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 dessert, 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 sometimes flies straight out the window with any type of cake, I went with the next best thing…
Cookies! These Healthy 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… They truly tasted just like carrot cake. Pure bliss in every bite!
Even better? These cookies are really easy to make — and faster than regular carrot cake too!
KEY INGREDIENTS TO MAKE HEALTHY CARROT CAKE OATMEAL COOKIES
Let’s talk about the key ingredients that you’ll need to make these healthy carrot cake oatmeal cookies! I based them off of the most popular recipe on my site: my oatmeal raisin cookies. Have you tried those 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 refined flour or refined sugar!
Oats. Like many of my other healthy oatmeal cookie recipes, you’ll use instant oats to make these. They’re also called “quick cooking” and “one minute” oats. They’re not the ones that come in packets with flavors like maple brown sugar and apple cinnamon!
Just like old-fashioned rolled oats, instant oats contain just one ingredient: oats! However, they differ in one key way. Instant oats are smaller and thinner than old-fashioned rolled oats. This smaller size means they soften faster, and that yields the best soft and chewy texture in your oatmeal cookies.
Tip: If you’d like to make your healthy carrot cake oatmeal cookies gluten-free, then substitute certified gluten-free instant oats. They work perfectly!
Flour. I opted for whole wheat flour to make these oatmeal cookies. I love how it has more fiber and micronutrients!
Tip: If you’d like to make your carrot cake oatmeal cookies gluten-free, then see the Notes section of the recipe. I’ve included how to do so there!
Cinnamon. It’s a carrot cake staple! I love the cozy flavor it adds to both regular carrot cake and these healthy oatmeal cookies. If you’re a big cinnamon fan (like I am!), I highly recommend this variety. It tastes a bit stronger, sweeter, and richer than regular cinnamon. Many stores have started stocking it, but I generally buy it online here. It’s really affordable — and basically the only kind I now use in my baking!
Unsalted butter or coconut oil. Just a bit! Unlike more traditional cookie recipes that call for ½ cup or more, you only need 2 tablespoons. That really helps keep your healthy carrot cake oatmeal cookies low calorie and low fat!
Tip: Both work equally well, so feel free to use whichever one you normally keep on hand. If you use coconut oil, your healthy carrot cake oatmeal cookies will be dairy-free!
Egg. A common oatmeal cookie ingredient! The egg binds everything together, and it also yields a beautifully chewy texture.
Sweetener. For this version, I swapped out the honey from my oatmeal raisin cookie recipe for pure maple syrup. I love its sweet and cozy flavor in my carrot cake recipe, and I had a feeling it’d work well in these cookies too. Spoiler alert: It was perfect!
Pure maple syrup often comes in thin glass bottles or squat plastic jugs (like this). It only contains one ingredient: maple syrup!
Tip: Skip the pancake syrup and sugar-free maple syrup! These contain other ingredients, which can change the way they behave in baking recipes. This is particularly true of sugar-free maple syrup! It’s usually water-based, and that will make your cookies cakey or bready, rather than chewy.
Carrots. Lots and lots of carrots. I love my regular carrot cake positively packed with them — not just a plain spice cake with the occasional fleck of orange — so I took the same approach with these healthy oatmeal cookies. That turned out so well!
For the best taste and texture, use peeled and freshly grated carrots. Don’t substitute store-bought, pre-shredded carrots! They’re also called “matchstick carrots.” They’re thicker and drier, so they don’t soften properly. It only takes a few moments to grate your own, and I promise the results are completely worth it!
HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY CARROT CAKE OATMEAL COOKIES
Let’s quickly go over how to make the best carrot cake oatmeal cookies! This recipe is easy and straightforward — I promise! — and I also have some tips to ensure your cookies turn out beautifully soft, chewy, and flavorful.
Measure correctly. This is one of the most crucial parts of this recipe! It’s extremely important to measure the oats and flour correctly. Do NOT scoop them directly from the container! Instead, use this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own!) Scooping or improperly measuring can result in up to 1 ½ times as much of either ingredient. That extra amount of flour or oats will change the texture of your cookies, especially the oats! They act like little sponges by soaking up lots of moisture in the dough. Too much of either will dry out your cookies and make them cakey, bready, or dry — but if you measure them correctly, your cookies will be perfectly soft and chewy!
Chill the dough. 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!
Drop + shape. The cookie dough will still be somewhat soft and sticky after chilling, so use a spoon and spatula to drop it onto the baking sheet. Because it only spreads some — but not a lot — you’ll also flatten it a bit to give your cookies a “head start” on spreading.
Tip: These are the spatulas I use. They’re so handy — and really cute too!
Bake + cool. It’s time! Slide that baking sheet in the oven. To ensure these cookies stay soft and chewy, you’ll underbake them ever so slightly. Just by a hair! Pull them out when the centers still feel a little soft and squidgy. You’ll let the cookies cool for a full 10-15 minutes on the warm baking sheet, and the residual heat will finish cooking those centers all the way through without the outsides turning cakey, bready, or crunchy. This is my #1 tip for the best soft and chewy oatmeal cookies! They’ll stay soft for an entire week… If they last that long!
Reshape (optional). If your cookies look a little lopsided and not completely round when you remove them from the oven, then immediately grab a butter knife and gently nudge any misshapen bits back into place. Their sides are still a bit malleable when they’re hot and fresh from the oven, but since these cookies set and firm up within minutes, work really quickly!
I secretly tried hoarding these healthy carrot cake oatmeal cookies, but that plan 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 some extra 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 healthy carrot cake oatmeal cookies!
Healthy Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (100g) instant oats (measured like this and gluten-free if necessary)
- ¾ cup (90g) whole wheat flour 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 (room temperature)
- ¾ cup (68g) freshly grated carrots (about 1 smallish medium, peeled first!)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil or butter, 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 cookie dough for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Using a spoon and spatula, drop the cookie dough into 14 rounded scoops on the baking sheet. Flatten slightly using a spatula. (These 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.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Ultimate Healthy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
♡ Healthy Apple Pie Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Healthy Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Healthy Banana Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Healthy Flourless Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Ultimate Healthy Carrot Cake
♡ Healthy Carrot Cake Cupcakes
…and the rest of Amy’s healthy oatmeal cookie recipes and healthy carrot cake flavored recipes!
I just made the dough up for these cookies. I’m so excited to bake them that I’m counting down the half hour. I doubled the recipe and did 1/2 carrots 1/2 zucchini and 1/2 honey 1/2 maple syrup. I absolutely love a good dessert but since I started clean eating 5 months ago any kind of dessert really bothers my stomach. These will be a perfect treat.
I love your twists on the recipe, and I really hope you enjoyed the cookies Stacy! 🙂
So delicious. I used agave instead of maple syrup. They turned out moist and very flavorful. I loved how the aroma of the spices fill the house. BTW, I like cookie recipes that make about 15 cookies. We are not overwhelmed with a particular variety. I like to make a small batch and then a few days later, make small batch of another kind.
I’m so glad that you enjoyed the cookies Linda! I prefer smaller batches of cookies too for the same reasons, so nearly all of my recipes will yield between 12-15 cookies (or if they yield 24, those recipes can be easily halved!). 🙂
Just found this recipe today. I have a batch chilling in the fridge, I put an Aussie spin on it, using Golden Syrup instead of Maple and I have crumbled some walnuts to add to the mix, hope it tastes as good as it looks. I could have just eaten the batter out of the bowl tho. 🙂
Those twists sound like fun! I really hope you enjoy the cookies Rachael! 🙂
I made these yesterday with all of the coconut butter and one additional tablespoon of regular salted butter. Also, I added 1/2 tsp of nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of allspice, 1/2 tsp of ginger and 1/2 cup chopped pecans. They are really good. However, I was hoping for a crisp chewy oatmeal cookie and these are more soft and they didn’t spread out when cooking at all. Anyway, a good cookie recipe and the grandkids loved them. I prefer a crispy chewy cookie, but I think these just don’t have enough fat in them to achieve that kind of texture.
I’m so glad your grandchildren enjoyed the cookies Lisa! This recipe is specifically designed to be soft and chewy, not crispy. You could potentially make them crunchy if you flattened them more and baked them longer. But I love your addition of pecans — that sounds lovely!
These came out very delicious. I used all purpose flour because I didn’t have the whole wheat flour and I used honey instead of the syrup. Very moist inside. Thank you for the recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies Penny!
WOW!!!! I just baked these last night for a fundraiser. This was my first time EVER baking something from scratch… and I am 36 years old. Haha. I wanted to make something really fun and seasonal for my little boy’s cub scout troop. My husband, who is a wonderful cook, cracked up when he saw the recipe I picked out. I went from cookies in a tube to this! I am very proud of myself, because they turned out AMAZING! I have shared this recipe with a bunch of people already. 🙂
Congratulations Heather — that’s a huge deal to bake something from scratch for the first time!! I’m proud of you, and I’m sure your husband and family are too. 🙂 I’m really glad that you enjoyed the cookies, and thank you for sharing the recipe with your friends! That means a lot to me.
Just made these tonight and they are great! I had built them up in my head and usually when I do that, the recipe doesn’t turn out… But this time it did! Everyone loves them! Wish I had tripled the batch instead of just doubled it. 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed the cookies and they stood up to your expectations Nicole! I’ve done that with recipes before too. 🙂
I baked these today and for some reason they turned out a bit dry and a bit bland. However, I ended up putting a tiny bit of peanut butter on top and that made taste better! My baking obviously needs help so hopefully when I make these next time, they can turn out better! Thanks for all your recipes!
I’m glad that the peanut butter helped Diana! I highly recommend checking out my Oatmeal Cookie FAQ page (it’s also linked to in the Notes section beneath the recipe) because I explain what causes the dry and/or cakey texture and how to fix that. 🙂 I hope your next batch turns out better!
Just wanted to give you a huge Thank You!!! for this recipe. I’m supposed to be eating no-sugar, no-oil vegan so I tweaked it a bit (cut the maple syrup way back, used pumpkin for the oil and flaxseed for the egg, whole wheat flour) and it was incredible. Tasted just like a slice of carrot cake, and the family (4yo and husband) loved them too! Thanks for a fantastic treat!
I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed the cookies Meredith!
Hello!
I made these cookies and followed the recipe exactly but for some reason my stayed balls, were a little crunchy, and didn’t turn out with much flavor at all. I have no idea what I did wrong!
I’m sorry the cookies didn’t turn out for you Emma; that must have been disappointing. I explain the most common causes of those issues on my Oatmeal Cookie FAQ page, which is also linked to in the Notes section beneath the Instructions. That should help so your next batch turns out better! 🙂