Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches (Vegan Gluten-Free)

Fluffy and chewy cookies with all the classic elements of carrot cake: grated carrot, raisins, coconut and spices. Sandwich these cookies together with a vanilla buttercream for a delicious vegan and gluten-free cookie sandwich aka whoopie pie.

The last few weeks, Wednesdays have turned into cookie experiment days, and I love it. I really do love baking cookies. They come together quite quickly with minimal effort, sometimes need a chill time while you have a coffee, they bake quickly and then you can eat them pretty much straight away. Winning all around!

These Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies are a little taste of Spring as nothing says Spring quite like carrot cake. Instead of regular carrot cake (and my Carrot Cake Butterscotch Cupcakes) I decided to make carrot cake cookies and then take them one step further by sandwiching them together with vanilla buttercream to make these Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies or whoopie pies, as they are often called in America.

The cookies are really light and fluffy, almost cake-like, with a golden crisp edge and a chewy tender middle. They are utterly delicious on their own:

• Vegan butter: this keeps the cookies vegan. I like to use vegan butter or vegan margarine spread but I haven’t tried them with softened coconut oil. I think the buttery taste really adds to these cookies, so I recommend using the butter or margarine options.
• Coconut or light brown sugar: this adds to the caramel-like richer flavour and colour of these cookies.
• Aquafaba: this is our egg replacer. Aquafaba is the liquid from a tin of chickpeas and is so great to bake with. About 50g of aquafaba is the same as 1 egg and I like to whip the liquid slightly until bubbly before using it as the “egg”. If you are draining the chickpeas for this water, take a look at ways to use the chickpeas.
• Vanilla essence: for the flavour.
• Plain or GF flour: plain flour works best here as it keeps these cookies really light and fluffy with a great chewy inside. A GF 1:1 blend is recommended here with xantham gum to act as a binder.
• Oat flour: as well as the plain flour, this adds a slightly heartier and more wholesome feel to these carrot cake cookies which works so well. Make sure your oats are GF if needed and just blend them up to a flour.
• Baking powder and bicarbonate of soda: for the rise.
• Carrot: I scrub my carrots and don’t bother to peel them and then just add the grated carrot to the mix.
• Raisins or sultanas: either will work here, or if you are not a fan, use chocolate chips or skip them all together.
• Desiccated coconut: this adds a really lovely texture to these cookies without tasting overly coconutty.

Stir together all the ingredients in order and then divide into cookies. I really recommend using ice cream scoops for your cookies, since starting to do this, I have never looked back. I have three sizes and tend to use the medium ice cream scoop for cookies, as I did for these Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies. They spread out slightly, so allow some room around them.

Allow the cookies to cool fully before sandwiching them together with a luscious vanilla buttercream. As usual, whip the butter until soft before beating in the icing sugar, vanilla essence and plant-based milk and keep going until really light and fluffy.

Pipe or spread the buttercream into these Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies and then enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee this Springtimr (and all year long). They are so easy to make and are so enjoyable. The texture is soft and cake-y with a chewy tender middle and a golden crisp outside. They are everything you want from a carrot cake simply in cookie form!

If you are looking for other cookies, how about my:

• Vegan Linzer Cookies
• Peanut Butter Protein Cookie Cups
• Peppermint Mocha Cookies
• Chocolate Pecan Biscotti
• White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Snickerdoodle Cookies

Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies (Vegan Gluten-Free)

• Servings: 8 cookie sandwiches
• Time: 25 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Fluffy and chewy cookies with all the classic elements of carrot cake: grated carrot, raisins, coconut and spices. Sandwich these cookies together with a vanilla buttercream for a delicious vegan and gluten-free cookie sandwich aka whoopie pie.

Ingredients

Cookies:
• 80g vegan butter or margarine
• 90g coconut or light brown sugar
• 100ml aquafaba
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 140g plain or GF plain flour
• 110 oat flour (oats ground into a flour)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• A pinch of salt
• 1 medium-large carrot, grated (100g)
• 60g raisins
• 25g desiccated coconut
Buttercream filling:
• 50g vegan butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 200g icing sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp plant milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 160Fan/180*C and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Beat together the butter and sugar for the cookies until smooth and light. In a separate bowl, whisk the aquafaba for 1-2 minutes with a hand whisk (no need for electric) until there are bubbles.
3. Add the beaten aquafaba into the butter mix with the vanilla and mix (it will curdle).
4. Now pour in the plain flour, oat flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt and stir to a sticky dough.
5. Fold in the grated carrot, raisins and coconut.
6. Use a medium-sized ice cream scoop (or tablespoon) to scoop the cookie dough into balls onto the baking trays. Leave a few centimetres around them.
7. Bake for 12-14 minutes, turning them round halfway through to bake evenly, until golden brown.
8. Leave to cool fully. Meanwhile, make the buttercream filling. Beat the butter until light and fluffy and gradually beat in the vanilla, icing sugar and plant-milk to a smooth consistency.
9. Once cool, pipe or spread half of the cookies with the buttercream and sandwich together with a second cookie.
10. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for 3 days but leave to reach room temperate before eating.

I cannot wait to hear what you think of these Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies so please leave a comment below and if you make them, please tag me in your cookies. I really love seeing them! I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With carrot cake cookie sandwich love x