Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies

These carrot cake whoopie pies are made with a spiced cream cheese frosting sandwiched between two soft and moist carrot cake cookies for a Fall baking twist on a classic.

Can you feel it yet? Tis the season where all you will see online are Fall-inspired foods and decor as you're scrolling through Pinterest, with pumpkin spice latte in hand.

I never liked the Fall season until I was out of school. Without the impending dread of staying awake in 8am lectures, getting called on in class, group projects, and memorizing notes for exams that I will never remember again after the fact, I never did appreciate all the other things that come with the season.

Cream cheese frosting, chai spice lattes, apple pies, landscapes littered with orange and red hues. All great things that I didn't have the chance to enjoy before when my nose was in a textbook or when I was asleep on the bus to school. All that to say, I so appreciate this transitional season. It's like the pre-drinking party before the full-on holidays.

What is a whoopie pie?

A whoopie pie is a baked dessert consisting of two soft baked cookies with a cream filling sandwiched between them.

Funny name aside, I like to think of whoopie pies as basically cookie sandwiches, cookie cream pies, or handheld cake sandwiches. Maybe not the latter but all of which sound delicious.

How to make carrot cake whoopie pies

1. Make the carrot cake cookies: Cream together the softened butter, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract with a hand mixer until creamy and combined. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, and salt. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold to combine. When it's almost all combined, fold in the grated carrots.
2. Scoop the cookie dough: I highly recommend using a cookie scooper (they are about 1-inch in diameter and usually marketed as a cookie scooper, not an ice cream scooper, which are usually bigger) to scoop out the batter to get perfectly round cookies that are all the same size and shape to make pairing them with a similarly sized cookie easier. No need to chill this batter but I always recommend it anyways if you find it too sticky to scoop.
3. Bake the carrot cake cookies: 350F for 15 minutes. There will be some spreading so leave a bit of room around each cookie. They will come out of the oven pretty soft and will firm up as they cool. They taste crazy good while they're still warm so don't forget to taste test at this point. 😉
4. Make the cream cheese frosting: Beat the softened butter and cream cheese together until pale and creamy. Beat in the cinnamon, vanilla extract, powdered sugar, and a splash of milk if you find it too dry. Really cream the hell out of it until your arm gets sore (if you're using a hand mixer like I am). The longer you beat it together, the more air gets incorporated to create a light and airy cream cheese frosting.
5. Sandwich it all together: Pipe the cream cheese onto one cookie with a decorative piping tip and gently press a similarly sized cookie on top.

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Why you'll love these carrot cake whoopie pies

• Carrot cake and warm spices like cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg are the epitome of the Fall season. Your house will smell so delicious while these are baking.
• The carrot cake cookies can be enjoyed on their own if you prefer not to make the filling. They're cakey and soft - they're like cakes in form of cookies.
• They're easier and faster to make than a layered carrot cake with cream cheese frosting but taste basically the same. Think of these whoopie pies as handheld, portable carrot cakes. No plates or utensils needed to eat them.
• If you want to make regular carrot cake cookies, you can just stop after baking the cookies and make them bigger. They taste just as good without the cream cheese frosting because they're already so fluffy, moist, and with the right amount of sweetness.

Other Fall baking recipes

• Chai Spice Cupcakes
• Spiced Apple Cake with Salted Maple Caramel
• Apple Frangipane Tart
• Earl Grey Almond Croissants
• Fig & Speculoos Cookie Butter Cookies

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