Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spread the grated carrots out on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast on the top rack for 10 minutes.

While the carrots roast, add the dark brown sugar, granulated sugar and the orange zest to a mixing bowl. Rub the zest into the sugar to release the flavor. The mixture should resemble kinetic sand.

Brown the butter. Melt the butter over medium heat and allow the milk solids to toast until brown. Be sure to stir constantly with a spatula, scraping the bottom of the pan so the milk solids don't burn. The butter will sputter at first as the water separates from the fat. Once the sputtering slows, keep a sharp eye on the butter and remove from the heat immediately once the milk solids turn brown.

Immediately add the browned butter to the sugar/orange zest mixture from earlier along with the vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. Mix with a spatula until it forms a homogenous paste.

Add the egg and mix again until completely smooth.

In a separate bowl add the roasted carrots to the rest of the dry ingredients (the all-purpose flour, cake flour, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cardamom, cornstarch, baking soda and salt). Stir with a spoon to evenly incorporate.

Add the flour mixture to the sugar/egg mixture, mixing with a spatula until there are no more dry spots.

Use a cookie scoop to portion the dough into 8 balls. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave at least 2 inches of space around each ball of dough to allow for spreading during baking.

You will need 2 baking sheets.

Bake at 400°F for 8 minutes on the middle rack of your oven. Once done, allow to cool in the pan.

Enjoy the cookies warm or wait until they cool to drizzle a glaze or decorate. Store in an airtight container and enjoy within 4 days for optimal taste & texture!

Add the brown sugar and water to a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 15-20 second increments until the sugar is completely melted. Mix in between each microwave burst.

Alternatively, you can melt the brown sugar over medium heat on the stove top, mixing constantly until dissolved.

Add the confectioner's sugar to the melted sugar and whisk until completely incorporated. If doing a drizzle wait until both the brown sugar glaze and the cookies. If dipping the cookies or pouring the glaze completely over the cookies, do this while the glaze is still warm.

Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix until completely incorporated. The royal icing will be very thick but this is to account for some thinning that will happen with the addition of food coloring, especially if you don't use a gel food coloring.

Separate the royal icing into two small bowls. Color one bowl orange (for the body of the carrot) and the other bowl green (for the leaves). Once you have achieved the desired color you can thin the royal icing as needed/desired. Only add one drop at a time as royal icing thins very easily.

Transfer the orange and green royal icing to separate piping bags cutting a tiny opening at the tips to pipe the carrots. For the body of the carrots, pipe in a zigzag pattern in the shape of a skinny triangle. For the leaves, pipe lines outward starting from from the top of the carrot.