Carrot Sugar Cookies

April 21st, 2011 by justJENN

For Easter I had a vision of cupcakes with little carrot cookies coming out of the top of them. Per the usual I wasn’t in the mood to mess with frosting, so I made up some sugar cookies using whole wheat flour, some orange gel dye and yes – carrots!

They turned out adorable and VERY delicious! Sweetest veggie ever!

ingredients:
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 Tablespoons finely grated carrot
pinch of salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons lemon juice
orange gel dye

1/4 cup green tea cookie dough (recipe, here)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prep baking sheets with silpat liners.

I used whole wheat flour to make these cookies a little more healthier, but hey – they’re still sugar cookies, what can I say.

In a medium bowl whisk together the whole wheat flour, baking powder, carrot and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until combined. Add the egg and lemon juice.

Add a few drops of orange gel dye – I like gels better than liquids because they have stronger colors and incorporate easily.

Slowly add in the flour until combined. The dough will form quickly, and when it starts to pull away from the bowl, it’s done!

Split the dough into two discs and keep the fridge until you are ready to use.

I used the same idea as the ‘Matcha Cookie Trees‘ and rolled out the orange dough, then used a carrot cookie cutter to cut the cookies…

…cut off the tops, and then rolled out green tea (matcha) cookie dough and added the green tops back on the carrot! Use a small paring knife and gently press it into the dough to get the ‘lines’ on the sides of the carrot.

Lay the cookies on the prepped cookie sheet (doesn’t it look like a little garden?!) and bake for 8-10 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.

These cookies are a (sort of) healthy, fun alternative to regular cut out cookies and a perfect way to eat your ‘veggies’!