Carrot Cake Cookies

Bit of an upside-down day today. We went out for lunch to a very nice place just down the road, from us Windlestraw Lodge. The occasion was Dunk celebrating the 'end' of his diet, and the food there was certainly a fit way to mark it. I'm not going to attempt to review it, but if you are in the area and get the chance to eat there, take it.
Since I knew we'd be eating a richer than usual meal, and as we're still eating through the three Easter eggs (and will be for a few weeks yet), I fancied making more healthy-feeling 'hidden fruit or veg' baking. So this week, it's something picked up from Julie van Rosendaal's blog. It's a recipe for Carrot Cake Cookies, for the new edition of One Smart Cookie - which yes, I'll probably be buying, and donating my current copy to someone else (no idea who yet).
Anyway, as usual I made one or two minor changes. First thing, I've started converting recipes to metric measurements. I brought down the amount of sugar slightly, and used hazelnuts instead of walnuts, because I had them in the cupboard and wanted to use them up. The result? Little drops of carrot cake. These are not firm like you'd expect a cookie to be, but more cakey in texture. The nuts I used give just a hint of nuttiness - using more, or using different nuts would still be fine. The overall verdict? Definitely a recipe to keep.

Recipe:
50 grams unsalted butter
75 grams caster sugar
75 grams dark muscovado sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100 grams plain flour
100 grams plain wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
150 grams grated carrot
75 grams raisins
25 grams chopped hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Line two baking sheets with non-stick baking parchment.
In a medium bowl, combine the flours, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars together. Once combined, beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
Add the flour, carrots, raisins and hazelnuts a bit at a time to the wet ingredients, mixing between each addition until just combined.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking sheets, flattening each cookie slightly.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until golden on the edges and just cooked in the middle.

Ginger Carrot Muffins

How much do you trust a recipe that you get from a web site? I suppose the answer to that depends on the site you got it from. Something from a food magazine, or a TV programme, or a well-know chef/cook can probably be considered to be fairly robust. The reputation of the source depends on the recipes, and we assume that those recipes are at least tested a few times, to make sure the kinks are worked out. Food blogs? Well, the authors seem to let you know when something was an experiment, or didn't particularly turn out as expected, so we can make a reasonable guess at how things might turn out for us. What about community sites, where anybody can submit any recipe, and make it available? Well, you're probably taking pot luck with those. And that's where the recipe I tried this week came from.
I like carrot cake and carrot muffins (Nigella Lawson has a wonderful recipe for carrot cupcakes in How To Be A Domestic Goddess), so when I came across this recipe for Carrot Ginger Muffins, I really wanted to give it a try.
Reading the recipe, it seems to use a method I'm not familiar with for muffins or cupcakes - that's more what I'd expect for a scone. So I decided to completely ignore that method, and go with my own feelings, based on my (OK, limited) previous experience with muffins. That means rather than rubbing the butter into the flour, the wet and dry ingredients get mixed separately, and then combined. I suppose that's one of the good things with 'community' rather than 'pro' recipes - you really get nervous about not following the pro recipe to the letter, whereas with the community one, there's less pressure.
The end result? Moist, fairly light carroty little muffins. Not really enough ginger for me, so when I do these again, I may add a little more. I think they could also have risen a little more - other recipes seem to have a little more raising agent than these did, so I may add a touch of bicarbonate of soda along with the baking powder next time. I mean, what's the worst that can happen?

Recipe:
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter (about 30g)
1 egg
1/4 cup skim milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 carrot, grated (about 150g)
1 teaspoon ginger root, finely grated
1/2 cup sultanas

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line a muffin tin with muffin cases.
Melt the butter and leave to cool slightly.
In a bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder and spices.
Combine the sugars in a large bowl.
In a jug, whisk together the egg, milk and vanilla extract. Add the melted butter and mix.
Pour the liquid into the sugars and whisk together. Add the ginger root and sultanas, and stir through.
Alternately add the flour and carrot, mixing between each addition to ensure the ingredients are just combined.
Divide the mixture between the muffin cases. Bake for 25 minutes.