Carrot Cake White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm back again - and I brought more cake mix cookies!

You might have noticed a carrot cake theme emerging on this blog. Yeah... That's my fault. In the last couple months, I've developed a weird obsession with it. And as it turns out? Coming to England is the worst best thing someone suffering from acute carrot cake craving could have done. They are gaga for it here! I had no idea that carrot cake was such a British staple, but it's been on the counter of literally every bakery and cafe I've gone into. Large, luscious slices of cake brimming with carrot shreds, raisons, and nuts, and smeared with thick cream cheese frosting... I think I am truly living in some kind of heaven.

But somehow, rather than satisfy my craving, the surplus of carrot cake around me has only served to increase my carroty (← a real word! who knew?) craziness. The success of my Cadbury Caramel Cake Mix Cookies opened my eyes to a world of cake mix cookie flavor possibilities. And the first flavor they landed on? Carrot cake. naturally.

This recipe is the result of two mother recipes + a dash of my own invention. The basic cookie ratios are adapted from Pinch of Yum's Double Chocolate Cake Mix Cookies. I altered the ratios a fair amount to account for the extra fat content added by the cream cheese (to follow), but her recipe served as a helpful guide.

I borrowed the idea of adding cream cheese to the dough from Bakergirl's White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies. You kind of can't have carrot cake without cream cheese frosting, amiright? But I don't really like frosting cookies, unless it's a whoopie pie/cookie sandwich situation. Which I thought about doing, but ultimately rejected in favor of a more chocolate chip style cookie. I hoped that substituting cream cheese in place of some of the butter and oil would give it that tangy cream cheese kick without the frosting. (I was right!)

The white chocolate chips were...just because. Just to give them a little extra sweetness. I don't know about you, but I hate biting into a cookie that's just...plain cookie. No fillings or toppings or anything. Boring!

These cookies were a mega-experiment. Not only did I kind of wing it when it came to creating the recipe itself, but I majorly winged the actual measuring of ingredients during the baking process. Not having any cup/tablespoon measures, I went by eyeing the ingredients and hoping that they were sorta kinda close to the actual measurement.

Either luck smiled on me, this is a very forgiving recipe, or I am just really skilled at eyeing measurements, because these turned out wonderfully!

I had my doubts when I was scooping - yes, scooping...just go with it, it will be okay - the dough onto the cookie sheet, because it was too loose and fluffy to form into dough balls. I wondered: Was the dough thick enough to hold its shape in the oven? Or would they all just ooze together into one giant cookie-sheet-shaped mess?

I was pleasantly surprised when I removed the first batch in the oven and found they had baked into puffy, yet not cakey, picture-perfection!

Do you see those enticingly crinkled and crackled tops? Studded with white chocolate chips, with the odd scrap of carrot poking out? Just begging you to pick one up and sink your teeth into its soft, tangy-sweet, spicy center?

Let's all take a moment to revel in this mental image.

Is your mouth watering yet? Good.

These cookies are yummy once cooled (of course), but that's nothing compared to how amazing they are fresh-from-the-oven warm. We're talking involuntary moans of "Mmm....." amazing. I had to sample a bite to make sure they were shareable, but that one bite turned into two...and three...and a whole cookie...and a half... Oops. #sorryI'mnotsorry. 

And when I brought them over to share with my friends during a trip planning meeting (we're going on a trip to Amsterdam and Prague this Thursday)? Every last cookie, gone. Thank goodness I'd eaten my fill earlier in the day, when I'd had first dibs. Because those cookies disappeared so fast I wouldn't have had a chance to nab one if I'd tried.

These cookies are dangerous. Not just because they are so delicious (which they are), but because it is too easy to tell yourself that It's okay, they're healthy! They have vegetables in them!

They may look innocent, but it's a slippery slope, my friends. I'm just warning you.

- Molly

Carrot Cake White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Bakergirl and Pinch of Yum

½ cup butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 box carrot cake mix
¾ cup white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the egg and beat again until incorporated. Add the oil and beat until combined. Add the cake mix and beat until just combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips.

Scoop onto prepared cookie sheet by the generous spoonful. Bake for 10 minutes, until the tops are just set, the cookies are evenly flattened, and they are starting to get cracks in them. Remove from the baking sheet and let cool for a few minutes before serving.