I stumbled upon this recipe in a book, and I tweaked it to fit what sounded good to me. These are delicious! You have to be patient, because the dough absolutely has to chill. And once the cookies are cooled and frosted, the taste gets better and better. These make perfect "day olds", and I don't think I've ever used the words 'perfect' and day olds' in one sentence...ever.
If you like carrot cake, you will love these!
Carrot Cake Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cups unsweetened applesauce (I used 2 of the individual serving cups)
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
8 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained (If you love crushed pineapple, use two cans)
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup angel-flake coconut
3 cups finely grated carrots
Beat together butter and sugar until fluffy and well combined. Add eggs and beat well. Add applesauce and vanilla, mix well.
Add baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Mix well, until everything is evenly mixed in.
Add pineapple and walnuts, mix well.
Add 1/2 the flour and mix just until combined. Add remaining flour and combine.
Add coconut and carrots and mix well. Dough will be sticky and thick, more like a cake batter than a cookie dough!
Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or even overnight.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. (Cakey cookies need parchment!) Heat oven to 350.
Using medium cookie scoop (1 1/2 inch or 2 inch), drop cookies onto parchment paper, 12 to a pan.
Bake for 11-13 minutes, until just a bit golden on the bottom and still shiny on top.
Let sit on cookie sheet for 1 minute, then remove to cooling rack to completely cool. When cooled, frost with cream cheese frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tsp. vanilla
1 pound powdered sugar (about 4 cups)
Beat together the cream cheese and butter. Mix in the vanilla. Add in powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time, until smooth and creamy. Add more powdered sugar if it needs to be thicker, a tiny bit of milk if you need to thin it.
Frost those cookies liberally, it's the lick-smacking part of these cookies! :)
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