Carrot Cake Cookies

Mise en Place the Cookie Ingredients

• To see how Mise en Place can benefit you, see The Finer Cookie's post on why everyone should Mise en Place.
• Coarsely shred the carrots and set aside.

Shred the carrots, like you would for a cake.

• Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add the two sugars and stir until combined. Keep warm and fluid.

Melt the butter with the two sugars.

• Separate 1 large egg and set aside the egg yolk. To learn more about separating eggs, see The Finer Cookie's post on How to Separate Eggs.
• In another bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, cinnamon and salt.

Whisk the dry ingredients.

• Combine the oats, carrots and raisins.

Dried currants and oatmeal.

• Finely chop the pecans and set aside.

Finely chop the pecans.

Assemble the Cookie Dough (BAKE at 350ºF)

• Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
• Pour the melted butter/sugar mixture into the flour, spices and salt. Stir to combine.

Whisk the melted butter and sugar into the dry ingredients.

• Add the egg yolk and blend thoroughly. Avoid adding the egg yolk to the hot butter and sugar. This could cook the yolk and reduce the cookie's ability to hold together.
• Mix in the oats, raisins and carrots. Stir to combine.
• At this point, feel free to add the pecans to the cookie dough. Stir well. Alternately, you can roll the cookie dough in the pecans to create a nutty crust. I added the pecans to the dough and saved a step.
• Set in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes.
• At this point, remove the butter and cheese (cream or goat) from the fridge and let it warm to room temperature.
• Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper or cooking liners and set aside.
• If you have a #70 scoop, set it in your work space.

Bake the Carrot Cake Cookies at 350ºF

• Roll dough into balls that measures 1/2 inch in diameter or that weigh .65 ounces/19 grams each.

Tray the Carrot Cake Cookies.

• If you held the pecans aside, roll each dough ball in the pecans.
• Set each cookie on the tray. Leave some space between the cookies without crowding them. They don't spread much.
• Once all the cookies are rolled, make a deep, decisive indentation in each cookie. When the cookies bake, the indentation will fill in a bit and become less deep.

Create a deep indent in the cookie dough.

• Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden brown on the bottoms.

Mix the Cream Cheese Filling

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the butter, cheese of your choice and the confectioners sugar until very smooth.
• If you choose, fill a ziplock bag or a piping bag and get ready to fill the cookies.

Fill a pastry bag or plastic bag with soft, smooth cream cheese filling.

• Fill the center of each cookie either with two spoons or a piping bag. A piping bag makes short order of this job!

• Continue to fill each cookie until they are complete.

Fill the cookie with delicious cream cheese filling.

• Now, go ahead and enjoy them. Store in an air tight container and keep in the fridge.

Carrot Cake Cookies, The Finer Cookie.