Share |

Inside out carrot cake

Easter is on its way in two weekends. Easter makes me think of bunnies, which make me think of carrots... and carrot cake... it's one of those cakes that seems like it's going to be healthy... I mean it has vegetables in it right?? Oh and a STICK of butter? Really a whole stick? Is that really necessary??

No no it's not.

It's Cookie Carnival time again, and yes I'm a day late... the roundup happened yesterday... booo. Seriously when did April show up?? Oh right... yesterday. Well this is my contribution, better late than never! Because seriously if you like carrot cake... you need to make these. Totally guilt free, and they taste like heaven... no exaggeration! My roomie (who is a fan of her baked goods) ate one and said this was the best yet of all my alteration creations! NO WAY?? BEST EVER?? Yes it's true! These are super moist, delicious, spiked with raisins... and the cream cheese filling... marvalous my dear!

I mean look at this bad boy?


Yup not a drop of butter or oil... and d@mn tasty! So if you can have a cookie that TASTES just as good as the bad... minus the stick of butter (800 calories, 92 grams of fat) replace it with a little carrot baby food and a little unsweetened apple sauce (I KID YOU NOT!) wouldn't you rather have the healthy one? BAM you have a tasty tasty guilt free treat.

I must admit while I was spooning the carrot baby food out of its little container, I had my doubts... I was thinking, man this smells nasty... well the birds get a treat if these suck... Guess what little birdies! You aint getting any of these! Cause I'm going to eat them all! :)

I made mine with fresh homegrown carrots from the public market here. I think it totally added to the flavor of these. Now for the recipe, print it out and go make some! You wont be sorry :)

these tasted great even without the cream cheese filling

Inside out carrot cake
adapted by stephchows, original from Gourmet | April 2004

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (3.5 oz) container of Gerber baby food, pureed carrots
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 Tbs splenda baking blend plus 2 Tbs splenda granulated (or you can use 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coarsely grated carrots (2 medium)
1/2 cup raisins (2 1/2 ounces)
8 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese
1/4 cup honey (good local stuff tastes the best!)

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 2 baking sheets. (I used silicon baking mats)

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

Beat together carrot puree, apple sauce, sugars, egg, and vanilla in a bowl until combined. Mix in carrots, and raisins, then add flour mixture and mix 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 on racks 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.

how seriously moist and delicious does that look!?

Chow!


Oh and check this out....
my nutritional stats for one sandwich cookie vrs making them by the original recipe...

17 chews:

Anonymous said...

Yum - can I have one for my breakfast right now? Those look fabulous!

Pearl said...

oh those carrot cake cookies look so yum - and no oil!

kate said...

i am TOTALLY impressed! nicely done.

I have seen so many sandwich cookies roaming around lately, but by virtue of being carrot cake I have a feeling these are the best!

NAOmni

Wow, so healthified. We believe you when you say they are delicious.

Travis said...

I'll wipe the drool off my keyboard now... But how did you do the "steph chows version" nutrition facts? Do you have a calculator for that?

stephchows said...

Glad you all agree! I couldn't imagine making these the original way, they were just so tasty!!

Travis as for the nutritional info... a friend pointed me to this awesome online application, you put in your recipe and serving sizes, and it tells you all the stats :)

http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php

Reeni said...

Your so awesome! They look delicious! Your so good at making guilt-free goodies!

Hannah said...

Oh those sound amazing! I'm all about the frosting when it comes to carrot cake, so I like the higher proportion of frosting to cake with these cookies. :)

Megan said...

I love that you made them healthy!!! I'll have to give them a try. I didn't make it to this months carnival but I'll try for next month. But you know, April will go buy even faster then March!

Megan said...

I love that you made them healthy!!! I'll have to give them a try. I didn't make it to this months carnival but I'll try for next month. But you know, April will go buy even faster then March!

Astra Libris said...

My goodness, I am in LOVE with these cookies already!!! Must bake these very very very soon... You're a genius!!

Maggie said...

These sound fantastic! I love the sound of the honey/cream cheese filling.

Natalie said...

just made these - AMAZING - totally love them! thanks for the recipe!

stephchows said...

Thanks for all the healthy eating love!! It makes me so happy that other people agree! And Natalie- i'm so excited you made them and liked them!!!! Totally just made my day :D

Megan said...

I love that you made them healthy!!! I'll have to give them a try. I didn't make it to this months carnival but I'll try for next month. But you know, April will go buy even faster then March!

just made these - AMAZING - totally love them! thanks for the recipe!

Want more chow like what you just read? You can click to subscribe to the feed, follow me on twitter, or become a fan on facebook! Can't wait to see you there!
Copyright © 2012 :: steph chows ::.