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!
Hi Amy! Every recipe of yours I have baked so far has been wonderful! Everyone loves when I bake healthy for them AND it’s really good!
Would it make a difference to use white whole wheat instead of whole wheat?
Thank you for putting weight measurements, I always try to weigh in place of measuring cups!
Thanks!
I’m really touched that you’ve tried and enjoyed so many of my recipes Sandy! 🙂 White whole wheat flour would work just fine. I hope you like the cookies, too!
So glad I found this recipe on Pinterest. These cookies have become a family favorite in our house. I add raisins and pecans and sometimes pretend they’re healthy enough for a quick breakfast cookie…! Thanks for the great recipe!
Cookies for breakfast — I love your style! 🙂 I’m so glad you’re enjoying the cookies Amber!
Amy, just found these cookies on Pinterest and can hardly wait to try them. I will probably add raisins and walnuts mainly because i use both in my carrot cake and my husband will not eat a cookie without nuts in it! Thanks for the recipe and i will let you know how they are!
My pleasure Annice! I’m excited to hear what you and your husband think of the cookies!
was your nutritional info also based on using gluten-free flour?
The Nutrition Information was calculated based on the whole wheat flour. 🙂 I hope you enjoy the cookies if you try them Annice!
Hi 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful recipes 🙂 I only just discovered your blog, after a group of friends and I decided to start eating more healthy and clean. I made these today for our group meeting and they were a success 🙂 And so easy to make as well 🙂 But we all felt like they could be even lesser sweet (is that how it’s frased?), so I was wondering if I could reduce the amount of maple syrup without getting the wrong consistency?
I’m glad you found my blog Linda, and thank you for sharing my recipe with your group — I’m touched! That’s perfectly fine if you’d like to reduce the amount of maple syrup. To compensate for the missing liquid, add the same amount of milk that you omit from the maple syrup. So if you use 2 tablespoons less of maple syrup, add 2 tablespoons of milk. I hope you enjoy that version even better! 🙂
Thank you the tip, I’ll definitely try that 🙂 Is that any kind of milk or did you have a specific one in mind? I also wanted to say thank you for including grams and desiliters in your ingrendiens list. I come from Norway, where we don’t use cups and ounces and all that, and I use a lot of American baking blogs for recipes. But I always find it challenging to convert all the units and get the right amounts, which obviously can lead to disappointing results when I get it wrong. So thank you so much for that 🙂 I’m looking forward to trying out more of your recipes 🙂 I got my eyes set on the Coffee Loaf with Dark Chocolate Drizzle 😀
Any type of milk will work Linda! I’m glad you’re finding the weights and volumes useful. I was a chemist before I became a baking blogger and used scales to measure everything in lab, so I’m actually more comfortable measuring baking ingredients by weight, even though I live in the US! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the coffee loaf cake!
Thanks so much for these. I made a batch for my MOPS group, and they begged me for the recipe. I also shared the link on my FB page and people have been very excited about it! !
I’m so glad you and your friends enjoy the cookies Sam! And thank you for sharing the links on your FB page — that’s really sweet of you! 🙂
I love cookies, I adore carrot cake and I want to eat helthy snacks, so I thought ‘Why don’t give this recipe a shot?’
That was half a year ago … I think I’ve made these cookies 15 times already.
They are soo delicious!
I added some raisins and sometimes also some chopped pecans.
Yumm, I can’t stop making them!
Thank you so much for sharing this great idea with us, Amy!
I also can’t stop trying the other oatmeal cookies, they’re all so tasteful!
But my favourite ones will always be these carrot cake cookies.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Oh my goodness, I’m truly touched!! Thank you so much for your kind comment — it made my day! ♥ I’m really glad you’re enjoying the cookies so much. (And is that a picture of a different oatmeal cookie recipe with cranberries on your Instagram account??) Have you seen the “loaded” carrot cake oatmeal cookies recipe I recently posted here? If you like adding raisins and pecans, I think you’d enjoy those just as much as these plain ones! 🙂 I’m excited to hear what other recipes you try!
Haha, you’re welcome. Great recipes deserve good comments.
It’s actually the first time I’ve commented on someone’s blog.
I’ll do it more often now that I know you appreciate them so much. 😉
And yes, that was a cranberry oatmeal cookie I’ve made! It was with white chocolate and I’ve put the oats in the blender to have 1 homogeneous cookie dough. I can’t remember the recipe but I found it on Pinterest while scrolling through all the oatmeal cookies you can imagine.
Thanks for noticing them!
And the carrot cake cookies were the first ones I tried from your blog. The recipes I also used were the ones with the blueberries, the almonds, dark chocolate and ofcourse the apple pie oatmeal cookies! 😮 Soo goood!
To be honest I haven’t tried anything else than your oatmeal cookies, but I will!
And oh, I just followed your IG account to be up to date with your recipes and ideas, keep up the good work!
I hadn’t seen your “loaded” carrot cake cookies, so thanks for letting me know!
Oh my goodness, I’m honored that you’d leave your first comment on my blog!! 🙂 It sounds like you’ve tried some of my favorite oatmeal cookie recipes already! I hope you enjoy the other recipes that you try just as much. And thank you for following me on Instagram — so sweet of you!!
Love the recipe! How would I go about making this with my sourdough starter? Any suggestions for easy starter conversion references in general?
I haven’t worked with sourdough starter before, so I’m not sure Betty. I’m really glad you enjoyed the cookie recipe as written though! 🙂
This is the best recipe for low fat cookies that are also free of refined cane sugars that I’ve ever used, and I’ve used a great many! They’re fluffy, sweet and cakey but also surprisingly nutritious. I tweaked it ever so slightly and used honey instead of syrup, 3/4 tsp mixed spice with 3/4 tsp cinnamon, omitted the vanilla and added the zest of half an orange and a couple of handfuls of soft currants. I’m more than happy for my toddler to eat these, which is testament to their nutritional value. Will be making them again very soon – excellent recipe!
Thank you so much for your glowing review Jenny! I’m touched that you love the cookies so much and are happy to give them to your toddler. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your modifications too — I love hearing what tweaks work!
These look amazing! I plan on substituting honey for the maple syrup, would the measurements remain the same? Thank you. 🙂
Thanks Alice! I answer that question on my Oatmeal Cookie FAQ page, which is also linked to in the Notes section beneath the Instructions. 🙂 I Can’t wait to hear what you think of the cookies!