carrot cake whoopie pies

Do you love carrot cake with cream cheese frosting??? 
Wanna have it smooshed into a whoopie pie??? 
Hell, yeah!!! 


I know a couple of lovers of this tasty creation and if you answered "yes" (or hell, yeah!) then you better head into your kitchen and bake up a batch of these monster-sized sandwich cookies.


Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies
this recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart's Carrot Cake Cookies
makes 18 small sandwich cookies or 6 - 8 large ones  


FOR THE COOKIES
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/2 cup packed, brown sugar, light or dark
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup rolled oats ***toasted in 1 tablespoon of butter*** 
3/4 cup packed, finely grated carrots
1/3 cup dried currants (or raisins)
1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts


FOR THE FILLING
2 ounces cream cheese @ room temperature
2 ounces (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter @ room temperature
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice


Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.


Make filling: With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add sugar and lemon juice; beat until combined. Cover; chill until firm, at least 30 minutes.

Make cookies: In a medium-sized cast iron pan or skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium low heat. Add the 1 cup of rolled oats and stir to coat. Toast until the oats are fragrant and slightly browned, 3 - 5 minutes. Spread out onto one of your baking pans to cool. 


In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, spices and salt. Set aside. In large bowl, whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla.  Add flour mixture to butter & sugar mixture. Mix to combine. Do not over mix. Fold in toasted oats, carrots and currants. ***If you want to add raisins here you can. Chop into small-like pieces***


Using a tablespoon, drop dough onto prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart. ***I use a 1 1/2 inch diameter cookie scoop for this step*** Dampen your hand with water and flatten slightly with your fingers/palm of hand. Sprinkle the tops of cookies with chopped walnuts. ***No need to pre-toast them because they will toast up in the oven while the cookies are baking***


Bake until edges are crisp, rotating sheets halfway through baking, 15 - 20 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.


Turn half of the cookies over, bottom side up. Dollop each with about 1 teaspoon or 1 tablespoon (depending on the size of cookie you made) of chilled cream-cheese filling. Top with remaining cookies, pressing gently to spread filling to edges. Serve immediately or chill for 15 minutes in fridge.




***I would like to give a shout out and a huge THANK YOU to Betsy & Jeff McCue of La Vida Creations Photography for capturing every delicious morsel of these hand-held carrot cakes. These creative geniuses are my website photogs and most importantly my friends. BTW.....They photograph people too!!!***