I haven’t been writing much lately because I’ve been busy over on my Tarot Site having a good time and I’ve been wanting to share my progress in dealing with my social and general anxiety (which is AMAZING, by the way) but I’m going to give you just a little snippet today because I need to tell you about these cookies. 
These are Inside Out Carrot Cake Cookies and I’ve been making them for years. And I love them.
I needed something to bring to a Community Kirtan that my friend David told me about. Two years ago, I never would have considered going to a new place with new people where I knew only one person. Never would have happened… and although I call David my friend, we really don’t know each other that well, but he’s one of a growing number of people that I hug as a greeting so… yeah. Friends. And I went and I didn’t explode or freak out when I got lost or hide in a corner the whole time. I actually ended up doing tarot readings for 5 people! I had a lot of fun. I probably won’t go again because although it was lovely, it’s not really my thing.
I decided on these cookies because I’m always looking for a reason to make this deliciousness. There are some important things left out of this recipe, in my opinion. Which is why I’m posting it here with my revisions.
You will make a better cookie if your eggs and butter are at room temperature. Before we became refrigeration nuts, humans used to keep eggs and butter on the counter. And to tell the truth, I still keep my butter out. I refrigerate my eggs because commercial eggs are washed. If they come right from the chicken, they have a protective barrier to prevent spoilage.
But yeah, take them out of the fridge a few hours ahead and thank me later.
The other thing is the original recipe tells you to beat your butter, sugar and eggs all together at once.
Don’t do that.
Cream the butter and sugar together. This is where that room temp thing comes in handy. King Arthur Flour has a great post on this so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here.
After you cream the butter and sugar, then add your eggs one at a time and mix until fully incorporated
Another thing is the original recipe says it makes 13 cookies.
It lies.
It makes 6 cookies filled with cream cheese and one lonesome half cookie that has no idea what to do with itself except to be a delivery device for any leftover filling … of which there will be none. So, I double it.
So, here it is. The Inside Out Carrot Cake Cookie Recipe for your next pot luck or emotional eating party.
- 2¼ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 sticks of room temperature unsalted butter (1 cup)
- ⅔ cup plus ¼ cup packed brown sugar
- ⅔ cup plus ¼ cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (get the good stuff)
- 4 medium carrots, coarsely grated (about two cups)
- 2 cups of walnuts, chopped
- 1 cup of raisins
- 16 ounces of cream cheese, room temp
- ¼ cup of wildflower honey
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper (I used 6 sheets total. If you don't have that many, you will need to cool them off before baking a new sheet of cookies)
- Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt
- Cream butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy
- Incorporate eggs, one at a time until fully combined
- Mix in the carrots, walnuts and raisins
- Add the flour mixture and stir until combined.
- Drop cookies by 1½ tablespoons about two inches apart and bake, turning halfway through for 16-18 minutes. They will spread.
- Allow to cool on the sheet for one minute and then transfer to a cooling rack.
- While cookies are baking, combine cream cheese and honey until smooth.
- When cookies are completely cool, sandwich two cookies together with a big glob of filling.
After you measure out (or… WEIGH out) your ingredients, they get mixed together, portioned out and then plopped on sheet pans and baked… DONE.
Doesn’t that look pretty?
