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Sourdough carrot cake cookies are not your average sourdough cookie! With a soft, chewy centre, crispy edges and a drizzle of the most amazing vanilla cream cheese frosting, these sourdough carrot cake cookies are a mouthwatering adventure! If you’re looking for all the carrot cake flavor, but in a simpler, snackier form – these delicious treats are for you!
Why you’ll love this recipe!
Soft and Chewy Texture – The incorporation of sourdough starter into the cookie dough contributes to a soft and chewy texture (much like my sourdough chocolate chip cookies). This, combined with the traditional carrot cake elements like grated carrots and warm spices, results in a cookie that is not only flavorful but also irresistibly tender.
Like Carrot Cake, But Portable – I LOVE sourdough carrot cake, but it’s not always always easy to share. These sourdough carrot cake cookies are a portable version of carrot cake and are easy to share with a crowd, especially for special holidays like Easter.
Optional Glaze – You don’t have to use the vanilla cream cheese frosting on these cookies, but it’s truly what brings the nostalgic, traditional carrot cake flavors forward.
Ingredients
- Butter – I’ve used salted butter softened at room temperature. You can of course use unsalted butter if you prefer.
- Brown Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla Extract
- Sourdough Discard – You can use sourdough discard or active sourdough starter. I usually use active sourdough starter and then ferment the cookies overnight.
- All-purpose Flour
- Rolled Oats
- Shredded Carrot
- Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
- Pecans – Roughly chopped pecans are best here, but you can substitute with walnuts or even macadamia nuts.
- Raisins and Dried Apricots
- White Chocolate Chips
- Baking Soda
- Ground Cinnamon, Ground Ginger, Allspice
- Salt
Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze (Optional)
- Cream Cheese (softened at room temperature)
- Vanilla Extract
- Powdered Sugar
- Heavy Whipping Cream
- Salt
How To Make Sourdough Carrot Cake Cookies
This sourdough carrot cake cookie recipe uses very similar ingredients to a sourdough carrot cake, just with less liquid and the addition of coconut for a chewier texture. And if you really love twisting ingredients, then make sure you check out this sourdough carrot cake bread too!
There’s no need to use a stand mixer for this recipe, it’s much easier to just use a bowl and whisk, although I do recommend a stand mixer or electric mixer for making the glaze.
In a large mixing bowl, add the butter, sugar, vanilla extract and eggs and whisk together until well combined. Now add the sourdough starter and whisk until the batter is light and marshmallowy. Then, add all the dry ingredients to the bowl and stir together using a spatula until you have a thick, glossy cookie dough.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator for a minimum of two hours. Like most sourdough cookies, It’s fine to leave the dough in the fridge up to 48 hours (in fact leaving it longer allows your sourdough starter to ferment the dough and increases the flavor profile of your cookies). I highly recommend a long ferment for maximum flavor and texture!
When you’re ready to bake the sourdough carrot cake cookies, preheat your oven to 190ºC (375ºF) and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Use a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out balls of dough and place them the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2″ between each dough ball.
Bake the cookies for 20 minutes at 190ºC (375ºF) or until just golden. You want the edges to be crispy and the middles to be just set. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray and then after 10 minutes transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
To prepare the vanilla cream cheese glaze, it’s best to use a stand mixer. Place the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, salt and heavy cream to the bowl of a stand mixer and use the whisk attachment to whisk until it’s light and creamy. I find it easier to pipe the glaze onto the cookies, but you can also just spoon it on if you prefer.
Kate’s Pro Tip
Frosting Tip
I’ve used a ribbon tip piping nozzle to create the ribbons of frosted glaze on the cookies in the photos.
How To Freeze + Store
These sourdough carrot cake cookies will last around a week stored in an airtight container. I find I get better results storing them in a glass jar, rather than plastic – as that tends to make them lose their crispy edges.
I advise you to only frost the cookies when you are going to be eating them. If you store the cookies with the glaze, they will go soft and quite cake like (still delicious, but a definite change in texture).
The cookie dough freezes really well – form into balls and snap freeze on a baking tray before transferring to a sealed ziploc bag. You can bake the cookies from frozen when you want to. And the best thing is, you can just bake a few at a time if you want to, rather than baking a whole batch.
UPDATED RECIPE
This recipe was originally published in November 2023, but was updated in July 2026. The new recipe includes dried apricots, pecans and white chocolate chips to improve the texture and flavor of the cookies.
If cookies are your thing, then check out this collection of sourdough cookie recipes, including these popular sourdough gingerbread crinkle cookies and chewy sourdough chocolate chip cookies.
Sourdough Carrot Cake Cookies
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 160 g Butter, (softened at room temperature)
- 175 g Brown Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 5 g Vanilla Extract
- 100 g Sourdough Discard, (or active sourdough starter)
Dry Ingredients
- 200 g All-purpose Flour
- 100 g Rolled Oats
- 200 g Shredded Carrot
- 50 g Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
- 60 g Pecans, (roughly chopped)
- 50 g Raisins
- 50 g Dried Apricots, (finely chopped)
- 120 g White Chocolate Chips
- 3 g Baking Soda
- 3 g Ground Cinnamon
- 3 g Ground Ginger
- 2 g Allspice
- 3 g Salt
Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze (Optional)
- 100 g Cream Cheese, (softened at room temperature)
- 225 g Powdered Sugar
- 5 g Vanilla Extract
- 20 g Heavy Whipping Cream
- 2 g Salt
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, add the butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract and whisk together until well combined. Now add the sourdough starter and whisk until the batter is light and marshmallowy.
- On top of the wet ingredients, add all of the dry ingredients and stir together until you have a thick, glossy cookie dough.
- Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of two hours, but up to 48 hours. I highly recommend letting the dough ferment overnight for the best flavor and texture.
- When you're ready to bake the sourdough carrot cake cookies, preheat your oven to 190ºC (375ºF) and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Use a cookie scoop to scoop out balls of dough and place them on the cookie sheets leaving 2" between each dough ball. I've used a 3 tablespoon cookies scoop.
- Bake the cookies for 20 minutes at 190ºC (375ºF) or until just golden. You want the edges to be crispy and the middles to be just set.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray and then after 10 minutes transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
To Make The Glaze
- To make the glaze, add all of the glaze ingredients to a stand mixer or food processor and blend until it's smooth and creamy. Add to a piping bag and drizzle over the cookies.You can mix the glaze by hand, but it's so much easier in a food processor or stand mixer.Garnish with some finely chopped dried apricots and chopped pecans (optional).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I don’t see the amount of sourdough discard for this recipe. Is it 1/2 cup like most discard recipes?🤔
WOWWW! Delicious! Carrot cakes are one of my favourites, i must admit these cookies may even surpass cakes.
Convection oven at 350F for 16 minutes
I used coconut oil to make the cookie dairy free. Turned out really well to good+ reviews from hubbie and friends. You may want to edit the recipe for those who do not read through the blog. Carrots should be designated a ‘shredded’ and you did not include the nutmeg in ingredients. Next time I make them, I may try using fresh ginger for a flavor kick.
I followed the recipe to a T also added some chopped walnuts. I am a carrot cake nut. Yes, the person who mentioned carrots… You only have carrots in the recipe list, but didn’t mention to shred them… But I figured that’s what they needed to be to fit in the cookie lol. I baked the cookies for 20 minutes. They turned out pretty good, but just a tad bit over cooked on Some of them. The icing helps with the dryness and nothing a glass of milk can’t fix… probably should’ve rotated the tray halfway through. I did add convection on the last few minutes. I think in my oven if I cook them for a few minutes less, they will be more tender like carrot cake. I will definitely try these again with a few more experiments.
And the first of many sourdough discard recipes I will try!
Thank you, Jack! I updated the recipe card. You were right – the carrots should be shredded.
How long do you bake the cookies when you take them out of the freezer?
The same amount of time. Just let them soften for a few minutes before putting them in the oven.
Is the butter salted or unsalted?
I always use salted butter 🙂 but honestly it makes no real difference to this recipe 🙂
G’day Kate. I noticed there’s no sugar added at all in recipe except from the natural sugars in the dried fruits & icing, if I’m correct? if so, then you’ve won me! Not a fan of much sugar in desserts.
Hi Elle – sorry but there is definitely brown sugar listed in this recipe (under the wet ingredients). I haven’t tried making it without the brown sugar, so I’m not sure they would work without it. You could reduce it if you want to thought, but I wouldn’t go under 100 grams of sugar. You could leave the icing off if you wanted them less sweet 🙂