookies.

I do this at two different points - right before baking, and immediately after baking.

Before baking, I press them down enough to prevent them from rolling, but I don’t really *flatten* them.

After baking, I either:

- Use a flat silicone spatula (This is the one I use) to gently press each cookie flat

- Cover the cookies with another sheet of parchment paper. Place a (cool!) cookie sheet on top, and gently press down.

This is a great way to not only flatten them all at once, but to keep them all at a uniform thickness.

Have Some Patience!

Patience comes into play at two different points when making these cookies:

Allow Your Cookies Time to Cool

Let the cookies come all the way to room temperature before spreading the frosting and sandwiching them. If they’re still warm, your cookies will melt the frosting and you’ll have a mess on your hands (and table, likely!)

Let Your Cookies Air Out

If you’re all about gooey, messy cookies, you can skip this.

If you’d like a neater eating experience, though... give your frosting a bit of time to dry out / set up. The fridge helps, too!

More Gluten Free Cookie Recipes!

Looking for even more recipes for fantastic gluten free cookies that *everyone* will love? Look no further!

... and there’s even more - be sure to check out our Gluten-Free Cookies and Bars recipe section!

Share the Love!

Before you chow down, be sure to take some pics of your handiwork! If you post it to Bluesky, be sure to tag us - @CelebrationGen. We're also on Pinterest, so you can save all your favourite recipes to a board!

Also, be sure to subscribe to my free email newsletter, so you never miss out on any of my nonsense.

Finally, if you love this recipe, please consider leaving a star rating and a comment, and/or sharing the link on social media!

Now, on to that Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cookies recipe!

A small blue and white plate with a stack of gluten-free carrot cake cookies on it. The filling is ivory coloured and has flecks of orange zest throughout

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Filling

These Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cookies are tasty, easy to make, have a great texture and are loved by all who try them - gluten free or not! The orange cream cheese filling really finishes it off!

Prep Time20

Cook Time15

Chilling Time1

Total Time1 35

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Gluten-free

Servings: Sandwich cookies

Calories: 347kcal

Equipment

2 Baking Sheets
Parchment Paper

Ingredients

Cookies:

½ cup Butter softened
½ cup Light brown sugar packed
½ cup Granulated sugar
2 Large eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Zest of one orange divided
¾ cup Brown rice flour
½ cup Sorghum flour
¼ cup Coconut flour
1 tablespoon Tapioca Starch/Flour
1 ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Xanthan gum
½ teaspoon Nutmeg
¼ teaspoon Cloves
½ teaspoon Baking powder
¼ teaspoon Baking soda
¾ teaspoon Salt
1 cup Grated carrots
½ cup Walnuts chopped
1 cup Raisins

Cream Cheese Filling:

8 oz Cream cheese softened
1 tablespoon Maple syrup
Pinch Salt
2 cups Icing powdered sugar

Instructions

Cookies:

In stand mixer, cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla, and half of the orange zest, beat until everything is fully incorporated and smooth.
In a large bowl, mix together Flours, starch, spices, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Slowly add this dry mix to the mixer bowl, and carefully mix until well incorporated and smooth.
Add carrots, walnuts and raisins, continue mixing until uniformly combined. Wrap dough in plastic film, chill for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C), line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll 1" balls out of the cookie dough. Arrange dough balls on baking sheets leaving at least 2" between cookies.
Gently press the tops of each slightly - flatten JUST enough to prevent the dough from rolling.
Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove cookies from oven, use a spatula to gently flatten them slightly - this will make them easier to eat!
Allow to cool on sheets for 5 minutes or so, before gently transferring to baking racks to finish cooling.

Cream Cheese Filling:

Whisk together cream cheese, maple syrup, salt, and remaining orange zest. Slowly add powdered sugar until cookie filling reaches desired consistency. You'll want it very thick, but still spreadable.
Once cookies are cool, pair cookies into sets of 2 that are similar in size/shape.
Scoop a bit of filling onto one cookie, sandwich with the remaining cookie. Repeat for all remaining pairs of cookies.

Nutrition

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cookies

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cookies

The Carrot Cake Frosting