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Two weekends ago, my mom started craving carrot cake. She talked about it at lunch, mentioned it at dinner, and finally caved at 9 pm and drove to Safeway to pick up a slice. When she arrived home, she grabbed a fork, plopped down in her favorite armchair, and slowly savored every bite, stopping with enough left to finish the following day.
Although Mom bought me a slice of my favorite 6-layer chocolate cake at the same time, I couldn’t help but stare and hope with all of my fingers crossed behind my back that she’d offer me a taste. That cream cheese frosting… Those soft streaks of carrot… The tender cinnamon cake… It looked mesmerizing!
Despite enjoying every last morsel of my chocolate piece, I couldn’t get carrot cake off of my mind. I pictured that square during every run (since my path went past the same grocery store) and whenever I stuck my head into the fridge for fresh fruit and veggie snacks.
I seriously contemplated baking my own again, but knowing that my self-control flies straight out the window with any type of cake, I went with the next best thing…
Ingredients
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. ground cloves
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 cup quick oats (not instant)
¾ cup brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 cup coconut oil (or 2 sticks butter, softened)
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrot (3-4 carrots)
½ cup flaked coconut
¾ cup chopped walnuts
powdered sugar
milk
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350º F. In a medium bowl, combine flours, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon and oats. Mix well and set aside.
With a mixer, beat together sugars and coconut oil in a large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.
Add carrots, coconut and walnuts; blend until combined. Batter will be a lumpy.
Add flour mixture and blend at a low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
Drop by tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 13-15 minutes. Watch them so they don’t brown too much! Immediately transfer cookies to a cooling rack.
If you want your cookies a little sweeter, blend a small amount of powdered sugar with a small amount of milk in a bowl. Add milk or powdered sugar until to the perfect consistency you like. Drizzle it over the cookies and serve. Enjoy!
