Day 31: Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies

So the health talk thing didn't work out. It may have been better to do it at a location that's not our house. We should have known people aren't going to go to a strangers house..it's just not comfortable. And it's a lot easier to say "yea sure we'll come" and not show up than it is to tell us to our face their not gonna come. That's something Matt also experienced a lot as a missionary trying to get people to come to church. Anyway we learned a lot from it, mostly what not to do. We're still doing the cookie thing because that's not the reason we started it. But we're not going to be inviting people to come to anything anymore, instead we'll just meet them, give them our contact info and leave it at that. We started this because it sounded like a fun idea. However, instead of everyday we're going to cut back to about once a week.. just for the fact that it's a lot.. a lot of time, effort and money. From now on i'll start posting by week number instead of day. I'm thinking Wednesday's sound like a good day to do it..we'll see.
With that said, I still made cookies for today. We had a lot of carrots leftover from yesterday so I thought i'd use some and make carrot cake cookies! It didn't take up nearly as many as i'd hoped..but i'll find something else to do with the rest i'm sure. These are really good, I was going to put some very finely chopped walnuts in, but I forgot. And I left out the raisins.

Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies

Makes about 25 sandwiches
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 pound (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)
1 cup raisins
Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

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 1/2-ounce ice-cream scoop, 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 for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

Cream Cheese Frosting

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.