carrot cake sandwich cookies with cream cheese frosting filling
in the past few months i have learned a couple things ...
- i love blogging
- i have very little time to do it well
- i need to accept these truths
for those of you who are regular readers of picky cook you probably have noticed i have been missing in action. this is not because i no longer care, it just seems to be a fact of life.
owning your our business is all consuming. every time i sit down to type up a recipe my conscience says ...
"
there is a project that needs to be finished"
"
you really should be working right now"
"
you do not have time to be doing this right now".
then my heart says ...
"
yea but i love to work on picky cook and i deserve some fun darn it".
my conscience has been winning.
i have a feeling that whether i like it or not, my life is not going to allow me to add recipes to picky cook as often as i would like. i will try my hardest to not let it go too long.
i figured the best way to make up for not posting in a while was to offer you some cookies - really amazing cookies - because a great cookie makes everything better ... right?
it is no secret that we are fans of anything carrot cake (see
here &
here) in this house. well, let me be more specific, alex is a huge fan of carrot cake anything. as for me, it is not the first flavor i gravitate toward. i happen to be a pumpkin fan (see
here,
here,
here,
here &
here). i clearly have some making up to do in the carrot cake field, so i offer you carrot cake sandwich cookies with cream cheese frosting filling.
these carrot cake cookies almost converted me from a pumpkin lover to a carrot cake lover. yes, they are that good. the cookie itself is soft and moist - yet strong enough to hold up as a sandwich cookie. i added more spice to the mix because that is how i roll. i think it is a major improvement over the original recipe. i usually could leave the frosting out of the equation but in this case - the frosting makes these cookies. the cookie itself is not very sweet and the creamy sweetness of the cream cheese frosting balances out the cookie with the perfect amount of sweetness to compliment the spices in the cookie. these carrot cake cookies would be the perfect picnic or backyard barbecue dessert.
carrot cake sandwich cookies with cream cheese frosting fillingadapted from martha stewart cookies
make about 3 dozen cookies
carrot cake sandwich cookies1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter - room temp
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs - room temp
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon - i used
vietnamese cinnamon1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats - not instant
1 1/2 cup grated carrots - about 3 large carrots
1 cup raisins - optional (i hate raisins so i omitted)
1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts - i toasted them in a dry pan
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats.
In a mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 3 - 4 minutes in a stand mixer). Add eggs and vanilla and beat on medium until well combined.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger; whisk to combine. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture; mix on low until just combined. Do not overmix!
Mix in oats, carrots, raisins (if using) and walnuts. Chill dough for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Shape tablespoons of dough into balls and place on prepared baking
sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. I flattened mine a bit and sprinkled a
bit of sugar on the tops before putting in the oven.
Bake until browned and crisp around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes (mine
took 11 minutes so check early) rotating halfway through. Transfer to a
wire rack to cool completely.
while the cookies are cooling, make the filling...
cream cheese frosting filling8 ounces cream cheese - room temp
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter - room temp
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon - i used
vietnamese
cinnamonPlace cream cheese in a mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula, beat cream cheese until smooth, Gradually add butter and continue beating until smooth and well blended. Sift in confectioners' sugar and cinnamon and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla and stir to combine. (You can also do all this in a mixer)
I put the frosting into a large piping bag to make it easier to ration out among the cookies. You could also put the frosting in a ziploc bag and cut a corner off or do it the old fashioned way with a knife or offset spatula.
Lay out 1/2 of the cookies upside down and put some of the filling on the cookies.
Place the tops of the cookies and smoosh (yes, a technical term) them down a bit. Enjoy!
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i love the idea of using rice krispies in a cookie. i have adapted the
recipe a bit by adding toffee and cinnamon but i think the rice krispies
are what make them special. the cookie itself is crisp but the middle
is still chewy. the toffee melts the perfect amount to be chewy but
still hold that toffee texture i love. ever since i made 
i get why people love these brownies and i am sure they are equally
fabulous on their own but i am telling you they are a little slice of
heaven when marbled with a cream cheese swirl. i upped the amount of
espresso powder and decreased the sugar by a bit because i do that in
most recipes. both adaptations worked really well and i think they
enhanced the deep chocolate flavor in these brownies. 
this cake met every expectation i had and then some. i used a different
recipe for the cake because i have one i love and the baked recipe makes
a three layer cake which i thought was overkill. i made everything else
from the baked recipe. this was not an easy cake for me to make as i
seem to be cursed when it comes to caramel but it was worth all the
effort. the balance of the sweet & salty flavors is perfection. the
cake itself is pure decadence but with fleur de sel and caramel it puts
it into a whole other world.
the mixed apple pie was probably one of my favorite pies i have
made because each apple was so different - different flavor and
texture. they combined perfectly. the all butter pastry crust was flaky
and i had a lot of fun making up the top crust. i have done lattice - i
have done full crust - i have done crumble topping. i wanted something
special this time. i took the top crust and cut out circles with a
biscuit cutter and overlapped the circles. it looked like a flower. i
will be using that one again - it makes a traditional pie new again. 
these peanut butter and jelly bars fit the bill perfectly. not only are
they simple to make - you can easily double the recipe for a large
crowd. i need my peanut butter to be chunky - the smooth stuff just
doesn't feel like peanut butter to me - so i substituted chunky for
smooth. any kind of berry jam will work great and for those of you
grape jelly fans - that would work as well. i added a bit on honey to
the batter and honey roasted peanuts to the top because i think peanut
butter and honey are naturals together. 
these cookies are INCREDIBLE! i am not exaggerating - they are
perfection. the crispy cookie and the white chocolate would be amazing
on their own but the addition of the sea salt - oh my! the salty crunch
on top makes these cookies one of the best i have ever made.Session dataSession data 
