Carrot Cake Cookies

I love carrot cake, mostly because of the cream cheese frosting, but lately, I've been less excited about cupcakes so I decided to try these Carrot Cake Cookies. They're meant to be carrot cake cookie sandwiches with the CC frosting in the middle but when I made, them, the sandwich seemed a little heavy for the midmorning snack that I served them as at the UW Astronomy department. So I served them as cookies with frosting, as shown in the picture.

The recipe is as follows:

1 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup coarsely grated carrots (2 medium)

1 scant cup walnuts (3 oz), chopped

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Butter a cookie sheet and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a small mixing bowl. Mix the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and continue to mix until fluffy. Add the carrots, walnuts, and raisins and mix slowly, using a spatula. Add the half the flour mixture, and fold into batter. Add the rest of the flour mixture and fold until just combined. Place small rounds of the batter onto the baking sheet and bake for 12-18 minutes (depending on your oven). More than minutes though it's better to gauge the cookies by them being spongy to the touch. They should bounce back to their original shape when lightly touched. Cool on the pan for 1 minute and then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Serve with cream cheese frosting.