Making Whoopie Pies: Carrot Cake Edition

I promised my co-workers that I would bring in treats (we collectively LOVE treats) last week. After putting it off for a day or two, I was proud of myself for throwing together the batter late at night and then waking up early to bake the cookies, cool them sufficiently and pack them up for transport. I whipped up the easy cream cheese frosting and had everything all set to go. Then I got worried about the cream cheese frosting and stuck it in the fridge as I continued to get ready for work. Obviously I forgot it.

We nibbled away at the cookies, which everyone thought were quite tasty, and I dismissed the frosting at home in my fridge- thinking "the simple cream cheese and honey mixture won't really add much to this anyways..." UM. WRONG. That night, I shared the cookies-with the frosting- with L. Cheeseburger aka Mike and it took all we had to not go back for seconds, thirds, and possibly fourths. That simple cream cheese frosting took these babies to a whole 'nother level.

These cookies received a lot of buzz on Epicurious, attracting something like 182 comments. Most are very positive, but mentioned adding extra spices, chilling the dough, using different fats or the effectiveness of using apple sauce in place of butter in this recipe. I read through all these comments, dear readers, so that you don't have to (unless, like me, you find recipe comments fascinating to read). I added some warming spices like ginger, cloves and bumped up the amount of cinnamon. I chilled the dough overnight, heeding the warning that these cookies spread too thin when baked at room temperature. I was also tired and didn't feel like baking the cookies late at night. After reading some complaints that the cookies stuck to the pan, I decided to use parchment paper, which worked nicely. I also shrunk the size of the cookies, so instead of 26 cookies or 13 cookie sandwiches, I got about 40 cookies and presumably 20 sandwiches (if I hadn't forgotten the frosting the first day).

I made the frosting exactly as suggested, resisting the tips to add confectioner's sugar, spices or those who used ice cream or whipped cream. I suggest you try the frosting as directed in the recipe below first, and if you don't like it the way it is (craziness), then experiment later. Because you will make these again. And again....


By the way, these would be a very cute dessert for Easter- if you're into holiday themed desserts (and you know you are).


Carrot Cake Cookie Whoopie Pies (officially "Inside Out Carrot Cake Cookies")
Adapted from recipe published by Gourmet, 2004


Ingredients:

1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened (I only had 6 tbsp, so I added two tbsp olive oil- still tasted great!)
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, or 4-5 small)
1 scant cup walnuts (3 ounces), chopped
1/2 cup raisins (2 1/2 ounces)
8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup honey

Preparation:

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. I refrigerated the dough overnight at this point- some think that this will help keep the batter from spreading too thin when it bakes. Refrigerating it even for an hour or so will help solve this problem.


Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 2 baking sheets (I just laid out parchment paper onto the pans)

Drop 1 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, blend cream cheese and honey in a food processor until smooth. (I used my handmixer here, which worked very well.)

Sandwich flat sides of cookies together with a generous tablespoon of cream cheese filling in between. Try not to eat them all in one sitting!