Carrot Cake Cookies

I love carrot cake. For some reason I always really want it around Easter. Maybe it's a subconscious thing with seeing all the Easter bunnies that gets me craving carrots. Who knows! This year was no different. I been craving a piece  hunk of carrot cake. Although as much as I really do adore carrot cake, the recipe I usually use makes an enormous cake. Not necessarily a bad thing if you've got a big family, or are entertaining a crowd, or don't mind eating only carrot cake for a week. Actually I could probably do the last one, my pants, not so much though! Anyway since it is just hubs and me, and he'll only eat a couple slices, and I do want to zip my pants, I thought I try these carrot cake cookies. They had everything I love in carrot cake; nuts, raisins, carrots, and cream cheese frosting. The original frosting recipe mixes cream cheese and honey together for the frosting, but I decided to use the cream cheese frosting I use on my cake for the cookies. I mean really, it's the cream cheese frosting that has you licking the plate with carrot cake, right?
I was really happy with  these cookies, they really did taste a lot like a traditional carrot cake. I got my carrot cake fix and didn't have to eat 75 percent of a cake to do it!

Carrot Cake Cookies
(printable recipe)

Source: Gourmet,  April 2004 (adapted)

Ingredients:
1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2 cup (1 stick) 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 ounces), chopped

1/2 cup raisins 

Method:

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

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, make the cream cheese frosting.

Ice the tops of the cookies with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with chopped nuts or sandwich flat sides of cookies together with a generous tablespoon of cream cheese frosting in between.

On some of the cookies I just iced the tops. Either way is yummy!

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

8 oz. cream cheese

3 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Method:

With an electric mixer, mix together the butter and cream cheese , until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.  Add the vanilla extract and the powdered sugar, mix until smooth.