Carrots are good for you. Carrot cake has lots of carrots. By the transitive property, carrot cake is good for you!
Okay, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch. But I don’t think I really need to give you a reason to make these carrot cake cookie sandwiches.
I’m all about individually portioned desserts (have you seen my mini Oreo cheesecakes and mini pumpkin chocolate bundt cakes?). I’m a late bloomer when it comes to carrot cake. My love for the cake came much later in life.
Carrot cake, zucchini cakes, these “cakes” with vegetables threw me off as a child. But now I know the truth, these cakes are delicious! Its like the adults’ way to keeping the good stuff to themselves and away from the kids. Most carrot cakes are loaded with sugar. (Sometimes there’s as much sugar as flour!) These carrot cake cookies are not as sweet as the usual carrot cake, as it relies on the crushed pineapple for additional sweetness, and of course the sugars from the carrots. I used pistachios instead of pecans or walnuts, just because I love pistachios and I wanted that pop of green color.
Even if you don’t like carrot cake, you will like these cookies because of the brown sugar cream cheese filling. I could spread the filling on everything!– from my morning toast to an already decadent chocolate cake- it makes everything tasty.
Carrot Cake Cookies, makes about 15 sandwiches
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, room temperature
1-8 oz can crushed pineapples, juice drained
1 1/2 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup chopped pistachios, or nut of choice
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and light brown sugar. Mix on low speed until combined. Scrape down bowl as needed. Add eggs and mix until incorporated. Add dry ingredients in two additions and mix until almost combined.
4. Add crushed pineapples (discard juices), shredded carrots, and chopped pistachios. Mix until thoroughly combined.
5. Use a cookie scoop (ice cream scooper) or two spoons to portion out small balls of cookie dough. Place cookie balls about 1 1/2 inches apart from each other on a parchment lined baking sheet.
6. Bake for 18-20 minutes until cookies have puffed slightly and are firm to the touch. Let sit on baking sheet for a couple minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Once cooled, arranged similar shaped/sized cookies together. I like to set the cookies up like the photograph above: have a row of cookie bottoms facing up and its partner cookie facing down.
8. Arranging the cookies, this way makes it faster to pipe on the filling and pair up the cookie sandwiches. After piping the filling, create the sandwich by placing remaining cookie on top. Place cookie sandwiches in the fridge for 5-10 for the filling to set up and adhere to the cookies.
Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Filling
Ingredients
8 oz cream cheese, chilled
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened, room temperature
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp molasses (optional)
Instructions
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together cream cheese and softened butter. Once smooth, add light brown sugar and sifted powdered sugar. Mix on low speed until combined. Be sure to scrape down bowl as need to ensure even mixing. Add molasses for additional flavor, if desired. Mix until combined.
2. Transfer filling to a piping bag, or simply scoop filling into cooled cookies.
