Carrot cake shortbread biscuits

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A bite-sized ode to the carrot cake, Izy's orange-flecked, crumbly biscuits have all the flavour of this traditional cake, and are sandwiched together with a rich coconut cream cheese icing. Cake and biscuit in one!

First published in 2015

I’m all about the carrot cake - all I want is a light, spiced cake with cream cheese frosting and toasted coconut.

While carrot cake is a widely accepted recipe now, I still think some people are against the whole vegetables-in-dessert thing. Due to their sweetness, mild flavour and water content, carrots are brilliant for cakes as they keep them from becoming too dry without any adverse flavour notes.

In biscuits however, the moisture content can wreak havoc, creating a cookie which is far too light and cakey. I’ve found that the key to keeping carroty biscuits crisp is to use a combination of cornflour and a lot of butter, thus making them quite similar to shortbread.

These orange-flecked biscuits retain that crumbly nature whilst gaining chew from the raisins and flavour from the spices. Sandwiched up with a smidgen of coconut-flavoured cream cheese icing and you’ve got a bite sized ode to carrot cake.

These little biscuits are good any time of year, but particularly at Easter if you're not fussed by a traditional Simnel cake or all things 'egg-shaped'.

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Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Carrot cake shortbread

Coconut cream cheese filling

  • 50g of icing sugar
  • 2 tsp coconut oil, heaped, soft and unrefined
  • 2 tsp cream cheese
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1
Place the finely grated carrot into a fine mesh sieve and squeeze it, getting rid of as much liquid as possible. Leave the squeezed, grated carrot in the sieve while you start to make the dough
2
In a medium bowl or food processor, place the butter, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, salt and sugar. Cream or blend the ingredients together until well mixed
3
Add in the grated carrot, desiccated coconut, cornflour and flour and mix again until combined. Stir in the raisins then tip the dough out onto a piece of baking paper. Cover with a second piece of baking paper and roll the dough out to 6mm thick then chill for at least 30 minutes
4
Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3
5
Remove the top layer of baking paper and use a circular cutter (3 or 4 cm diameter) to cut out the biscuits. Transfer the biscuits to a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden around the edges. Leave to cool while you make the filling
6
Gradually cream the icing sugar into the coconut oil in a small bowl. Mix in the vanilla and 1 teaspoon of cream cheese. If the mixture is too firm, add the other teaspoon of cream cheese and mix in. Chill until needed
7
To assemble, use the filling to sandwich together the shortbread biscuits
First published in 2015

Izy is a student living in London, who spends her spare time blogging and photographing. She recently finished writing her first cookbook, Top With Cinnamon.

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