Terry's Carrot Cake Cookies

Cream Puff Murder

## Ingredients

* 1 cup butter ***(2 sticks, ½ pound)*** at room temperature
* 2 cups white ***(granulated)*** sugar
* 3 eggs, beaten ***(just whip them up in a glass with a fork)***
* 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
* 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 4 teaspoons cinnamon
* ½ teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 20-ounce can crushed pineapple ***(very well drained)***
* 1 cup golden raisins
* 1 cup chopped walnuts ***(measure after chopping)***
* 3½ cups flour ***(pack it down in the cup when you measure it)***
* 1 cup coconut ***(chopped a little finer than it comes out of the bag)***
* 3 cups finely grated carrots

**Terry's tips for her recipe:**

1. **When she drains her crushed pineapple, Terry uses a wire mesh sieve and presses the pineapple against the mesh to remove as much liquid as possible.**
2. **When she's in a hurry and doesn't want to grate her own carrots, Terry buys shredded carrots and then chops them up a bit finer in her food processor with the steel blade, or with a chef's knife on a cutting board.**
3. **Terry says she uses a medium cookie scoop (approximately 2 Tablespoons) and puts 12 cookies to a sheet. She always uses parchment paper instead of a bare cookie sheet. She rinses her cookie scoop after every 4 or 5 cookies so the dough won't stick to the scoop.**

**Hannah's Note: These are a lot easier to mix if you use an electric mixer. You can also do them by hand, but it does take some muscle.**

## Directions

* Beat the butter, sugar, and eggs together until all three ingredients are thoroughly incorporated and the mixture is smooth, fluffy, and light yellow in color.
* Make sure your applesauce is well drained. You don't really want to add liquid here. ***(I pat off any excess liquid with a paper towel before I add it to my bowl)***. Add the applesauce to your bowl and mix in thoroughly.
* Mix in the vanilla extract.
* Blend in the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Mix it well, until the dough is smooth and is a uniform color.
* Mix in the pineapple, golden raisins, and walnuts.
* Blend in the flour, about a rounded cupful at a time. You don't have to be exact—the point is to add the flour in three parts so that you don't try to mix it all in at once. If you add the whole 3½ cups at once and then try to beat it, it'll spill out all over your counter and floor! ***(The next time you come into The Cookie Jar, you can ask me how I know this.)***
* Remove the bowl from your mixer. You'll have to do this next part by hand. Coconut and shredded carrots tend to bunch up inside your beaters and will cause a real mess. ***(You can ask me how I know this, too!)***
* Stir in the coconut. When it's incorporated, stir in the shredded carrots. Mix well to make sure everything is blended.
* When the dough is all mixed, it will be thick and rather sticky, much like very thick cake batter. That's why you have to chill it. It would be impossible to work with without "hardening" it in the refrigerator.
* Cover the dough with plastic wrap, and chill it in the refridgerator for at least 2 hours. ***(Overnight is fine, too.)***
* When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F, rack in middle position.
* Prepare your cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper ***(the best method for this cookie)*** or spraying them with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.
* Use two spoons to drop the dough onto the cookie sheet, 12 cookies to a standard-size cookie sheet. Each cookie should contain about 2 Tablespoons of dough.
* Wet your fingers and shape the dough into rounds if needed. This won't make them taste any different, but they'll look more uniform.
* Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes. Leave the cookies on the cookie sheets for a minute, and then remove them to wire racks to cool. When they've cooled, frost them with Terry's Cream Cheese Frosting.

Yield: approximately 10 dozen yummy cookies