Carrot Cake Thumbprint Cookies

There was a cookie bake-off at work and you get points for creativity. At first I thought "what can be more original than carrot cake cookies!?" Oh how wrong I was. After some research to try to find the right "formula" to turn a cake recipe into a cookie one, I found out from a friend that there already are people making these. Doh.

At first I was a little disappointed that someone already had "my" idea, but then I got over that pretty quickly when I realized that I could just do what I normally do with recipes - research a bunch of them and then do my own thing! :D

These cookies are like little cakes. They're super soft and cake-like, especially during the second day. Good if you like the cake-like cookies. Not so good if you're looking for something crunchier.


Carrot Cake Thumbprint Cookies
(makes approximately 4 dozen)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups coarsely grated carrots (approximately 2 medium)
• 1 cup raisins
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 cup honey

Directions:

1. Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375F.
2. Whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Beat together butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in carrots and raisins at low speed. Scrape down the sides and mix on high for a couple of seconds to make sure everything is well incorporated.
4. Add flour mixture and beat until just combined.
5. Drop 1 tablespoon 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.
6. While cookies are baking, whip cream cheese with honey until smooth. Spoon into a Ziploc bag. Set aside.
7. Take cookies out of the oven and use your thumb or a wooden spoon to press “thumbprints” into the center of the cookies while they’re still warm. Cool cookies on sheets for a minute.
8. Snip off a small corner of the Ziploc bag and pipe cream cheese filling into the thumbprints.
9. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely before storing away or eat immediately while still warm with coffee or milk.