Carrot Cakey Cookies Guest Post from Sara Morris of Sprouted Kitchen
This is a recipe for ye of a well-stocked pantry. However, if you go buy all of these things, I promise you will use them up on this specific recipe. I think carrot cake is the favorite dessert option. There are comfort flavors (vanilla, cinnamon), textures (pecans, carrots) and frosting that kicks buttercream booty.
These nubs of goodness are healthy enough to eat for breakfast! I wish I could say these lasted longer than the afternoon that we made them.
I have a sweet tooth, but like to eat healthy. These beautiful little cookies were an attempt to make a lighter dessert. They taste wonderful and are cute enough to serve at a party.
You will notice that the ‘frosting’ is a bit more heart healthy than your cream cheese alternative, but you are welcome to substitute whichever you prefer. I do suggest giving the yogurt a try; the tang is nice and the treat doesn’t sit like a rock in your stomach.
Though I’m not much of an ‘exact’ kind of cook, this recipe is an exception. To make a cake-like cookie, you need a specific consistency so the cookie puffs up nice without running into a pancake. A pancake I’m sure you could solicit people to eat, but aesthetics are a priority here.
Carrot Cakey Cookies
Makes 10-20 cookies
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 1 cup
Organic Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
- 1/2 cup
Wheat Bran
- 1/2 cup
Oatmeal
- 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder
- 1 tsp
salt
- 1 tbsp
Cinnamon
- 1 tsp
Pumpkin Pie Spice (or fresh nutmeg, cause I'm sure you're more likely to have that around)
- 1/2 cup
Chopped Pecans
- 1 tbsp
Real Vanilla Extract
- 1 1/2 cups
Shredded Carrot (not store bought- freshly grated in a cheese grater)
- 1/2 cup
Unsweetened Applesauce
- 2 tbsp
Butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar
- 2
eggs
- 1/2 cup
Golden Raisins
Filling
- 17.6 oz
(about 2 Cups) 2% Greek Yogurt (Fage brand recommended)
- 1/2 cup
local honey
- 1 tsp
Cinnamon
Instructions
Oven to 325°F
In a small bowl, pour about half cup of hot water over the raisins and let them soak. In a bowl, whisk the eggs well. Add applesauce, butter, brown sugar and stir. Drain the raisins and add them, and the carrots to the wet mixture. In another large bowl, mix all dry ingredients and the nuts.
Gently, in thirds add the dry ingredients to the wet. You should get a pretty thick dough at this point, firm enough keep form on a baking sheet, but still more moist than your typical cookie.
Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Use an ice cream scoop for large cookies, or a tablespoon for smaller ones and set them 2'' apart. Bake for 12-16, depending on cookie size, until edges brown a little and the middle is just set. Timing will vary.
In the meantime, mix all filling ingredients with a whisk and put in fridge to firm up.
Recipe Notes
*Allow cakey cookies to cool before assembling the sandwiches. Then bring them to me. Or use desired amount of filling and eat immediately as the yogurt gets a bit messy once it starts to soften. You could also freeze them for about 30 minutes, which would make them much easier to eat.
Thank you so much for sharing, Sara! We have become big fans of this new blog, and Sara’s writing and Hugh’s photographs are a great treat.
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(Images: Hugh Forte Photography)