Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies

Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

I stumbled across this recipe one day while looking for something completely different, and had tucked it away in my brain. As temperatures dropped, my fall baking instincts kicked in, but didn't seem to be interested in apples or pumpkin. I remembered this recipe, and there you have it.

Inside-Out Carrot Cake Cookies
Gourmet Magazine - April 2004

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 45 min

Makes about 13 cookies.

ingredients
1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coarsely grated carrots (2 medium)
1 scant cup walnuts (3 oz), chopped
1/2 cup raisins (2 1/2 oz)
8 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup honey

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 2 baking sheets.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

Beat together butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in carrots, nuts, and raisins at low speed, then add flour mixture and beat until just combined.

Drop 1 1/2 tablespoons batter per cookie 2 inches apart on baking sheets and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are lightly browned and springy to the touch, 12 to 16 minutes total. Cool cookies on sheets on racks 1 minute, then transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.

While cookies are baking, blend cream cheese and honey in a food processor until smooth.

Jenny's Notes: There is a lot of sugar in these cookies, so they bake very flat. You can't see my nuts or raisins as well as in the Epicurious website recipe, because I used slivered almonds and golden raisins (that's what I had in the pantry!). I also added some cinnamon to the cream cheese to make it a little more flavorful.

My biggest complaint with this recipe is that once you make the sandwiches, you really only have a dozen cookies. I have 8 hungry student workers, and wish I had doubled the batch. Because of the cream cheese I stored them in the fridge, and they reminded me of whoopie pies because of the chill factor.

I'd definitely make these again. They were sweet, spicy, and chewy. I'd take these over carrot cake any day.

Categories: Almonds, Carrots, Cookies, Cream Cheese, Raisins