Two weekends ago, my mom started craving carrot cake. She talked about it at lunch, mentioned it at dinner, and finally caved at 9 pm and drove to Safeway to pick up a slice. When she arrived home, she grabbed a fork, plopped down in her favorite armchair, and slowly savored every bite, stopping with enough left to finish the following day.
Although Mom bought me a slice of my favorite 6-layer chocolate cake at the same time, I couldn’t help but stare and hope with all of my fingers crossed behind my back that she’d offer me a taste. That cream cheese frosting… Those soft streaks of carrot… The tender cinnamon cake… It looked mesmerizing!
Despite enjoying every last morsel of my chocolate piece, I couldn’t get carrot cake off of my mind. I pictured that square during every run (since my path went past the same grocery store) and whenever I stuck my head into the fridge for fresh fruit and veggie snacks.
I seriously contemplated baking my own again, but knowing that my self-control flies straight out the window with any type of cake, I went with the next best thing…
Cookies! These Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies blew me away, and not just from their built-in portion control. The cozy oats, the comforting cinnamon, the soft carrots… Pure bliss in every bite!
I based this cookie dough off of the most popular recipe on my site: my blueberry oatmeal cookies. Have you tried them yet? Hands down, they’re the BEST oatmeal cookies I’ve ever eaten. They’re soft, tender, chewy—everything a cookie should be—and countless readers have said nobody believes that they’re lightened up and made without butter, refined flour or refined sugar!
For this version, I swapped out honey for maple syrup because I love its sweet woodsy flavor in my carrot cake, and I also added more cinnamon (it’s a carrot cake staple!) and carrots. Lots of grated carrots. I used one smallish medium carrot, but if you have a larger one and a little extra leftover, throw that in too. It won’t hurt the cookie dough at all!
There are two very important parts of this recipe.
1) Measure the oats correctly! Do not scoop them directly from the canister. Instead, measure them like flour with the spoon-and-level method. Scooping results in 1.5 times as many oats. Since those oats act like little sponges by soaking up all of the moisture in the dough, adding extra will completely dry out your cookies and leave them crumbly.
2) Chilling is mandatory! It gives the oats time to soak up some moisture and helps reduce spreading. If you skipped chilling, the cookie dough would flatten thinner than a pancake while in the oven and create one huge cookie blob on the baking sheet. Not good! So avoid cookie blobs and chill your dough. Just 30 minutes—that’s it!
To ensure the cookies stay soft and chewy, we’ll underbake them ever so slightly. Just by a hair! Pull them out when the centers still feel a little underdone, and let the cookies cool for a full 10-15 minutes on the warm baking sheet. This allows the centers to finish cooking through without the outsides turning crisp and crunchy. The cookies will stay soft for an entire week—if they last that long!
I tried hoarding these Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies, but that didn’t stand a chance around my hungry sweet-toothed family. Every time I walked by the counter, another one had mysteriously disappeared from the jar!
Oh well, at least we’re getting our veggies in… Right? ? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your oatmeal cookies!
My newly released Healthier Chocolate Treats cookbook is full of sweet and healthy recipes like these oatmeal cookies! Buy your own copy here!
| Healthy Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies | | Print |
- 1 cup (100g) instant oats (measured like this and gluten-free if necessary)
- ¾ cup (90g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120mL) pure maple syrup
- ¾ cup (68g) grated carrots (about 1 smallish medium, peeled first!)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the maple syrup until thoroughly incorporated. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the carrots. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. (If chilling longer, cover with plastic wrap, ensuring it touches the entire surface of the cookie dough.)
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Drop the cookie dough into 14 rounded scoops on the baking sheet. Flatten slightly using a spatula. (The cookies don't spread very much!) Bake at 325°F for 12-15 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for at least 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
To make your own instant oats, pulse 1 cup of old-fashioned oats in a food processor 5-8 times.
For the gluten-free flour, I used as follows: ½ cup (60g) millet flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) brown rice flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) tapioca flour, and ½ teaspoon xanthan gum. Most store-bought gluten-free flour blends (like this one!) will also work, if measured like this.
Melted margarine may be substituted for the coconut oil or butter. Regardless of which is used, be sure that the egg is at room temperature before whisking it in. A cold egg added straight from the fridge would rapidly cool the fat source, resulting in small blobs of semi-solid coconut oil, butter, or margarine.
Honey or agave may be substituted in place of the pure maple syrup.
If the cookies are still really flimsy after cooling on the baking sheet for 15 minutes and threaten to break apart, let them cool completely on the baking sheet. That won’t let them crisp up too much, and they’ll still stay soft for an entire week!
For all other questions regarding the recipe, including ingredient substitutions, please see my Oatmeal Cookie FAQ + Video page.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
I made these for my family yesterday morning and everyone loved it! My family had eaten all of them by the time I went for seconds! I’m going to make them again today or tomorrow, and was wondering if I made a double batch if I could freeze some of the batter? These are definitely a new family favorite. Thank you!
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed these cookies, Heather! That’s the best kind of compliment there is, if they’re a new family favorite and the entire batch disappeared that quickly. 😉 Thank you for taking the time to share!
The fully baked cookies freeze much better than the raw cookie dough, so if you make a double batch, I’d recommend baking all of the cookies and freezing half once they’ve cooled to room temperature. I like to thaw them in the microwave on 30% power until they’re warmed all the way through. When thawed like that, I think they almost taste freshly baked!
I found the cinnamon overpowered the taste of these cookies. I’ll try to make them again with less :). They turned out well otherwise.
It means a lot that you tried my recipe, Erin! I do tend to like a strong cinnamon flavor… 😉 I hope you enjoy your second batch of oatmeal cookies even more!
Yum! I made these today with white whole wheat flour – they taste so buttery, and the hint of crust on the edges is simply irresistible. I might go back and make another batch today! None of your recipes have failed me and I enjoy the variety of recipes you have here. Just a question, have you ever made crackle top brownies (healthified, of course) and do you have a recipe for it? Thanks(I AM IN LOVE with all things crackly chocolate)!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies, Sophie! Thank you for taking the time to let me know. That’s the best kind of compliment, if you considered making another batch so soon after the first! Your sweet comments about my recipes mean so much too — thank you!! ♡
I don’t have a healthified crackle top brownies recipe yet… But as a chocoholic, it’s on my to do list! 😉 If you’ve signed up for my email newsletter, then you’ll be the first to know as soon as I’ve perfected and posted that recipe on my blog!
Extremely delicious!!!!!!!!!, I made them today!, thank you for the recipe!!!!!!!!
I’m really glad you enjoyed these cookies, Clau! Thank you for taking the time to let me know. Your sweet comment means so much!! 🙂
Can I use old fashioned oats instead of instant oats?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Sarah! I’ve actually answered this exact question in the Notes section of the recipe (located directly underneath the Instructions!). I know it can be really easy to miss though! 😉 I’d love to hear what you think of these cookies if you end up making them!
You might want to do some research on oatmeal, as it really isn’t healthy for you. If you wish to confirm that, take your blood sugar reading prior to eating it, then several times after eating it. Your glycemia numbers will spike which is terrible if you have insulin resistance issues. Glycemia is also bad for your heart as it increases inflammation in the arteries. Oatmeal is being pushed by capitalists to say that it will reduce your LDL, but you’d have to eat something like three cups every day even to get a minor LDL reduction.
I did try this recipe with hickory syrup and this is a great recipe. My 83-year-old mother loved them.
I’m glad you and your mother enjoyed these cookies! Thanks for mentioning the results of your hickory substitution too. I always love hearing what recipe tweaks work!
You know we eat cookies everyday but I really don’t know the difference ! This is so useful.
Aimee, I’m so happy you found this useful! 🙂
These cookies were really good. Even my picky husband liked them and ate 3 before I had them off the pan! Thank you.
I’m so happy to hear you both liked these cookies, Kim! Thanks so much for taking the time to let us know, it really means a lot! 🙂
Wondering you’ve tried to substitute apple applesauce for egg ( or other sub)
We really appreciate your interest in this recipe, Penny! We’ve actually talked about egg substitutions on the Oatmeal Cookie FAQ page, which is linked at the very bottom of the Notes section under the recipe. I know that can be easy to miss though! 😉 I’d love to hear what you think if you decide to try making these cookies!
I made these for my grandsons birthday. He loves carrot cake so I thought these would be great. I used regular all purpose flour, added1/4 cup golden raisins, 1/4 cup coconut, and cooked for about 18 minutes. Delicious
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed these cookies, Karen! That was so thoughtful of you to make them for your grandson’s birthday! Thanks for taking the time to let us know and share your modifications too. We always love to hear what recipe tweaks work out! 🙂
How can u make these into muffins
What a great idea, Jenna! We actually already have a carrot cake oatmeal muffinrecipe as well! I’d love to hear what you think if you end up trying to make these muffins! 😉