Sitting on the back porch eating ice cream sandwiches, licking the dripping ice cream from between cookie layers as it melts in the warm June air. Counting fireflies, listening to the crickets call, enjoying simple good things. This is what summer memories are made of!
Carrot Cake Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches.
Oh how I crave all the flavors of carrot cake but sometimes I don’t want to eat a big ole slice of cake so, to satisfy my craving, I’ve come up with a gluten free Carrot Cake Cookie recipe that I think you’ll love. Pair these spice-laden cookies with sweet vanilla ice cream and you have a simple, delicious, kid-friendly dessert!
While the cookies bake, the whole house fills with the fragrance of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves! Carrot Cake Cookies have loads of flavor and nutrition packed into every bite since they’re made with wholesome almond flour, coconut sugar, spices and other good ingredients.
Like my carrot cake these Carrot Cake Cookies are loaded with savory coconut, plump raisins, chopped pecans and sweet shredded carrots. I use gluten and grain free almond flour as the base and low-glycemic coconut sugar as the sweetener which makes these cookies perfect for a light dessert or even a quick breakfast on the go! They’re ready in no time, literally 30 minutes from mixing to baking to eating! Well, maybe a few extra minutes to let them cool 🙂
Carrot Cake Cookies lend themselves beautifully to a drizzle of icing or you can fill them with cream cheese frosting for a whoopie pie or, do what I do, stuff with creamy vanilla ice cream for a decadently delightful dessert! The cookies by themselves aren’t super sweet but they’re loaded with spice and the contrast of the spicy, soft cookie with sweet vanilla ice-cream is truly divine!
They’re more soft and chewy than crisp although you could bake them a few minutes longer to crisp them up a bit.
- 1 ½ cups almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon each of nutmeg, ground ginger, and ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 2 organic eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup coconut oil
- ½ cup grated carrots
- ½ cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
- ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ pint organic vanilla ice cream (use coconut or almond milk ice cream to keep it dairy free)
- Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Mix almond flour, baking soda, spices, salt and sugar together in a large bowl. Stir and blend well.
- In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla. Add coconut oil.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix with a spoon until combined.
- Gently fold in carrots, coconut, nuts and raisins.
- Drop by a scant 2 tablespoons (they will spread) onto a cookie sheet. You should fit about a dozen per sheet.
- Flatten a bit with the back of a spoon.
- Bake 15-20 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through the cooking time.
- When done, they'll be starting to brown on the edges.
- Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet then remove to cooling rack.
- When cookies are completely cool, spread softened vanilla ice cream between 2 cookies. Eat right away or wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and store in a gallon zip lock in the freezer.
Kate’s Tips
- You’ll find these are quite versatile. Feel free to change up the spices. Cardamom would work well.
- Make Carrot Cake Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches with or without nuts or raisins or however you like. Dried cranberries or dates or apricots would be delicious.
- Feel free to throw in some chocolate chips.
- I use a 2 tablespoon scoop for my cookies like this one: 2 Tablespoon Mechanical Cookie Scoop
. It really helps to accurately measure as you scoop out the dough.
- Use coconut or almond milk ice cream to keep these dairy free!
- Parchment paper is wonderful and makes clean up a breeze! If you don’t have parchment paper, grease cookie sheets well. This is the parchment paper I use: Beyond Gourmet Unbleached Parchment Paper
- These are a softer cookie. The edges will crisp some when you bake them but if you store them in a closed container, they will soften. If you want them crisper, just put them in a 350 over for several minutes and they’ll crisp right up!
Products I used to make this recipe:
- Bob’s Red Mill Almond Meal
- Rumford Baking Powder
- Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Coconut Sugar
- Real Salt Sea Salt
- Let’s Do Organic Unsweetened Coconut Shredded
- Trader Joes Organic Thompson Seedless Raisins
More Gluten Free recipes you might like:
- Coconut Brown Butter Cookies
- Gingersnaps
- Carrot Cake
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Cupcakes & 2 Ingredient Frosting
Let me know how you like Carrot Cake Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches! Hugs!
xoxo
Perfect Paleo Waffles
OK, so I made these today (6/6/15), the very day you posted the recipe. They sounded delicious (carrot cake is my absolute favorite), and I just had to have some! I don’t have a cookie-dough scooper, so I guessed at the size when putting the dough on the cookie sheets and ended up with 22 cookies altogether. Now that’s a dilemma because there are 3 in my family, and half of 22 (11 sandwiches) is not divisible by 3. Naturally, I had to fix the problem by “taste testing” (while no one was looking) to try to make things even (or odd, in this case). I don’t feel one bit bad about it. After all, I made them, didn’t I?
I would like to know how you spread the ice cream on yours, Kate. Did you use a knife? A spoon? I used a knife but didn’t get things very even. You have to work fast once the ice cream softens. I used the Coconut Bliss brand coconut ice cream, vanilla flavor (sweetened with agave syrup), and it really brought out the coconut in the cookies.
To everyone considering trying this recipe, don’t hesitate! The cookies are delicious! If you don’t want to bother making sandwiches, eat the cookies by themselves or simply plop the ice cream on top.
Thanks for another winner, Kate! Can’t wait to serve these after dinner tonight. Hope I can stay away from them until then.
Thank you so much Maureen I’m glad you like them!
I used an ice cream scoop and just kind of gently squished the whole thing down with my hand, wrapped them up real quick and stuck them in the freezer! Not the most technical explanation, but the best way I can describe it!
Forgot to mention that I used almost a pint of ice cream for my 11 sandwiches rather than only half a pint; guess I put more between the cookies, though it didn’t seem like a lot when I was constructing them.
Also, I used Now Foods Raw Almond Flour. I like it because it is made from whole almonds that have not been blanched so it has all the nutrition and flavor of the original nut. You can still see the brown flecks from the “skin” of the almond in it, which makes it a little coarser than other almond flours, and some people don’t like that for baking, but it works fine for me. Just FYI for anyone who may be going shopping for ingredients.
You’re right, a pint would probably work better if you’re making the whole batch into ice cream sandwiches. I will look for the Now Foods almond flour–it sounds great!
It is great, Kate. Thrive market may have it. I know Amazon does, but I think it’s expensive there. I just buy small bags at our local health-food store.