Zucchini Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting
These Zucchini Cookies are incredibly moist and packed full of cinnamony goodness. And the sweet, creamy cream cheese frosting is the……’ icing on the cookie!’
Got too many zucchini growing in the garden? Yeah, me too! That’s why I’m coming up with a recipe for cookies made with zucchini…and other things made with zucchini too!
Here’s the thing about zucchini: it has a very mild flavor that blends in well with…just about everything!
This recipe tastes a lot like carrot cake or carrot cake cookies. It’s got all the spice…and everything nice!
The raisins add an extra sweet and chewy bite to the cookie along with the yummy frosting.
If you love cream cheese frosting (seriously, does anyone NOT love it?), you’re gonna wanna lick the bowl clean after you’re done!
And the bonus is that the frosting hides most of the tiny green zucchini flecks, so the kids will never know it’s there.
If you want more delicious zucchini recipes, try my Lemon Blueberry Zucchini Bread, Healthy Zucchini Muffins, or Fudgy Zucchini Brownies with Frosting.
Ingredients Needed For Zucchini Cookies With Cream Cheese Frosting
Here’s everything you’ll need to make these must-have scrumptious cookies.
Cookies
- Shortening – has a higher melting point making the baked goods hold their shape and making the texture lighter
- Brown Sugar – light or regular
- Egg
- Vanilla Extract
- Shredded Zucchini – finely shredded
- Flour
- Pumpkin Pie Spice – a delicious blend of Cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and ginger
- Salt
- Baking Powder – helps the cookies rise nicely
- Baking Soda – help the cookies bake up light up light and fluffly
- Raisins
Icing
- Cream Cheese – room temperature
- Butter – softened
- Powdered Sugar
- Vanilla
- Salt
How To Make Zucchini Cookies
This is a simple cookie recipe. Just follow this process 😉
Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Step 2
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening and brown sugar. Add in egg and vanilla and thoroughly mix.
Step 3
In a medium bowl, combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Whisk to mix evenly (or you can sift the ingredients together)
Gradually incorporate your dry ingredients into your shortening mixture and mix until completely incorporated.
Step 4
Mix in the shredded zucchini. The dough will be thick, so you may need to do this by hand. After the zucchini is mixed well, fold in the raisins until evenly dispersed.
Step 5
Using a dough scoop or spoon, scoop the dough onto a cookie sheet a couple of inches apart. Gently press down on the dough to flatten a little.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
Step 6
To make the frosting for your zucchini cookies-
With an electric mixer, combine the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and a pinch of salt and mix.
Step 7
Gradually add in the powdered sugar, beating after each addition until all the powdered sugar is incorporated.
Zucchini Cookies Recipe Notes And Tips
- You can sift together the dry ingredients instead of whisking them together if you prefer.
- Once you have iced the cookies, allow them to sit for 30 minutes until the icing has a chance to set.
- Zucchini has a lot of water content, so once it has been shredded, I recommend removing some of the water before adding it to the dough. You can do this by pressing it in a strainer or placing it out in cheesecloth and squeezing the water out.
Variations Of Zucchini Cookies To Try
Here are some ideas to change up your cookie recipe and still add in the zucchini. 🙂
- Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies – omit ½ cup of flour and replace it with ½ cup of oats.
- Chocolate Zucchini Cookies – add ⅓ cup cocoa powder to the recipe for some chocolate zucchini delight!
- Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies – just omit the raisins and add ⅓ – ½ cup chocolate chips to the batter before baking. Note: the chocolate chips will make the batter seem sweeter, so either reduce the amount of sugar or (my preference) eliminate the icing for this variation.
- Pumpkin Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies – if you want a recipe that embraces everything there is to love about fall (plus some chocolate), omit the raisins, and add ⅓ – ½ cup chocolate chips and ½ cup pumpkin puree to this recipe.
FAQs
Most cookie doughs will freeze well for up to 3 months. One suggestion I have is to form the dough into balls before freezing. Place on cookie sheet and place in freezer until balls become mostly frozen.
Then you can transfer the dough balls into a freezer bag until you are ready to thaw and bake.
Make sure to label your container by writing:
type of cookie
freeze date
baking instructions
The zucchini will help keep your cookies moist and tasty for a few days without being refrigerated.
They will need to be stored in an airtight container with parchment paper or wax paper in between the layers of cookies. This will keep them from sticking together after being iced.
These cookies freeze exceptionally well. They can be frozen for 3 – 4 months if stored in an airtight, freezer-safe container or freezer bag.
If you know you are going to freeze half or the whole batch of cookies, I would suggest you wait to ice them until you have taken them out of the freezer and they have had a chance to thaw.
More Scrumptious Sweet Dessert Recipes To Try
If you love these zucchini cookies, make sure to check out these other delicious recipes!
- Apple Pie Bites (Cinnamon Roll Apple Pie Cups)
- Homemade Banana Pudding Poke Cake
- Rainbow Unicorn Cake
- Fruit Tacos with Fresh Berries
- Easy Colorful Rainbow Donuts
Zucchini Cookies
Make this delicious soft cookie and use up some of that runaway zucchini from the garden!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup shredded zucchini
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 3 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup raisins
Icing
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup (one stick) butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream together the shortening and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl.
- Add egg and vanilla to shortening and brown sugar mixture and mix together thoroughly.
- In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients of flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk the dry ingredients together evenly.
- Slowly begin adding your dry ingredients into the shortening mixture. Mix until well incorporated.
- Add the shredded zucchini to the dough and mix. The dough will be thick so this may have to be done by hand.
- Once you have mixed the zucchini into the dough thoroughly, add in the raisins and mix until evenly dispersed.
- With a spoon or dough scoop, place the dough on a cookie sheet 1 - 2 inches apart. Gently press on the dough ball to flatten a bit.
- Bake 10 - 12 minutes.
- Place on wire rack to cool. Be sure to cool completely before frosting
Icing Instructions:
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, combine cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
- Add pinch of salt and vanilla and mix well
- Add in powdered sugar gradually. Beat after each small addition of powdered sugar until all is incorporated.
- Finally, frost the completely cool cookies.
