Deliciousness: Carrot Raisin Macadamia Whoopie Pies!

Oh my word, you guys, these have so many yummy things in them! Not only do they have all the traditional goodness that you expect a carrot cake to have, but they also have macadamia nuts, raisins, oats, and the most creamy, delicious cream cheese frosting you've ever had on a cookie.

These are all mine, baby. Where's yours?

Granted, there are  kind of a lot of steps here because of the massive number of ingredients. You'll be chopping nuts, grating carrots, creaming sugar, and digging through your spice cabinet (or in my case, making a special trip to the market) for things like ground cloves, nutmeg and ginger. If your go-to cookie recipes usually just have butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, and a couple of eggs, this will be a change for you, but take it from me: these gems are worth the effort. For your trouble, you'll be rewarded with moist, chewy cookies slathered in tangy frosting that you'll have a hard time not eating by the spoonful right out of the bowl. 

Lookit all the goodies!

I made these cookies by following this recipe, and I followed it to a T, down to the size of the cookie scoop, reduced oven temperature, and cooking time. The only thing I'd say needs to be changed is the amount of cream cheese frosting, because only one batch isn't nearly enough to cover all these cookies! If you like frosting as much as I do, you'll want to double up.

This recipe makes a ton of cookies, so they're great for taking to a party, or, you know, just eating all by yourself. Either way! No judgments here - promise.

Deliciousness: Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

First I just have to say that you really must try these cookies. The first time I had one of these was at my friend Lisbeth's house, and when she told me she was going to make "Banana Cookies", I was a little reticent. Then she told me they also had oatmeal and chocolate chips, and I felt a little better about it. The defining moment, though, was when she gave me a little round of frozen cookie dough to eat. Let me tell you - not only did I take back my snarky comment about banana cookies being "gross" (or something similarly gracious), I also wound up groveling for the recipe. Lisbeth, being the amazing friend she is, generously complied. You can find the original recipe here.

Raw, frozen cookie dough & warm, gooey cookies

The Dr. practically expects me to have a stock of these in the freezer at all times. In fact, we both like the frozen, raw dough so much I almost never even get around to baking any, but they are quite delicious both ways.

You can make up a batch of these in practically no time at all, with stuff you probably already have lying around your pantry. I almost always make a double batch, and am able to use my hand mixer to mix up all of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips. Once your dough is mixed, use a small cookie scoop (like this) to portion the cookies out into a large, airtight plastic container. You can get about 3-4 dozen cookies into one of Ziploc's large rectangular containers; be sure to put a piece of wax paper between the layers, so the dough doesn't all stick together.

If you're baking the frozen dough, heat your oven to 375 degrees and bake for 8-10 minutes. Basically, you want to leave them in just long enough for the cookies to set, or you'll wind up with crunchy cookies. Still tasty, particularly if you happen to like crunchy cookies, but I prefer these with a nice, chewy texture and just-barely-crispy edges.