Carrot Cake Cookies with Spicy Buttercream Frosting
I love, love, love carrot cake. My dear friend, Elaine, back in Alaska, used to make the most amazing carrot cake ever! Every once in a while I still get such a strong craving for that delightful dessert. I think one of the reasons why I love carrot cake so much is that it’s not overly sweet, nor is the frosting that is usually paired with. So in honor of my dear friend, I created these mini carrot cake cookies. With each little bite, I am embraced with the feeling of her love and hugs. I hope you enjoy them too!
Ingredients: yields 40 mini cookies
- 4 cups shredded carrots
- 3/4 cup raw coconut flour
- 1/2 – 1 cup raisins (add at end)
- 1 cup raw walnuts, chopped
- 1/2 cup Irish moss paste
- 2 Tbsp raw cold pressed coconut oil, melted
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 9 pitted Medjool dates, soak if they are firm
Preparation:
- In your food processor shred the carrots.
- Add in the remaining ingredients except for the raisins and walnuts. Pulse blend together until well mixed but don’t over process.
- Hand mix in the raisins and walnuts.
- Using a 2 Tbsp cookie scoop, make cookie shapes and drop on the mesh screen that comes along with your dehydrator.
- Dehydrate at 105 degrees for 16 hrs. I recommend checking in on your cookies from time to time as different dehydrators work differently. You want the outside of the cookie to be firm but the inside a bit more moist. If you over dry them it will effect the texture making them really dry in your mouth.
- Once cooled, apply the frosting and store in an airtight container in the fridge. If possible wait to frost until ready to serve.
Ingredients for frosting:
- 2 cups raw cashews, soaked for min. 2 hours
- 1/2 cup almond nut milk
- 1/2 cup raw agave syrup
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp lecithin** (I used sunflower lecithin)
- 1 cup raw cold pressed coconut oil, melted **
Preparation:
- Add to blender all ingredients except the coconut oil and lecithin. These will be added at the very end. Blend until the frosting is nice and creamy with no grittiness. You want to accomplish this prior to adding the coconut oil and lecithin.
- Now add in the coconut oil and lecithin, blend until smooth and creamy (3-5 minutes)
- While your blender is running, drizzle in the coconut oil and then slowly add the lecithin. Blend well but don’t over process.
- Place in fridge to firm up prior to frosting. You will want to keep your frosted treat in the fridge up until serving.
- Frosting will last 5-7 days in the fridge. Do not freeze as it will change the consistency.
Serving them in a Deviled Egg platter works out perfectly!
Posted on Monday, June 20th, 2011 at 5:28 am. Filed under: Cookies / Nuggets / Balls Tags: Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Soy Free, Vegan RSS 2.0 feed.
I love these cookies! I especially like the fact that you can taste the coconut a bit since that’s a traditional ingredient in carrot cake. The one thing about the cookies that I might suggest is that you put some grated coconut on top of them rather than just the frosting. Again, it’s a common ingredient in carrot cake, and in addition, while the frosting tastes great, it’s a bit gray, and the white of the coconut would be a nice contrast to the orange of the cookies.
Awesome suggestion Jody, I will try that next time. Thank you so much for stopping in to share with me/us. Have a blessed day! amie sue
I think these are fantastic!! I was amazed at how they taste just like carrot cake. While I love all the raw treats I’ve had, I can usually tell it’s a raw/organic goodie. I would not have been able to tell the difference with these if it weren’t for the frosting. yummy!! Like Jody – I loved the coconut. But I love coconut with just about anything!
I made these last night. Had them in the dehydrator for only 7 hours & I think I may have ruined them. :( too dry. They tasted really good & smelled wonderful. I should have stopped them a few hours in… but was afraid they were Too moist.
I already want to start another batch & watch them even more closely. But out of supplies at the moment. About to go see if there are any I can salvage.
I Will be excited about these again, just wish the first batch didn’t get over done. Seriously… they smelled Wonderful & Tasted Really good (when tested at the halfway mark of my 7 hours.
Hi Lapeep,
I am sorry that they came out to dry. Each dehydrator is different and the water content in veggies, etc. can possibly make a difference too. I am happy to hear though that you are giving them a second chance! Don’t throw them away though….if they are to dry to eat as is…throw them in the food processor and add a little liquid, either water or sweetener…throw in some nuts or whatever….crumble the mixture on the dehydrator sheet and make a granola out of it. Just an idea!
Thanks… so glad I caught this before I dumped the ones I tore in half (to check dryness levels)… I bag those for attempting what you said… sounds like it will be tasty. Also, I don’t have pumpkin spice… so I will be making the buttercream topping with more nutmeg possibly.
Off to the kitchen.
Lapeep,
In the past 4 yrs of preparing raw recipes, I have only discarded 2! Now, sometimes my plans change in what the outcome of that recipe was intended to be..but that is the beauty of raw! :) Keep me posted!
So as an update (even though I thought there were a bit too dry)… I made the topping (a half batch then ingredients listed & STILL have a lot left over).
I gave away most all the cookies & the few people that had them Really liked them. So they gave thumbs up. Took pics too (wasn’t sure if I could give a link on this post… so placed the link w/in website link in reply.) Will show pics of carrot cake cookies as well as a couple other endeavors from the site.
thanks again.
Was this from the first batch still Lapeep?
Yes Amie, It Was still from the first batch. I ended up with about 2 dozen, though I still thought they were too dry for my liking. I made a batch of the topping (only half a batch & still had a lot left over of that). Gave most of them to friends who I wanted to share my Raw Food experience with. Of the people who ate them, all liked them. Of the people who received a small platter of them, reports were they ate them all in one night.
I have a sneaky suspicion… that part of the dryness (other then dehydrator timing) may have occurred as a result of potential over processing of the carrots in the mix once the other ingredients were added in during the pulse stage. Which was why I think next time I make these, I will do for less time, and allow half the shredded carrots to be set aside while the rest is processed together so that I will have more whole shreds to mix in for texture.
Did you take a look at the pictures I took of the finished cookies? Placed a direct link to one of the pics (click my name). Also if you scroll ‘back’ you can see them without topping. The driest cookies are not in pics.
Anyway, thanks again for a great site with interesting recipes. When I make a recipe & post my pic results on fb, I always give a link back if I’ve used a recipe I’ve found online. Will let you know when I do others.
Good evening LaPeep,
I saw the pictures…awesome! Thank you for sharing. :)
Hi Amie Sue,
Did you use liquid sunflower lecithin? Thanks!
Morning Chris,
Yes… it was liquid for of sunflower lecithin. :)