Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies

Attention all carrot cake lovers I have the perfect dessert just for you! With Easter a little over a week away I wanted something that would combine both the holiday and one of my favorite spring time desserts; the carrot cake.

The carrot cake whoopie pie does just that. Two fluffy carrot cake flavored “cookies” with a deliciously smooth cream cheese frosting sandwiched between and sprinkled with chopped walnuts to complete the beauty that is the carrot cake whoopie pie! These portable snacks are sure to get your guests hopping with joy… yeah, I said that.

Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies 
Adapted from: Tracey’s Culinary Adventures
Yields: 16 whoopie pies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon of cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup of light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/4 cups of carrots (about 3 small carrots), peeled and finely grated
• 1/4 cup of crushed pineapple, drained and finely chopped
• 1/4 cup of sweetened shredded coconut

Directions:

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda,baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment cream the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. About 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until combined. Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated.

Then add the flour mixture in two equal parts mixing until just combined. Add the carrots, crushed pineapple and coconut and mix until incorporated. Do not over mix. Transfer the batter to a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the batter for 1 hour.

During the last 30 minutes on the chilling time for the batter preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Using a small cookie scoop ( my cookie scoop was about 1.5 inches in width across the head of the scoop) place 9 cookies onto the prepared baking sheet spacing the cookies about two inches apart. I gently patted down each cookie and smoothed any rough edges, keep in mind that the dough is quite sticky.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes rotating halfway through the bake time and the cookies spring back when lightly pressed. Carefully transfer the hot baking sheet to a cooling rack and allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes. After five minutes transfer the cookies to the cooling rack to fully cool. Repeat the scooping, baking, and cooling process with the remaining batter.

While the cookies fully cool you can start on the frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 ounces of cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups of confectioners sugar, sifted
• 1/4 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• Finely chopped walnuts or pecans for sprinkling (optional)

In the mixer bowl with the paddle attachment cream the butter and cream cheese until fluffy. About 3 minutes. Turn off the mixer and add the confectioners sugar and vanilla. Beat on low for 1 minute. Turn the mixer on high and beat 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.

Assembly:

Match up the cookies into like sized pairs. Using a piping bag with a large round tip, pipe a small amount of frosting onto the flat side of one cookie for each pair. Make sure to leave room around the edges of the cookie.Top each frosted cookie with its pair (flat side down) gently pressing down to evenly work the frosting to the edges so it just peaks out. Sprinkle with some chopped nuts and enjoy! Store the cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator.