By marian 12 Comments
Carrot Cake Rollout Cookies just in time for Easter! Reminiscent of carrot cake but in cookie form – lightly sweet, spiced with cinnamon and a touch of nutmeg and of course including freshly grated carrots.
I’ll jump right in and share my notes about the recipe so that I can go and decorate these. 😊First off, if you’re decorating these, you can pair them with a royal icing flavored with cream cheese icing flavoring! HERE is my royal icing recipe.
The raisins are optional. I love raisins but recognize that many people do not. If you do use them, perhaps chop them up a bit or even use scissors to cut them a bit smaller so that the cookie shapes are easier to cut out.
For best results, grate the carrots as finely as you can and use freshly grated carrots if possible.
If you’d like a stronger carrot flavor, add a drop of carrot cake extract. You don’t need it to make the recipe.
I added a drop of orange food gel coloring near the end of the mixing process. The dough still had an orange tinge to it without the food coloring, but I wanted it to be a bit deeper. To incorporate the color better, next time I would add the food gel coloring at the stage where I mix the eggs in.
The bunny cutters are from How Sweet is That? You can find them by clicking on each link below:
Bunny 1 Cookie Cutter (Named Bunny 3 in the online shop)
And that’s it!
Please feel free to ask me any questions in the comment section or on social media. You can find me onFacebook,Instagram,Pinterest,TwitterandYouTube.
Happy baking!
xo,
Marian
Print Recipe
Carrot Cake Sugar Cut Out Cookie Recipe
Servings: 35 average sized cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups salted butter, room temperature 454 grams
- 1 cup granulated sugar 198 grams
- 1 cup brown sugar 212 grams
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 drop *carrot cake extract optional
- 1 cup fresh finely grated carrots 90 grams
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 3/4 cup raisins, roughly chopped or cut 119 grams
- 6 cups all-purpose flour 750 grams
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Cream the butter and sugars together in the bowl of an electric mixer on low speed. (Use the paddle attachment). Mix until thoroughly incorporated – for about one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a plastic spatula and mix again for a few seconds more. Over mixing the butter and sugar in this step will cause too much air to be incorporated into the dough. If you'd like a light and fluffy cookie, that's ideal, however the dough will spread more during baking; not ideal if you'd like the cookie to hold its shape.
Add eggs slowly and mix. Scrape down the bowl with your spatula at least once and mix again.
Add the vanilla extract and optional carrot extract and mix.
Add the ground cinnamon and nutmeg and mix.
Add the grated carrots and raisins and mix.
Add the flour in 2 or 3 stages to the bowl and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, and observe the dough mixing. When it starts to come together and the dough clumps around the paddle attachment and peels away from the sides of the mixer, it should be the right texture.
A quick note – To see if your dough is ready, you can test the dough by pinching it between your thumb and index finger. If it’s soft but not sticky, it’s just right. If it’s too sticky when you pinch it between your fingers, add flour, ¼ cup at a time, and mix until you’re happy with the texture.
Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge or freezer for a minimum of 1 hour.
Cut out cookie shapes. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and repeat. If the dough gets too soft to work with, place in the fridge or freezer periodically to firm up again.
Once all cut out, put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again. They will then hold their shape better when baked.
Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the edges become golden brown. The baking time will depend on the size and thickness of your cookie.
Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate if you like! If you’re new to decorating cookies, I have basic cookie decorating tutorials with everything you’ll need to know to begin on my blog. Have fun!
