Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Mildly carrot, mostly cinnamon and nutty flavors shine through. The cream cheese frosting is wonderfully tangy.
Texture: The cakes are moist, soft, with some crunch from the walnuts.
Ease: These drop scones are much quicker to get in the oven than traditional roll-and-cut scones.
Appearance: I love how the two fluffy cakes squeeze the cream cheese frosting out the sides slightly. Just makes you want a bite!
Pros: Perfect for a party or picnic.
Cons: None, except maybe for the Paula Deen-esque amount of butter.
Would I make this again? Yes, but with shredded zucchini next time!
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Despite it still being mid-March, summer mode has already set in here in Phoenix. Near 90 degree F weather = flip flops, air conditioning, and swimming. Some days it’s still nice outside, especially in the mornings and evenings. Other days it’s scorching. When I saw these summery cake sandwiches in this month’s issue of Martha Stewart Living they just looked perfect. The original recipe is for zucchini cake sandwiches but the local store was out of zucchini, so I decided to use carrot. But in all seriousness, there isn’t much better in this world than tangy cream cheese frosting. Especially when it is accompanied by slight spicy warmth of the carrot cake.
Carrot Cake Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- Coarse salt
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup finely grated carrot
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts (see how to toast walnuts here)
- 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flours, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt into a bowl. Beat 1 stick butter and the sugars until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
- Beat flour mixture into butter mixture. Mix in carrot, oats, and walnuts. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
- Using a 1 1/2-inch spring-loaded cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons), drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Bake until edges are golden, about 17 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
- Beat together remaining 1/2 stick butter, the cream cheese, and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Spread 1 heaping tablespoon filling onto the flat side of 1 cookie, and sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining filling and cookies. Unfilled cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.
They turned out GREAT, you know they are when people want the recipe!
I added some toasted coconut and fresh ginger to the cookies.
oh yum! I saw a similar cookie @ trader joes a while ago but I wasn't happy about the ingredients. These look amazing!
Wow, looks so simple, I love it!
My husband is an avid carrot cake fan. He will LOVE these!
@Tessa Every time I get a notification that you've posted a comment I think, “I don't remember commenting on that” then I realize it's you, not me! Not too many Tessas out there. I'll be sure to post a zucchini version once they go on sale at the market 🙂
@Mlle Fraise The carrot flavor is so mild it really just comes across as sweet. So you feel my pain with ridiculously hot weather! It'd be better if I was near a beach…
Wow! Just… wow. These look really good. To be honest, I've never been a fan of carrots as sweets. The way these look: so crispy, so golden, so delectable might make me change my mind.
And it seems that Arizona is in touch with where I live. It's not even spring and everyday it's almost 85 degrees!
It has been getting warmer but it's my first spring down here, so I've been enjoying it. March isn't like this in Nebraska. These carrot cake sandwiches look delicious. Looking forward to seeing your zucchini version!
Oh wow!! There's an amazing bakery here in Salt Lake called Les Madeleines that makes incredible carrot cake sandwich cookies. I've wanted a recipe for these for the longest time but they're so decadent I either put off the search or can't seem to find one that seems quite right. These look delicious and nearly identical to the ones at Les Mads! Can't wait to try them out! 🙂
Wow, 90 already? We won't see those temps until August here probably! Love this recipe – the combination of either carrot or zucchini cake with cream cheese frosting is delicious.
i just made cookies very similar to this!!! after i have one more person taste test them, i'm posting them tomorrow 🙂 great minds think alike!
I'd be happy to take some of that sunshine from your shoulders if you need me to 😉
The sandwiches/cookies/cakes look lovely!