Carrot Cake Cookies

Instructions

1. 1

   Cut both quantities of butter into small cubes and leave at room temperature for about 45 minutes, until easily dented but not oily or melted. Keep the cream cheese refrigerated for now. Once the butter is soft, line two approximately 45 × 33 cm baking trays with baking parchment. Finely grate and weigh the carrots; do not use coarse, pre-shredded carrots or squeeze out their moisture.

2. 2

   Whisk the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together. In a separate bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat the 140 g dough butter with the brown sugar and granulated sugar for about 2 minutes, until creamy and slightly lighter. Beat in the whole egg and the 5 ml dough vanilla until combined. Scrape down the bowl, then fold in the dry ingredients followed by the grated carrots. Stop when no dry flour remains; the dough should be soft and scoopable.

3. 3

   The dough weighs approximately 729 g. Divide it into 28 portions of about 26 g each, using all the dough. Arrange 14 on each prepared tray, leaving at least 3 cm between the unbaked portions. Flatten each gently to a disc about 4 cm wide. Refrigerate both trays for 30 minutes. During the final 20 minutes of chilling, preheat the oven to 180°C conventional (350°F), or 160°C fan (320°F).

4. 4

   Bake one tray on the middle shelf for approximately 14 minutes. Keep the second tray refrigerated, then bake it for another 14 minutes: approximately 28 minutes of sequential oven time altogether. The cookies should have lightly golden edges and matte, softly set centres without wet-looking dough. When the first tray goes into the oven, take the cream cheese out of the refrigerator to temper. Let each baked tray stand for 10 minutes before transferring its cookies to a wire rack. Allow the final batch another 30 minutes on the rack, or until completely cool; the first batch cools partly while the second bakes.

5. 5

   During the final batch's cooling period, make the filling and decorations, allowing about 15 minutes. For the filling, beat 40 g of the softened filling butter with 110 g of the icing sugar until smooth. Add the cream cheese in small pieces and the remaining 5 ml vanilla. Beat on low speed just until smooth and thick; prolonged beating can loosen cream-cheese frosting. Cover and refrigerate until the cookies are cold.

6. 6

   For the decorations, use a small bowl and spatula to beat the remaining 20 g butter with the remaining 40 g icing sugar into a smooth buttercream. Put approximately 40 g of this buttercream in one small bowl and 20 g in another. Mix the orange colouring into the larger portion and the green colouring into the smaller portion. Transfer to separate small piping bags, using a small round opening for orange and a small leaf tip or narrow snipped opening for green.

7. 7

   Match the 28 completely cold cookies into 14 pairs. Divide all the cream-cheese filling evenly over the flat undersides of 14 cookies, approximately 25 g per cookie, then gently sandwich with their partners. Pipe a small tapered orange carrot on each top and add green leaves, dividing all the coloured buttercream among the 14 sandwiches. Allow about 15 minutes for assembly and decoration. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to set before serving.

8. 8

   For an accurate serving weight, weigh the cooled, filled and decorated batch and divide by 14. Allowing for approximately 8–12% moisture loss from the cookie dough, each finished sandwich should weigh roughly 76–78 g, rather than its raw ingredient weight.