Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Award: Treats and Feasts’ Carrot Cake Cookies

by The Meal Makeover Moms on April 12th, 2010

There’s nothing unusual about a recipe for carrot cake or for that matter, carrot cupcakes. But carrot cookies? Last month, Facebook fan Leah S., a mom of two and a fellow registered dietitian and food blogger (her blog is called Treats and Feasts), shared her recipe for Carrot Cake Cookies. The original recipe came from her sister-in-law, but Leah tweaked it a bit by replacing the butter with canola oil, swapping out some of the white flour for whole wheat, and tossing in some ground flaxseed for good measure. Needless to say, The Meal Makeover Moms were intrigued!

Leah’s children peel carrots and help mom make one of their favorite treats.

This cookie “overhaul” has everything we love:  Big-time kid appeal (Liz’s boys, Josh and Simon, couldn’t believe there were actually carrots in the cookies and that they actually liked them!), ease of preparation, and great nutrition. Given all this recipe has to offer, we are pleased to award Leah with our Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Award.

Carrot Cake Cookies

Makes About 3 Dozen (adapted from Treats and Feasts)

  • 1/2 cup canola oil (original was butter)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar (original was 1 cup)
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour (original was 2 cups white)
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour (or you can use 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour)
  • 1/4 cup ground flaxseed (added from original)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon allspice (original was nutmeg)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/3 cup oats
  • 1 cup grated or finely chopped carrots (about 8 ounces)
  • 1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

1. Whisk together the oil and sugars until well combined. Whisk in the eggs until well combined.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda, salt, allspice, and cinnamon. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until combined.  Stir in the oats, carrots, and nuts.

2. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 to 12 minutes until golden on the bottoms. Repeat with remaining batter.

Optional: For the icing, mix together about 1/2 cup powdered sugar with milk (add 1 teaspoon at a time) and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract until smooth. Not too thick, not too thin. You want it to hold its shape when piped onto cookies. You can use an icing piping bag or cut the end off a sandwich bag just big enough to let the icing pipe out onto cookies.

Nutrition Information per Serving (1 cookie without icing): 90 calories, 6g fat (0.5g saturated, 2.5g monounsaturated), 8g carbohydrate, 1.5g fiber, 2g protein, 20% vitamin A

Print Recipe

Here are some additional notes from the Meal Makeover Moms’ Kitchen:

> For the carrots, you can grate them on the fine holes of your box grater or buy pre-shredded carrots and chop them into tiny bits.

> We didn’t top our cookies with icing, and the kids still loved them. They came out a bit more rounded than Leah’s … and kind of reminded us of little muffin tops.

> We made the cookies with nutmeg, so feel free to use either nutmeg or allspice.

> We used quick-cooking oats, and we chopped the walnuts until they were pretty fine.

We’d like to thank Leah for a super easy, kid-friendly (and mom friendly) recipe. This is a cookie you can feel good about serving and one your kids will surely gobble up.

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8 Comments | Filed Under Awards, Desserts, Snacks, Vegetables 

8 Responses to “Healthy Meal with Kid Appeal Award: Treats and Feasts’ Carrot Cake Cookies”

  1. Maria on April 12th, 2010

    The cookies look fantastic. They are going on my must bake list!

  2. Wendy Jo Peterson on April 12th, 2010

    I am thrilled about these! I have been juicing my carrots a lot lately, and wondering how I can re-use the carrot pulp into some wholesome goodies. :o ) Now I know! I will admit, that I will opt away from the flax–it does not like me that much, and I will add in orange zest and maybe candied ginger because I have them on hand think they go wonderfully with carrots! I’ll have to blog about it, too! ;o) Love the ideas!!! Thanks again!

  3. thejewishhostess on April 12th, 2010

    I think these look great! cant wait to make them!!!

  4. Kristin on April 13th, 2010

    Hmm….Seeing those young kids peeling carrots, makes me think it’s time I introduced my kids to a peeler!

  5. Colleen Gibney on April 14th, 2010

    I’d like to try this with the white whole wheat for the 2 cups–I know it’s not the same as ww pastry flour, but it seems in recipes like this it can work.

  6. Kristin Burns on April 17th, 2010

    These are fantastic. They turned out nice and light with whole wheat pastry flour, so I think they would work with white whole wheat flour. I used a fine grater for the carrots, added raisins, and skipped the icing. Yum!

  7. Prof. Kitty on April 18th, 2010

    My 3-year-old and I made these this morning–fantastic! (I think I basically had cookies for lunch today!) We didn’t have flaxseed but otherwise the recipe was clear and easy. We found the cookie does retain whatever shape it has when raw, so it helped to smoosh the balls down a little to flatten. And no icing needed. Thank you!

  8. amanda on June 23rd, 2011

    just made these and delicious!! thank you!!!

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