Carrot Cake Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

One of my favoritest cakes is carrot, but being pressed for time, I haven't had the opportunity to bake one from scratch. I found this recipe from Duncan Hines using their Decadent Carrot Cake mix to satisfy my carrot cake craving. It's a carrot cake cookie that was more like a muffin top (even better!). I topped it with a simple cream cheese frosting recipe from Martha Stewart. And let me tell you, the frosting alone is eat-from-the-spoon deelish!

The great thing about the mix is that it includes dehydrated carrot shreds and raisins. Since I dislike raisins, I removed them before hydrating the carrots. It was an interesting dough that was more like a very thick batter. A small cookie scoop would come in very handy since it's also a very sticky dough.

Carrot Cake Cookie
Ingredients:

• 1 box Duncan Hines Classic Carrot Decadent Cake Mix
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
  
• 1 cup hot tap water (used to hydrate carrots and raisins)
  
• 1 cup oatmeal
  
• 1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°
  
• Hydrate the carrots and raisins in 1 cup hot tap water; Allow to hydrate for a minimum of 5 minutes; Drain and squeeze out excess water.
  
  
• Beat butter and cake mix, add the two eggs; Add drained carrots and raisins to batter; Mix in the 1 cup of oatmeal and nuts
  
  
• Spoon heaping teaspoons of batter onto lightly greased cookie sheets; Press batter out slightly with back of spoon(cookies do not spread)
  
  
• Bake for 12 minutes at 350°
  
• Cool on cookie sheets and then transfer to wire rack and allow to cool completely
  
• Frost cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
  
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

• Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula, soften cream cheese. Gradually add butter, and continue beating until smooth and well blended. Sift in confectioners' sugar, and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla, and stir to combine.