Carrot Cookies with Orange Icing
This soft, flavorful, easy Carrot Cookies with Orange Icing recipe is the perfect holiday or everyday treat! Easy to bake and topped with a sweet, tangy orange glaze, these cookies pair perfectly with milk or tea. Add them to your holiday cookie trays, gift boxes, or enjoy as a delicious snack year-round — a must-try for carrot cake and cookie lovers!
Try my orange chocolate chip ricotta cookies, ricotta cookies, pumpkin cookies with brown sugar frosting next!
Easy Carrot Cookies with Orange Icing – Soft, Sweet & Flavorful
These old-fashioned Carrot Cookies are cake-like cookies with a soft and chewy texture. The orange icing on the top is a delicious compliment to the cookie.
My mom used to make these little cookies for us when I was growing up.
Quick and easy to make, these cookies are a perfect addition to a holiday cookie tray, offering a tasty contrast to other sweet treats
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
1 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup cooked carrots, mashed (or you can use canned carrots)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup shredded coconut
Orange Icing
3 tbsp. butter, softened at room temperature
1 and 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tsp. grated orange peel
1-2 tbsp. orange juice
Step-By-Step Instructions
Cookie Dough
1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, or bowl from stand mixer, combine shortening, sugar, eggs and carrots. Beat on medium-high speed for 1 minute.
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt, then gradually add to shortening mixture.
4. Add coconut and stir just until combined.
5. Drop by heaping teaspoonful, 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet or cookie sheet lined with a silicone baking mat.
6. Bake in 400°F oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until no imprint remains when touched lightly. Keep an eye on them as the bottoms can brown quickly.
7. Immediately move baked cookies from cookie sheet to wire cooling rack and cool for at least 10 minutes.
Orange Butter Icing
8. In a small mixing bowl, blend butter and icing sugar.
9. Stir in 1 tbsp. of orange juice and orange peel.
10 Beat until icing is a smooth consistency, adding more orange juice if necessary to reach a spreadable consistency. Mixture should be smooth enough to spread, but not too runny.
11. Spread tops of cookies with icing and enjoy!
Storage
Store these carrot cookies with orange icing in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. For longer storage, keep them in the refrigerator for 1–2 weeks, or freeze for up to 3 months — thaw and enjoy anytime.
Carrot Cookies with Orange Icing
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 48 1x
Description
These old-fashioned Carrot Cookies with Orange Icing are cake-like cookies with a soft and chewy texture. The orange icing on the top is a delicious compliment to the cookie. I enjoyed them growing up and I hope you will too!
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
1 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup cooked carrots, mashed (or you can use canned carrots)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup shredded coconut
Orange Icing
3 tbsp. butter, softened at room temperature
1 and 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tsp. grated orange peel
1–2 tbsp. orange juice
Instructions
Cookie Dough
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, or bowl from stand mixer, combine shortening, sugar, eggs and carrots. Beat on medium-high speed for 1 minute.
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt, then gradually add to shortening mixture.
4. Add coconut and stir just until combined.
5. Drop by heaping teaspoonful, 2 inches apart on a lightly greased cookie sheet or cookie sheet lined with a silicone baking mat.
6. Bake in 400F oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until no imprint remains when touched lightly.
7. Immediately move baked cookies from cookie sheet to wire cooling rack and cool for at least 10 minutes.
Orange Butter Icing
8. In a small mixing bowl, blend butter and icing sugar.
9. Stir in 1 tbsp. of orange juice and orange peel.
10 Beat until icing is a smooth consistency, adding more orange juice if necessary to reach a spreadable consistency. Mixture should be smooth enough to spread, but not too runny.
11. Spread tops of cookies with icing and enjoy!
Notes
The prep time does not include the time to cook and mash the carrots because you could use fresh or canned carrots for this recipe. The canned ones would not add any additional prep time.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Oven Baked
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookies
- Calories: 107
- Sugar: 8.3 g
- Sodium: 35.9 mg
- Fat: 5.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.1 g
- Trans Fat: 0.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 13 g
- Fiber: 0.3 g
- Protein: 0.9 g
- Cholesterol: 9.8 mg
Hi Sandra just wondering if I don’t cook the carrots and I just shred them how do they come out? In carrot cake there just shredded so I’m wondering if they would come out good or not.
Hi Carm, I think they would be fine although I haven’t tried them with raw carrots. I’ve seen other cookie recipes, though that call for shredded carrots. I would go for it! Please let me know how they turn out! Thanks for commenting! Sandra
I believe if you add shredded carrots instead of cooked carrots, they would not be cooked enough because they are done after 8 to 10 minutes . À carrot cake bakes a lot longer. That’s my feeling anyway…
I agree! Sandra 😉
I never cook the carrots. I’ve been making these for 30 years and they always turn out great. I just shred the carrots and mix them in.
Great great recipe ❤️. I’ve been baking making this recipe for the last 30 years I would say ! Those cookies are light, and specially tasty with that orange frosting. AND, they are sooo beautiful !
The orange icing on these cookies is so good in these surprising carrot cookies. Never tried these before but they were an instant hit!!