Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies and Cream Cheese Frosting

We love carrot cake. So, when I stumbled upon this Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies recipe at Martha Stewart, I knew that it would be worth a try. True..  It's simply irresistable especially when the cookies (which dough has the same ingredients as a carrot cake batter) are sandwiched with rich cream-cheese frosting in the middle. So now we can have "carrot cake" whenever we want..

Since the dough has to be chilled in the refrigerator, it makes life easier... I never bake the whole batch at once. I keep the dough in the fridge and only bake the cookies when I wanted. So, sometimes we have the cookies during the morning breakfast, afternoon tea, as travelling snack, or when I was busy with my reading or writing and we had guests at home and I could not perform miracles - this would be my saviour... and so as other chilled cookie doughs. We'll get freshly baked cookies most of the time.

The best thing about this carrot cake sandwich cookies is that you can have them with or without the frosting. They are also wonderful with vanilla icecream. You can play with the ingredients by adding nut meats, candied fruit, coconut and other varieties to suit your preferance.

The size of the cookies baked and also the way you drop the dough on the pan will determine the cookies texture - crispy or soft and chewy. I love the cookies soft and chewy, therefore I would not flatten the mound of the dough dropped on the baking sheet.  The baking time varies depending on the size of the cookies and so as the temperature of the oven.

Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies 

Ingredients:

A

1 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar (sometimes I used only brown sugar)

1/2 pound (2 sticks or 227 grams)  unsalted butter, room temperature (I used Anchor's)

B

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

C Sieve together:

2 cups all-purpose flour (there were times that I ommitted part of the flour and substituted it with wholemeal flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

D

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (you can use instant oats too)

1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots, (about 3 large carrots)

1 cup raisins

Directions:

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees F or depending on your oven and the size of the cookies. Line the baking sheets with Silpat or parchment paper.

2.     In an electric mixer bowl, beat A: sugars and butter till light and fluffy (approximately 3 to 4 minutes).

3.     Add C: eggs and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until well incorporated.

4.      Gradually add C: (sifted flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger) to butter mixture; mix on a low speed until just blended.

5.    Mix in D: oats, carrots, and raisins. Chill dough in refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour.

6.     Using a small ice-cream scoop, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches space between cookies. Bake until browned and crisped 12 to 15 minutes depending on the size of the cookies - rotate pan halfway through baking to ensure even color.

7.    Let them cool on the pan for a while before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, pipe about 2 teaspoons of cream-cheese filling onto a cookie (you can use an offset spatula for this process too). Sandwich together with a second cookie.  Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

Source: Martha Stewart 

Cream Cheese Frosting

This Cream Cheese frosting recipe makes about 2 cups. It can be used for other purposes like frosting cupcakes, filling for red velvet cake. and

Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese room temperature

8 tablespoons (1 stick or 113.5 gram) unsalted butter cut into pieces, room temperature

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract OR 2 teaspoons lemon juice and 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Directions:

1.  In a mixing bowl, soften cream cheese using a spatula.

2.  Gradually add butter, and continue beating until smooth and well blended.

3.  Sift in confectioners' sugar, and continue beating until smooth.

4.  Add vanilla extract or lemon juice and lemon zest, and stir to combine.

Source: Martha Stewart