Carrot Cake Cookies

Carrot Cake Cookies

I don't know about you, but I really enjoy good carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.  When I found this recipe, I kept it to try "someday".  It had never made it to the top of my list because it is a sandwich cookie which requires the cookies to be reasonably the same size and shape so they sandwich together nicely.  That is a bit more trouble than I typically want to fuss with for cookies.  To help achieve uniform cookies, I used a small ice cream scoop that produces melon ball sized dollops of cookie dough and it worked out very well for this recipe.

When I knew I'd be going home over the July 4th holiday and attending a friends annual holiday cookout, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try this recipe out.  Because of the heat and the cream cheese frosting, I almost didn't take them because I didn't think they would hold up well in the heat, so I put them in tupperware and stuck them in the fridge and made some different cookies that wouldn't wilt in the heat and humidity.
When I was packing up to leave, I decided to go ahead and take them along.  I packed them in an insulated grocery bag (the reuseable kind) and they made the 8 hour trip just fine and I ended up taking them to the cookout after all. 

The cookies received a big stamp of approval from the folks attending the cookout.

I hope you enjoy them as much as they did!

Carrot Cake Cookies

Ingredients:

3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 8-ounce can crushed pineapple, drained and the juice reserved
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Lightly grease 4 cookie sheets
3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, soda, cinnamon and salt together in a mixing bowl and set aside.
4. Beat the butter, shortening, white and brown sugar together until smooth. 
5. Add 1 egg and allow to blend into the butter mixture before adding the second egg and vanilla.
6. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated.
7. Fold in the crushed pineapple, carrot, raisins and nuts.
8. Mix just enough to evenly combine.
9. Drop onto the prepared baking sheets by heaping teaspoonful, allowing 2 inches of space between the cookies.
10. Bake in the preheated oven until the edges are golden 10-12 minutes.  Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting:


Ingredients:

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon softened butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon reserved pineapple juice

Directions:

1. Beat the cream cheese and 1 tablespoon of butter with an electric mixer until smooth.
2. Add the powdered sugar and pineapple juice.
3. Beat until no lumps remain.
4. Spread the frosting on the cooled cookies and allow to dry completely before storing.