Five months (carrot cake sandwiches)

This is a carrot cake whoopie pie. Or is it just a carrot cake cookie sandwich? What makes a whoopie pie a whoopie pie? I hadn't heard a whoopie pie until a couple years ago. Was I deprived as a child on purpose by parents limiting processed sugars? Or are whoopie pies just not a "thing" in northern California?

Whatever it's called, it's delicious.

I offered a s'mores whoopie pie to my guy a couple days ago, right before our 5 month dating anniversary (Yea look. We're still in the months stage. I'm sure we'll stop when we hit a year, but until then--we will celebrate months). He declined because he had had a big dinner. But he offhandedly mentioned that, speaking of desserts, carrot cake was his favorite. Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, to be exact.

Well, I thought, challenge accepted.

Carrots. I hear they're decent when covered in hummus so you can't taste carrot.

About one and a half average sized carrots will get you to a cup. I overbought, so now I have too many carrots. If, like me, you're not a carrot fan, consider yourself warned. 

Getting a tan.

While it's been grossly hot in the rest of the country, it's been delightfully 70-ish in Seattle for the past week. This new and novel idea of consistent warmth is really rather exciting. Why, I was even able to let my butter soften out on the porch! Usually, leaving cold butter out will just result in.. cold butter. 

Toast the nuts you use. The 3 minutes they spend in the toaster oven and 2 minutes cooling down is totally worth it.

The cake cookies turned out to be more cookie than cake. Which is fine! But not really what I was shooting for. I still have leftover carrots though, so I'll do another run at these and aim for a puffier, cakier cookie.

Slather some cream cheese frosting on there! However, do note that there's dairy in the frosting. I'm a leave-butter-on-counter-so-it's-soft-for-spreading kind of girl, but.. cream cheese? Line drawn. Refrigerate these suckers.

Happy five months :)


Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches
Adapted from Epicurious

1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) 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 pecans (3 ounces), chopped

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Cream cheese frosting (see below)

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 2 baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, 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 teaspoons 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.

Sandwich flat sides of cookies together with a generous tablespoon of cream cheese filling in between.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from too many years of making cream cheese frosting

• 6 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 c butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 Tbsp milk (optional)

On low to medium speed, blend cream cheese and butter until thoroughly incorporated and smooth. Increase mixer speed to high and add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time. Beat until well blended and frosting is fluffy. If the frosting is too thick, slowly add the milk until the frosting is the consistency that you want--it should be soft enough to spread but firm enough so it's not running everywhere. If it gets runny after a while, stick it in the fridge for 15 minutes, then rewhip.