Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches

It’s time for carrot cake, but instead- carrot cake cookies with almond-cardamom cream cheese frosting. These cookies are so chewy and make an awesome cookie sandwich!

Carrot Cake Cookie Recipe:

• 1 tbsp. ground flax meal
• 2 tbsp. water
• 1/4 cup cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup pineapple chunks
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 heaping cup ap flour
• 1/2 cup oats (whatever you have on hand, I used quick oats)
• 2/3 cup grated carrots

Directions:

1. Set your oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the flax meal and water until mixture becomes gelatinous. (or sub flax meal and water with 1 egg, at room temp.)
3. In a large bowl either using a kitchenaid or hand held mixer, cream together the cream cheese, pineapple chunks, brown sugar and white sugar until combined.
4. Add in the flax meal “egg”, vanilla extract, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and salt. Mix to combine.
5. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix on low until batter comes together.
6. Using an ice cream scoop, spoon the batter onto parchment lined sheet trays, trying to get each scoop the same size.
7. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Cookies will start to crack on the top and look “set up” when they are done.
8. Let cookies cool completely before using.

Almond- Cardamom Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 tsp. almond extract
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. In a kitchenaid or large bowl, cream together the cream cheese with the almond extract and ground cardamom until light and airy, about 5 minutes.
2. Add in the powdered sugar and mix for an additional 3 minutes.
3. Reserve in the fridge for about 10 minutes before using.

Filling the cookies:

1. With the cooled cookies, match up 2 cookies that are roughly the same size for each sandwich.
2. Using a piping bag with a star or round tip, pipe a circle about 1/4″ from the outer edge of the bottom cookie.
3. Place the top cookie on top, and press gently and evenly until frosting sticks out of the sides of the cookie sandwich. Eat & enjoy!

So for these cookies, I actually did two separate recipes just for fun. Recipe #1 had no egg, instead was replaced with a “flax meal egg”. The texture was perfect and that’s why I decided to go with recipe #1. Recipe #2 I omitted some of the sugar and used egg to bind them. Pretty crazy how switching up one ingredient gives you such a different result! The good thing is – both batches turned out delicious!

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I hope you have enjoyed this recipe! This is such a fun and easy dessert to make with someone you love during your days at home! Cheers & happy baking!