Well, I didn’t end up making the Itty Bitty Carrot Cake Cookies, but I did end up making an off-spring!
Meet the carrot cake cookie in breakfast form. I cut down the oil (using applesauce to replace some of it) and amped up the protein, fibre, and healthy fats naturally using ground flax.
In my first version, I used protein powder instead of flax, but the texture was weird and the flavour was off. Ground flax all the way!
I also left them chunky instead of flattening them down. Much better.
The cookies are lightly sweet, with a lovely carrot cake flavour and the texture of a muffin top. I added in a full cup of grated carrots and a tablespoon of freshly grated ginger for a boost of nutrition and an authentic carrot cake flavour. Ginger also aids in digestion as an added bonus.
Eric summed them up nicely, “If I was looking for a healthy cookie, I would be happy with these. If I wanted a regular unhealthy dessert cookie, I might be a bit disappointed. But they are perfect for breakfast or a snack and I like that they taste like a muffin.”
I’m not sure I can add anything to that, so I’ll just give you the recipe! Nutritional info follows.
Oh Mega Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies
Yield
13 cookies
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Like a healthy breakfast muffin in carrot cake cookie form. Coconut oil, maple syrup, and fresh ginger work well to create a nice carrot cake flavour, however if you are without those ingredients you can try subbing in another light tasting oil of your choice, other liquid sweetener, and ground ginger (maybe 1/4 tsp?).
Adapted from Itty Bitty Carrot Cake Cookies, which was adapted from 101 Cookbooks.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
- 3/4 cup ground flax
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup regular rolled oats
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 1 cup lightly packed shredded carrots (use finest grate)
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (other liquid sweeteners should work)
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 325F and toast the pecans for 10-11 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the batter. In a large bowl, mix together the flax, flour, oats, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and raisins.
- Grate the carrots and ginger using the finest grate. In a smaller bowl, melt the coconut oil in the microwave for about 45-60 seconds. You want the oil hot so it doesn’t clump up when adding the cold wet ingredients. Now add in the maple syrup, carrots, applesauce, grated ginger, and vanilla. Stir well.
- Remove pecans from the oven and add to the dry ingredients. Increase oven temp to 350F. Now add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well. The dough will be very sticky, so not to worry.
- With a spoon, scoop about 13 cookies onto a lined baking sheet. They don’t spread much so you can put them an inch apart. Bake for 14-15 minutes at 350F and allow to cool on baking sheet.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Just a word of caution- the dough is very sticky so don’t be alarmed when you mix it up. It’s easiest to just scoop the dough with a spoon and drop it onto the baking sheet.
They are a lovely cookie for an on-the-go breakfast or a mid-afternoon snack. And like Eric says, keep in mind that it’s a healthier cookie and you won’t be disappointed.
Breakfast this morning was a lovely Green Monster with a side of cookie.
Superfood Green Monster
Yield
1 serving
Prep time
Cook time
0 minutes
Total time
This Green Monster packs in superfoods like blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, chia seeds, and spinach! For more Green Monster recipes, visit the Green Monster Movement.
Ingredients
- 1 large handful spinach
- 1 cup + 2-3 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 1/4 cup frozen mixed berries
- 1 frozen banana
- 1 scoop Garden of Life Raw Protein powder, or other powder
- Ice, if preferred
Directions
- Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth. Add ice if desired.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Note the hot tea in the background to warm me up!
[Mason glass was picked up in November while visiting Fish’s Eddy in NYC]
I thought I would pass along a couple fun vegan links for you today…
1. Check out the PPK’s Vegan Top 100 of 2011 list
2. VegNews Top 10 Vegan trends of 2011
Have a great day!
Would this recipe work omitting the pecans? My daughter has a peanut/tree nut allergy and I would really LOVE to try this recipe. Thanks Angela!
Yes Im sure it would still turn out just fine :) Just wouldnt have the “crunch” factor.
Thank you so much! Gonna try this today, so excited!
Hello-
I only found your blog- wanted to say I love it! Also, I am not a vegan. I do do eat “real” food and try to focus on veggies! I made a batch of these for breakfast this week- I forgot the applesauce tho. All I had on hand that I thought might work was babyhood- so I used 1 4oz jar of sweet potato and cinnamon and only added1 tbsp of oil (olive) also I used white whole wheat flour as I didn’t have the pastry flour on hand. I also did some small grate carrots and some bigger pieces too…. These are awesome! My baby and I both loved them so much…I can’t wait to eat them for breakfast this week…I may give one to DH to try- I haven’t decided yet… :)
Hey Tracy, Thanks for letting me know – and Im especially happy to hear they are baby approved! Awesome. Enjoy the rest.
I made these yesterday and they are SO good! Even my picky 6, 4, and 18 month old kiddos ate these. Thanks for another healthier yet delicious cookie!!
where do you fine whole wheat pastry flour? I haven’t been able to find it at the grocery store. Is there a substitute or can you grind up whole wheat flour more fine in the Vitamix?
I just made these and they smell delicious! I left them in balls and toward the end of the cooking time I smashed them down as they were not spreading at all. I could not find ww pastry flour either so did a combo of whole wheat and all purpose…maybe that was the issue? I am srue they will still be tasty even if they don’t look as good as yours do!
Hello! I absolutely adore you’re blog. 80% of what I eat are your recipes. Thank you for making being a vegan so easy!
I do have a suggestion for a post though. I just recently adopted a Bengal and I was wondering what you feed sketchie? I’ve been trying to find the most organic natural pet foods possible but I’m weary about most of them :/
Thanks :)
Oh gosh we’ve struggled with the same cat food issues too. It doesn’t help that Sketchie has a very sensitive stomach and has had some stool issues in the past. Right now we have him on a natural canned food from Whole foods…can’t quite remember the name but he seems to love it. He’s also on a natural dental dry formula from the vet but I wouldnt necessarily recommend it. We’ve been looking all over for an organic food and haven’t found anything yet. Let me know what you come up with!
Orijan is the best I’ve found. Not organic that I know of but they use locally sourced ingredients made in small batches and they don’t test on animals.
The website has a ton of info
http://orijen.ca/
Thank you, I will certainly check this out!
Hi. These cookies look delicious. Do you think it would be possible to make them gluten free? Thanks!
Wow! What a fantastic sounding breakfast! I’ve got to try this
I have made these so many times! They are so good and a super easy breakfast for hectic mornings. I have been spreading melted raw coconut butter on them, which made them even better! Thanks for all your yummy recipes.
I made these this weekend and they turned out great! Have you tried freezing them? Thanks
Im sorry I can’t remember..let me know if you try it!
Hi Angela!
I just discovered your website and it is amazing! Do you think I can omit the nuts in this recipe? Would I be able to increase the oats? If so, by how much? I am trying to find nut free/gluten free/ wheat free/ dairy free desserts/sweets for my friend’s daughter. If you have any other recipe recommendations, I’d greatly appreciate them!
With best wishes,
Vivian
Hey Vivian, Yes you can certainly omit the nuts if required. I wouldnt increase the oats, but just leave it as is. Enjoy!
Hey Angela!
I wanted to share- I just made these last night but mine were turning out too dry as cookies…so I made them into muffins! I added about 1/2-3/4 cup of almond milk and some applesauce and baked them in a muffin pan for about 20 minutes…They were great! Just thought I’d pass that along!
Hi! I wasn’t sure where to inform you of this, but I recently read your post about trying to keep your ads vegan friendly, and I just got one that was asking me which brand of yogurt of was most familiar with. Just thought you’d want to know! ^_^
Hey Connor, Thank you for letting me know! I will do my best to find it and remove it. If you see one again, please take a screenshot of it and email it to eric[at]ohsheglows[dot]com – also if you can let us know the brand of the ad, that helps us locate it. Thanks!
Hi Angela! I am gluten free and vegan for health reasons that came on in the last year. I saw your suggestions for making them gluten free to Sonia above so I tried it and they are great! I made my own oat flour and almond flour and use 1/2 cup of each in place of the whole wheat flour. I love them and my baby girl who is 14 months loved them too! Thank you so much for all the work you put into your beautiful site and recipes. Your blog and one other vegan blog are my go to’s for dinner every night!
Hi, Don’t know if anyone will benefit from this since it’s been awhile, but I used Red Mills Garbanzo flour. I thought it might taste weird, but they turned out well. :-)
Have you tried to make them GF and if so, what type of flour did you use? I like to use brown rice, almond or buckwheat usually? Thanks. They are yummy. Made them last year on Christmas morning and will do the same again as the boys loved them and I knew they had some healthy fuel to last for the exciting day ahead!
Love your site so much. Sending love from Bermuda
Just tried it with whole Chia seeds and it totally worked! The colour is bad, but the taste and texture so good!
Hi I was wondering if the recipe would still be the same if I used a gluten-free all purpose flour?
Thank you, Jodi
Made the cookies for a pot luck lunch and they were so good!! I kept a few leftovers for me to have for little snacks over the next couple days… well, let’s be honest, they were gone within a few minutes.
Thanks for the recipe!
~Julia Kristina
I made these last night and they were SO good! Incredibly moist and easy to make. I topped the cookies with an avocado cream made with almond milk and a bit of vanilla extract and sugar. My roommates loved them! The cookies followed your Lentil Walnut Apple Loaf, which was also a big hit. I live in a 6 person co-op and we adhere to a vegetarian diet in the house, so I frequently visit your blog for inspiration. Your creative and playful recipes have truly influenced my growth as a cook over the past 6 months, and making food for people is now one of the greatest sources of joy in my life. Thank you!
I just made these and they are yummy. Keep in mind they are not super sweet which makes them perfect for breakfast!
We have what seems like a ton of carrots from our CSA share. To help use them up I made these last night with my 3 year old. They were a huge hit all around! We all love them!
I need to add an update: My 3 year old asked for these carrot cookies for breakfast this morning! The batch I made a few days ago disappeared so I made another per his request.
Yesterday morning I made your blueberry muffins (http://ohsheglows.com/2014/02/19/blissful-blueberry-banana-spelt-muffins-vegan-refined-sugar-free/) – I made them in mini muffin tins, and he devoured them. Big hit! …At this rate I’m thinking you would have great success with another cookbook “Vegan recipes for picky preschoolers”! It feels wonderful to give little guy (and big guy) fresh-baked, delicious, homemade treats for meals and snacks that are truly nutritionally sound. So happy :)
I just found your website recently and totally enjoy it. I am not Vegan but my daughter is a vegetarian and I find Vegan Cookingm to be healthier and way more creative. I am sooooo looking forward to making these to send as a snack with school lunches but had a question about the applesauce – do you use sweetened or unsweetened
Thanks. Keep on recipe creating.
I made these today and they are excellent! I used a regular cookie scoop and ended up with 25 cookies. I think I should have baked them for maybe 10 minutes instead, but they were good. My husband and I liked them and my 4 year old ate one too. My 2 year old sniffed out a carrot and wouldn’t eat his though lol. I’ve got to figure out new ways to get him to eat veggies. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
My son, too!
The best way I’ve found so far, is to finely shred carrots and stir into lemon jello. For broccoli, I slice off the green buds and mix with lime jello.
Noticing the date of your comment, perhaps you found other effective ways to incorporate veggies?
Hi Angela! I‘m thinking of making these for a 5 day trip. Would make for a very good breakfast! Do you think they would keep ok in a container at room temperature?
Hiya! Made these bites and accidentally used a whole cup of pecans instead of a half cup. Not a totally fatal mistake, it’s quite nutty and I love the savory aspect; I can really see myself enjoying these on my way to work with a thermos of irish tea. I added a tiny bit of mini dark chocolate chips for fun, why not?! I also used a mixed lot of raisins, Trader Joe’s sells a little bag with different colored raisins and I thought it’d make a pretty cookie : )
One question, *how can I have these last the week without molding?* I made delicious blueberry banana muffins off this site last week and they were molded by Thursday–I chopped the molded part off, sliced them in half, toasted them, and topped them with Earth Balance anyway, but would like to know if there’s a recommended way of storing baked goods.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. As an Aussie some of the ingredients aren’t as common here so I used what I had in the house at the time: plain flour instead of pastry flour, no pecans, ginger syrup & extra maple syrup instead of applesauce and ground ginger. I found they were rather plain by themselves (to my surprise as I usually like milder flavours) but delicious with marmalade or peanut butter. It’s a great base recipe though and I’ll try them again, perhaps with marmalade IN the mix or with dried fruit or rind, spices (nutmeg, cloves) or lots of fresh ginger. Thankyou!
Hmmm… my green monster turned brown… very delicious but not very attractive…I used raspberries – what to use next time? strawberries maybe? Now off to make carrot cookies – excited!!
One of my favorite OSG recipes! :)
Hi! Would regular whole wheat flour work for this recipe?
I made these this past weekend, and they’re delicious! Tasty, and super filling, you only need to eat one of these for breakfast! I am attempting to make some healthier choices, and these were my solution to replacing my morning muffin. YUM! Also, just to put it out there, I made them exactly as the recipe instructs. No substitutions. :)
Thanks for the delicious recipe! I used walnuts instead of pecans, and they were great. I also didn’t have applesauce, so I just peeled and chopped up an apple and steamed in the microwave with a bit of water, cinnamon and nutmeg to soften – there were still apple chunks throughout but it was nice for the variety in texture. I only used about 1/4 cup maple syrup and I found they were sweet enough! Finally, I hope this isn’t offensive, but I cut mine in half and put cream cheese in the middle, to go along with the carrot cake theme – I’m not sure what would be the vegan alternative – this was my first experience baking something vegan, so please forgive me :)
I made this recipe after finding on Pinterest. Your recipes are some of my favourite out there! Even bought the cookbook! Today I want to make these again but don’t have oats. Could I just up the flour instead? Or maybe add more flax? Thanks!
This is the second time I’ve made these. They are soooo good. But they do take me 30 minutes to prep-hand grating my carrots and ginger- and 30 minutes to bake to get the bottom crisp and a cooked layer on top. I don’t bother lining the tray with cooking paper and the cookies come off with no problem. Thank you for your brilliance!
These look delicious! I never have applesauce around – what do you think about replacing the applesauce with an egg? (I’m not a vegan…) Thank you!!
Hi! Just made (& ate) these… AMAZING!!! Unfortunately, I didn’t have everything so I made a couple of swaps… I used light spelt flour, chopped dates instead of raisin, food processed baby carrots and mashed banana instead of applesauce… And it worked perfectly! I really love that most of your recipes can be adapted with whatever we have on hand, it makes every single recipes I did (about 10000040404838) all amazing and unique. I am basically living off of your recipes and I am always amazed by your creations.
So soft and chewy! I used peppitas instead of walnuts, prune purée instead of oil, and they turned out amazing! Great base for vegan fat free cookies.
I could never master “lightly packed” anything :) so could you please give the weight of the shredded carrots in grams? And if possible (pleease) give all weights in grams to satisfy this perfectionist so that all my trials of your recipes will turn out like yours!
haha you’re comment is the best! I actually started adding metric measurements into my recipes a year or two ago, so all of my recent recipes have the weights in them. :) I hope someday all of them will though! Thanks for your input!
Sounds delectable, could you sub coconut flour for the whole wheat pastry flour? Thanks!
Hey Taylor, Coconut flour tends to be a hard flour to work with as a sub because it soaks up a ton of moisture in recipes and it also doesn’t contain any gluten (which whole wheat flour has). So my guess would be that you’d have to combine coconut flour with other flours for it to have a chance of working.
I just made a batch of these delicious cookies! I had to make some substitutions because I didn’t have all of the ingredients. I used all purpose flour instead of whole wheat pastry flour, replaced most of the ground flax seed with additional oatmeal and whole flax seed (i didn’t see that it said ground until i added it in), and chopped dried cherries in place of the raisins. I even made homemade applesauce for this recipe! I’m definitely repeating this recipe. My toddler gobbled one down before his nap too!