Gourmet On a Budget

Joe loves to cook, I love to eat. Perfect!!!!


We've been culturing a habit of cooking a great dinner and dessert during one of our weekend evenings. This past weekend Joe cooked up a ziti dish that fostered Italian sausage, fennel, tomato and a sprinkling of parmesan. Coupled with a loaf of organic bread courtesy of Wal-Mart, the dinner was very tasty.


Dessert. Carrot-cake cookies sandwiched with a layer of honey cream cheese. To die for. Definitely a winner. Amy and I found out last year that making an entire carrot cake is on the verge of being waaaay too time consuming. These little cookies though are a cinch, and taste just like their cakey counterparts, just sans the effort.

Please....do try these.


1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coarsely grated carrots (2 medium)
1 scant cup walnuts, slightly broken
1/3 cup raisins


FILLING
1 cup cream cheese
1 tbsp hopney

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 180°C. Butter 2 baking sheets.
Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
Beat together butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla in another bowl until pale and fluffy. Mix in carrots, nuts, and raisins; then add flour mixture to this and beat until just combined.
Drop 1 1/2 tablespoons batter per cookie 2 inches apart on baking sheets and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are lightly browned and springy to the touch, 12 to 16 minutes total.
Cool cookies on sheets for 1 minute, then transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.
While cookies are baking, blend cream cheese and honey in a food processor until smooth.Sandwich flat sides of cookies together with a generous tablespoon of cream cheese filling in between.

Enjoy!!!!