Carrot Cake Cookies

Last fall, when we went to Disney, my husband was on a mission to find the location at Disney where you could find the Carrot Cake Cookies that he had heard about on various podcasts and blogs. We had success and found them at the Writer's Stop in Disney's Hollywood Studios. They were were everything that he hoped for.

The other day, he mentioned that I should find a recipe to make them at home. So, I went on a search and found this version of the recipe. It seemed fairly straight-forward, so I picked up the missing ingredients and set out to make them.

He was so excited that even shared my plans on Facebook.

The batter seemed very thin, but I gave it a shot. I was right, it was a little too thin and the edges got overdone. I wound up opening up another cake mix and adding 3T of mix to the batter. The cookies came out just like I would have wanted for them too. They were not too thick, but held their shape when baking. Of course, I didn't want to have to use 1 box plus 3T of another to make these cookies in the future, so I did some experimenting. I grabbed another cake mix (different flavor) and adjusted the ingredients a little bit. I initially removed an egg, half the oil and half the water, but wound up adding the egg and the oil to the mix. I was pleased with the results.

I used the Neufchatel cheese, to reduce the calories/fat of the recipe and was pleased with the consistency and flavor of the filling. Even with that, each filled cookie is about 200 calories.

Carrot Cake Cookies with cream cheese filling

1 box carrot cake mix
3 eggs
2/3 cup oil
1/2 cup water
8 ounces cream cheese
8 tablespoons butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup crushed pineapple drained
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Yield: 18 filled cookies

Prepare cake mix with eggs, oil and water. Drop by tablespoon-full on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes on pan, then transfer to wire cooling rack.

In a mixer bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, pineapples and vanilla extract. Mix into a fluffy consistency.

Once the cookies are cool. Place scoop of cream cheese mixture on one cookie and spread out. Top with a second cookie.

Serve.

Disclaimer