Healthy Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies (made with coconut oil!)
Delicious healthy carrot cake cookies bursting with coconut, raisins and pecans. These naturally sweetened carrot cake oatmeal cookies taste just like the carrot cake you know and love but are healthy enough to enjoy for breakfast!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (or sub coconut sugar)
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 heaping cup shredded carrots
- 1 1/4 cups rolled oats
- 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- 1/4 cup raisins
- For the glaze:
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 teaspoons unsweetened almond milk
- dash of cinnamon
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
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In a separate large bowl mix together coconut oil, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until well combined; next fold in shredded carrots. Add in flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until just combined. Fold in oats, coconut, pecans, and raisins.
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Use a small cookie scoop and drop by tablespoonful on prepared baking sheet. Gently flatten with your hand. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Cool cookies for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
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To make the glaze: Combine powdered sugar, almond milk and cinnamon in a bowl. Drizzle a tiny bit over cookies, then let dry. Makes about 18 cookies.
Recipe Notes
Feel free to leave out the raisins, pecans or coconut if you do not prefer them. You can also substitute any nut or dried fruit.
TO MAKE VEGAN: Replace egg with half a large banana or a flax egg.
TO MAKE GLUTEN FREE: I recommend an all purpose GF flour for the whole wheat. You can also try chickpea flour.
You can also use 1/4 cup of melted butter instead of coconut oil if you aren't dairy free and prefer to bake with butter.
Feel free to sub brown sugar with coconut sugar or with maple syrup. Note that if you use maple syrup your cookies will be more cake-like.
If you like cream cheese (and aren't DF), try adding a heaping tablespoon of softened cream cheese to the glaze before you mix it up; it makes the glaze super creamy and delicious!