Zucchini Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting . . . with a hint of cinnamon and a slathering of tangy frosting, these zucchini cookies are simply irresistible!
It is zucchini season! If you don’t have a garden, find someone to share zucchini with you, because you need to make these zucchini cookies! Lightly spiced with cinnamon and topped with cream cheese frosting, they are simply delightful.
I am lucky that my parents give us plenty of garden fresh zucchini so I can whip up tasty recipes like this. Of course if you don’t have access to free zucchini, you can always buy it at the grocery store.
These soft zucchini cookies are simple to make. The dough starts out fairly stiff, but after you stir in the zucchini, you end up with a soft and creamy batter.
Tips for Making Zucchini Cookies
-You don’t need to peel your zucchini, but if I’m using a large zucchini, I do remove the seeds.
-I like to use a cookie scoop so that I get uniform sized cookies.
-The dough is pretty sticky, so I recommend using a silicone pan liner or parchment paper on your cookie sheet.
-If you have any leftover cookies, store them in an airtight container with waxed paper between each layer.
After baking, the cookies turn out nicely rounded and puffy. Aren’t those tops just begging to be frosted?
If you think zucchini bread is tasty, you have got to give these cookies a try. The tangy cream cheese frosting makes them oh so yummy! In fact, my family couldn’t get enough of them. My kids practically inhaled them. But hey, they are full of zucchini, so I didn’t feel too guilty. 😉
Looking for more zucchini desserts? Check these out:
- Zucchini Brownies with Chocolate Frosting
- Chewy Butterscotch Zucchini Blondies
- Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Chocolate Coconut Zucchini Cake
To see all my zucchini recipes, click HERE.
MORE COOKIE RECIPES:
- Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Lemon Sugar Cookies
- Snickerdoodles
- Melted Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Nutella Peanut Butter Cookies
- Lime Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Brown Sugar Shortbread
Zucchini Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Zucchini Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Soft zucchini cookies with a luscious cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/4 cup butter, very soft
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Cookies: Cream butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl. Beat in egg and vanilla.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir into creamed mixture. (Dough will be very stiff.)
- Add the grated zucchini and stir till well combined.
- Drop by spoonfuls onto well greased or parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake at 375° for about 12 minutes or till bottoms are golden brown and tops are set.
- Cool on pan for a couple minutes. then remove to cooling racks. Cool completely, then frost.
- Frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter till smooth and creamy. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat till smooth. Frost cookies.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
24Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 169Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 28mgSodium: 150mgCarbohydrates: 24gFiber: 1gSugar: 15gProtein: 2g
-Recipe originally shared at Lil’ Luna.
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You might want to add a step to squeeze the zucchini and drain well. We are currently making them. And I drained the heck out of the zucchini and still it made it so runny we needed extra flour.
They smell delicious. Can’t wait to try them.
I have never actually had to squeeze my grated zucchini. Yours must have been much more juicy than the ones I’ve used. Glad that you were able to add more flour to make the dough work. 🙂
Hi there, should I use salted or unsalted butter?
I always use salted butter because I don’t like the hassle of keeping unsalted butter separate from the butter my family uses. But it’s totally a matter of preference. If you use unsalted, you may want to add a bit more salt to the cookies, but generally it doesn’t make much of a noticeable difference to most people.
Very good and easy to make.
Glad you loved them like I do! Such a tasty way to use zucchini, right?
Great way to use up all the extra zucchini from the garden.
I’ve made several batches of these cookies, they are really good. They freeze with or without frosting very well. I actually like to eat them right out of the freezer
I bet they are really refreshing straight from the freezer! 🙂
These are very delicious – I messed them up at first by not adding the correct amount of butter. It was like the consistency of bread crumbs. I added more butter, but it was still not super wet or stiff, but I decided to bake them anyway and they were really tasty. The frosting is awesome as well. Do these need to be refrigerated because of the cream cheese frosting? Will definitely make again!
I don’t refrigerate them, but if your room temperature is warm, it wouldn’t hurt. You just don’t want the frosting to melt.
A lady at work baked these delicious cookies, holy moly these are the best cookies I have ever had. I am making these this weekend
So happy to hear that she made and shared my cookies! I hope it made for smiles all around the office. Hope your family enjoys them as well! 🙂
Could you portion these out, put on cookie sheet and freeze then bag them up to store in the freezer for a later time?
I would recommend freezing them before you add the frosting, but yes, you could freeze them!
We love these cookies! I made another batch and put raisins in them at my husband’s request 😄
Made these cookies yesterday. They are fantastic. Hubby says they won’t last long here. Thanks for the recipe.
So glad you loved them. They definitely don’t last long at my house, that’s for sure!
How do you grate the zucchini
Just cut off the ends of the zucchini, and grate it like you would grate cheese. I like to use either the grater that is at the bottom of the recipe card, or a hand held coarse grater. But you can use a stand grater, or even a food processor to grate your zucchini.
These are delicious. Very easy recipe and taste fantastic.
I’m so glad you liked them Terri! I appreciate you stopping by! 🙂
Just made these cookies today and they are fantastic! Thank you for the recipe!
You are so welcome – glad you liked them! 🙂
Where is the recipe?? Scrolled all the way through and saw nothing linking to an actual recipe! What’s am I missing?
The printable recipe card is at the very bottom of the post. I’m not sure why you didn’t see it. Maybe there was a temporary glitch? Sorry about that.
My cookies did not flatten out. What went wrong? Any suggestions? Thanks
It’s hard to tell without seeing what your dough looked like. Sometimes it’s because either the butter or the dough is too cold, but it could be that your flour was more packed than mine, resulting in too much flour in the dough. That makes for cookies that hold their shape instead of spreading.
My mix is not stiff at all. Kind of not holding together. Any suggestions? Thank you
Oh my goodness just made them they are so good way better than the bread but the bread is good too though just don’t know how to cover them without sticking
You can try chilling them to make the frosting set a little harder so you can stack them with waxed paper in between layers.
The print button worked for me no problem
Just made these and the best came out great!!!! New favorite cookies 😍
So happy to hear it Deb! Thanks so much for stopping by to let me know you loved them. I really do appreciate it! 🙂
Made these with gluten free flour, Truvia brown sugar and splenda. Sugar free chocolate chips and added almonds for a bit of crunch. They turned out great.
After you grate the zucchini, do you wring it out to remove the excess moisture? I read after you add the dry ingredients the dough will be stiff. Thanks
If your zucchini seems really juicy, you can wring it out. I tend to use the large overripe ones, and they are usually more dry.
Just made these , batter was not stiff at all . Cookies spread way too much . Now flat . Not sure what the problem could be .
Dangit. It could simply be that your zucchini was more juicy than mine, that would make the dough less stiff.
Can butter crisco be used as a substitute for butter?
I personally don’t like using Crisco, but it can be used as a substitution. The cookies won’t be quite the same, but I think it will work.
Can you freeze the cookie after it is made. (Without the frosting)
I haven’t tried freezing these cookies, but I’ve frozen other cookies with a similar texture, so I think they should be fine. I’d freeze them in a single layer on a cookie sheet, then place them into airtight containers. Before serving, thaw them, then add frosting. Let me know how they turn out!
I just make these cookies. I added 1 cup of chocolate chips and omitted the frosting. They make the house smell wonderful and they taste great. I did have a problem with the batter. The recipe states that the dough will be very stiff. Mine never got stiff, it was more like crumbs. After mixing everything together I used a spoon to make rounded spoonfuls but had to press the mixture by hand so that it would stick together. I’m not really sure what went wrong.
It could be that your flour was more packed than mine was, but my guess is that your zucchini was just more dry than mine. Glad they still tasted good, and thanks for sharing your variation!
Walnuts would add a nice crunch and yumminess!
Oh, I agree! It would even be yummy to sprinkle a few chopped nuts on top of the frosting. 🙂
I just pulled the first batch out of the oven, and they’re delicious! Instead of making the frosting, I added a cup of chocolate chips to the dough. So good!
Sounds like a tasty variation! I’ll have to give it a try. 🙂
Just made these. Holy yum!!! So glad I was given an insane amount of zucchini. I’ll be making this a lot more often! Oh, and I added cinnamon to the frosting. SOOO delicious!
Oh yum! I add cinnamon to the cream cheese frosting on my zucchini cake, so I bet it’s great on these cookies!
Approximately how many cookies does this recip make?
*recipe
2 – 2 1/2 dozen
These look great! Can’t wait to try them!
Would you be able to substitute the all purpose flour with coconut flour?
I have never tried coconut flour, so I have no idea. Hopefully one of my readers can help.
Coconut flour is unable to be substituted for all purpose flour. It absorbs sooooo much more liquid and has a high fat content. If you need gluten free, try an all purpose GF flour with xanthan gum included.
I cannot print anything from your page it shows the page blank!
Did you try clicking on the print button within the recipe? I just tried it and it worked for me. Maybe it had a momentary glitch?