Tropical Carrot Cake Cookies

This past weekend has been a little crazy to say the least.  My parents went out of town last week for a wedding and asked me if I would go to their house to stay with my younger siblings. There is a huge gap between me and my youngest sibling… almost 15 years.  Crazy huh?! It is nuts because our lives are on such different pages, but my youngest siblings are some of my favorite people. Needless to say this weekend was fun but busy, too.

During the weekend, I had my youngest sister come and help me in the kitchen and these cookies were born.  We opened up our Grandma’s cookbook and saw a recipe for Carrot Cake Cookies.  Seeing the ingredients, I immediately wanted to change it up a bit and that is where the “Tropical” part kicks in.  We added some crushed pineapple, not only for flavor but to make these cookies moist and soft.  They turned out incredible and my whole family enjoyed them!


Tropical Carrot Cake Cookies
 
These cookies are so moist and flavorful! May be my new favorite way to do Carrot Cake!
Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
  • 1 cup shortening
  • 1¼ cups sugar
  • 1 cup grated raw carrots
  • ⅓ cup crushed pineapple, save juice
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp. nutmeg
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 2¼ cups flour
PINEAPPLE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
  • 6 oz. cream cheese
  • 2½ cups powdered sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. pineapple juice
  • ½ tsp. vanilla
Instructions
  1. Cream shortening and sugar together.
  2. Add in grated raw carrot and crushed pineapple and mix well.
  3. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
  4. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, salt and flour and beat until well combined. It will be a softer dough. I call this type of dough "drop dough" because you will be dropping it by spoonfuls.
  5. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes. Do not overcook these cookies. They will be a soft cake-like cookie. Let cool completely on cooling rack.
  6. To make frosting, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, pineapple juice and vanilla until smooth constancy. Frost cooled cookies.

Enjoy!

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #chefintraining and/or #chefintrainingblog. I would love to see how these recipes take shape in your kitchens.

Filed under: cookies, dessert, frosting

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Comments

  1. Averie @ Averie Cooks

    Nikki these sound so delish! I was recently playing around with some pineapple + carrot recipes and the smell alone in my house was so good. Must try your cookies!

  2. sally @ sallys baking addiction

    I am a carrot cake fanatic but... have never actually made one myself! Since I don't have a reason to make an extravagant carrot cake, I think these cookies look much more approachable. I love the flavor combination Nikki! You never cease to amaze me. :) I LOVE IT!

  3. Hayley @ The Domestic Rebel

    I am totally baking carrot cake cookies in the oven right now! Eek, I LOVE your tropical addition--that sounds fantastic and I wish I would have thought to add crushed pineapple in them.

  4. Angela @ AnotherBitePlease

    My hubby loves carrot cake - it is his favorite. So won't he be so excited if I made these cookies for him Thanks for helping me score bonus points ;-) I too have younger siblings - youngest is 17 years age difference- makes for fun family get togethers.

  5. Ala

    If I ever get around to hosting that tropical-themed party I'm always thinking about, these will be first on the dessert menu. Thanks so much for sharing!

  6. Phyllis Piner

    I love trying new recipes ging to try your cheeseball recipe