WARNING: These cookies are sooper awesome. Especially the cream cheese filling.
The cream cheese filling in these would make a shoebox taste good. But you might as well use carrot cake cookies as your vehicle. They're prettier than a cardboard box, plus you could pretend you are being health-conscious since they do have carrots and raisins in them.
Are you interested in learning how many pictures I took of my cookies to come up with one I liked? Of course you are. Now this is typical for pretty much all my blog posts, and anyone else who has a blog, I think. I read where Chloe, the successful blogger on Chocolate and Zucchini, takes dozens of pictures of one dish just to get that one perfect photo. Here's how it goes, for me anyway...
Crap. There's a little cavern in my cream cheese...
Shoot. My cookies are cock-eyed. And the raisin looks like a black stem from an apple.
No. No. No. The cream cheese doesn't extend all the way around the cookie evenly. And it's out of focus on the left.
This one looks like Oscar the Grouch, or a hand puppet - you know, where you put lipstick on your thumb and finger.
Is this one levitating?
See what I mean?
Then I got the idea to put TWO cookies on the plate. Tah dah! ...
What's so great about this picture? Well, for some reason, two looks more like what you really would see on plate - it looks like a serving more than one does. But also, the angles are more pleasing to the eye. There's a technical term for it, I think it's something like "the rule of 9." It basically means that your eye goes to certain places in the picture naturally. Things off center are more interesting. And if something in the photo has movement, like the icing on the right moving up and to the left, it's just more artistic and appreciated by the viewer.
I also did an auto correct on the overall lighting and color of the photo which enriched the colors a bit more than the previous photos. I never use Photo Shop. I'm too lazy. I just use the handy editor that comes with the Image Viewer software.
Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies
Compliments of JennaDish
from Martha Stewart Cookies Cookbook
MAKES ABOUT 25 SANDWICHES
I recommend these be made and eaten in the same day. You can store them but they don't stay as fresh. They do not get better with age.
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots, (about 3 large carrots-I chopped and used a mini processor)
1 cup raisins (I used 1/2 golden raisins and 1/2 currants)
Cream cheese filling (recipe below)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment paper, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugars and butter; beat until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until well combined.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger; stir to combine. Gradually add flour to butter mixture; mix on a low speed until just blended. Mix in oats, carrots, and raisins. Chill dough in refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour.
Using a measuring Tablespoon, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Transfer to oven, and bake until browned and crisped, rotating pan halfway through baking to ensure even color, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat baking process with remaining dough. Once cooled completely, use an offset spatula to spread about 2 teaspoons of cream-cheese filling onto a cookie. Sandwich together with a second cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Cream Cheese Filling
Makes about 2 cups
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula, soften cream cheese. Gradually add butter, and continue beating until smooth and well blended. Sift in confectioners' sugar, and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla, and stir to combine.