Carrot Cake Cookies (Vegan and Gluten Free)

recThese Carrot Cake Cookies have all the flavor of carrot cake in the form of a healthy cookie! They are super easy to make with less than 10 minutes of prep work and healthy enough to eat for breakfast! Vegan, gluten-free recipe with no added sugar!

Heads up! This post was first published March 1, 2011. Updates were made April 2020. Original picture of my daughter Meghan enjoying the cookies remains at the end of the post. ☺️

Have I mentioned that I love carrot cake?  It is one of my favorite desserts and is definitely my favorite cake.  (Chocolate cake takes a very close second, in case you’re wondering.)

I have so many carrot cake flavored options on this blog, but I just can’t stop! There are Healthy No Bake Carrot Cake Bars, Carrot Cake Energy Balls, Carrot Cake Oatmeal Muffins, and a Carrot Cake Smoothie, to name a few.😳

When I had a craving for it this week, I considered making my Healthy Carrot Cake Cupcakes, but decided to see if I could create a cookie version of my favorite cake instead.

I wanted the cookie to be even healthier than the cupcakes, so I had the idea to leave out the wheat flour. I’m trying to cut back on wheat flour in particular as I have a tendency to overuse it in baking. (Let’s face it–it’s WAY easier to bake with wheat flour than with gluten-free flours!)

  So instead of whole wheat flour, I used almond meal for these cookies.  I had no idea how they would turn out, but I was hopeful.

One word?

Fabulous.

It totally worked.  The cookies are moist and soft, almost cake-like.  They taste just like you are eating carrot cake, without the guilt.  Not that I really feel guilty when I eat carrot cake.  Everyone needs a little cake in their life sometimes.

Each carrot cake cookie has a little over 100 calories, 3 grams of fat (all healthy fats from the almonds), almost 4 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, and only 6 grams of sugar, all natural sugar from the applesauce and raisins.

 If you use certified gluten-free oats, these cookies are gluten-free. I use a flax egg in place on an egg to make them vegan.

They are low sugar because they are sweetened with monk fruit sweetener.  (Edited to add: I originally used xylitol with this recipe, but updated it to monk fruit sweetener as that’s what I have on hand most often these days.)  This natural sweetener is becoming more widespread as it’s zero calorie, zero glycemic-index and tastes and acts like sugar in baking. It’s worth using if you like to try to keep your family’s sugar consumption down. If you don’t have it, you can use regular sugar here, but obviously the nutritional stats will change.

Recipe Ingredients-What You’ll Need

• 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/4 cup almond meal*
• 3/4 cup monk fruit sweetener
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 flax egg (not pictured)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 3/4 cup raisins

How to Make Carrot Cake Cookies

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, almond meal, cinnamon, allspice, salt, monk fruit sweetener, baking soda, and baking powder until they are well-combined.
3. Add the flax egg, vanilla, and applesauce and stir until there are no dry spots.  Stir in the carrots and raisins.
4. Drop by the scant 1/4 cup onto the baking sheets, and press down with your hands to form a cookie shape. Bake in the preheated oven for 14-18 minutes, until the edges are set.
5. With a large spatula, carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack.  Allow to cool completely before eating.

Recipe Tips and Substitutions 

1. To make a flax egg, combine 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons water in a small bowl. Allow it to gel before using.
2. Regular sugar, coconut sugar, Sucanat, erythritol, or xylitol may all be used in place of the monk fruit sweetener.
3. One egg can replace the flax egg.
4. Old fashioned oats are my preference for this recipe. Quick cooking oats may be substituted, but the texture will change slightly.
5. Fine, blanched almond meal/flour works best in this recipe.

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Flourless Carrot Cake Cookies

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• Author: Maryea Flaherty of Healthy Happy Mama
• Total Time: 28 minutes
• Yield: 17 cookies 1x
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

A healthy cookie with all the flavors of your favorite carrot cake!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/4 cup fine almond meal
• 3/4 cup monk fruit sweetener
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 flax egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 3/4 cup raisins

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, almond meal, cinnamon, allspice, salt, monk fruit sweetener, baking soda, and baking powder until they are well-combined.
3. Add the flax egg, vanilla, and applesauce and stir until there are no dry spots.  Stir in the carrots and raisins.
4. Drop by the scant 1/4 cup onto the baking sheets and bake in the preheated oven for 14-18 minutes, until the edges are set.
5. With a large spatula, carefully transfer the cookies to a wire rack.  Allow to cool completely before eating.

Notes

Recipe Tips and Substitutions

1. To make a flax egg, combine 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons water in a small bowl. Allow it to gel before using.
2. Regular sugar, coconut sugar, Sucanat, erythritol, or xylitol may all be used in place of the monk fruit sweetener.
3. One egg can replace the flax egg.
4. Old fashioned oats are my preference for this recipe. Quick cooking oats may be substituted, but the texture will change slightly.
5. Fine, blanched almond meal/flour works best here.

 

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 18 minutes
• Category: Cookie recipes
• Method: baking
• Cuisine: American

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 cookie
• Calories: 130
• Sugar: 6 grams
• Sodium: 153mg
• Fat: 3.7 grams
• Saturated Fat: 0.5 grams
• Unsaturated Fat: 3.2 grams
• Trans Fat: 0 grams
• Carbohydrates: 19 grams
• Fiber: 3.1 grams
• Protein: 3.9 grams

The picture above has a glass of OJ because I was originally going to call these “breakfast cookies”.  I had a breakfast potluck to go to tomorrow and was going to bring them.  The potluck was cancelled, so now they are anytime cookies and we have to eat them all.  I’m really upset about this.

We enjoyed the carrot cake cookies  for dessert tonight.  Here’s Meghan saying “cheese” while eating her cookie.  And giving me a slight stink eye at the same time?  I should have snapped a few more pictures.

I had one, Tim had 2 1/2 and Meghan had 1 1/2.  We might just have them for breakfast tomorrow, too.  These are perfect for a grab-and-go breakfast or snack.  Really, these are perfect for anytime. I think they would be even more perfect with some maple cream cheese frosting.  Why am I just now thinking of this?

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