Carrot Cake Sugar Cookies
These Carrot Cake Sugar Cookies are built on a classic cut-out sugar cookie base that was developed to hold its shape, bake with soft centers, and still taste great. Warm spices and finely grated carrots give them that familiar carrot cake flavor while keeping the dough easy to roll, cut, and decorate.
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Microplane or fine grater
- Baking sheets
- Parchment paper
- Rolling Pin
- Cookie cutters
Ingredients
- 1 cup Salted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup Granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup Brown sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 2 tsp Vanilla Butter emulsion
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp Ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp Ground nutmeg
- 1 cup Finely grated carrots
- 3 1/2 - 4 cups All-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, then mix in the vanilla butter emulsion and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Blend in cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg until evenly distributed.
- Finely grate the carrots. Place them in a paper towel and gently squeeze out the excess moisture. They should still be slightly moist, just not dripping. Fold the carrots into the dough.
- Gradually add the flour, mixing just until combined. Start with 3 1/2 cups. If the dough pulls away from the sides of the mixing bowl, you’ve added enough flour.
- Roll dough to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes and transfer to baking sheets 1 to 2 inches apart.
- Bake for about 13 minutes, until the edges are set and the tops of the cookies are no longer shiny.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring to a rack. Cool completely before decorating.