Weekend Baking: Gingered Carrot Cake Cookies

As we continue to learn more refined pastries in school, I find myself gravitating towards baking comfort foods on the weekend. Last weekend, in lieu of practicing breads like I should have, I decided to try this recipe for Gingered Carrot Cookies from the Brown Eyed Baker.
Plus, I needed an excuse to try the new mixer I finally broke down and bought:

Isn't she a beauty?

 Growing up with Jackie Wright, I didn't even know that brownies could be made from a box until I was in middle school. So, owning a mixer always seemed to be reserved for the lazy. But, after 3 weeks of recipes from a Master French Pastry Chef that involved a mixer, I finally felt I had permission to buy one. Plus, the few recipes I've made by hand have resulted in a right pectoral muscle akin to those Hulk arms they sell at toy stores.

But, I digress.

I was really excited to make these cookies, hoping they'd taste like carrot cake, just smaller in size. In reality, these cookies are much more like a scone. And to be honest, I preferred the batter to the final product. With the carrots, raisins, pecans and coconut, doesn't the batter look pretty?







The final product turned out to be much more like a scone than a cookie. Surprisingly, it also wasn't terribly sweet. Regis said they'd make a nice breakfast treat, and I agree. If you want to try these and home and want something a bit sweeter, I'd definitely add some more sugar. Also, I roasted the pecans but I'd suggest doing the same for the coconut. Finally, to prevent the raisins from drying out, I'd recommend soaking them in some rum to kick it up a notch.

Hope you enjoyed!