Mini Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies

Mini Carrot Cake Whoopie Pie with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is my first attempt at these. It's a dry run for one of the whoopie pies I plan to make for my friend's wedding next month. I need to tweak it a little, but basically, they taste just like I wanted them to: tender little carrot cakes sandwiching smooth and sweet cream cheese frosting. It's two bites of deliciousness.
I don't even think I need to say anything else about them, except that they're just what I was going for. Whew!

Mini Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cookie Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/4 cups shredded coconut
• 1 cup finely grated carrots
• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
• 1/4 cup pecans, finely chopped

Frosting Ingredients:

• 1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 pound (about 3 3/4 cups) powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. On the back of a sheet of parchment paper, trace 1 1/4 inch circles about 2 inches apart. Place parchment, drawing side down, on a baking sheet. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugars. Beat in the egg. Add flour, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix well. Add coconut, carrots, pineapple and nuts and mix just until incorporated. Transfer dough/batter to a large piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Squeeze about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon blobs of dough into each circle. I ended up squeezing enough so that the dough was within about 1/8 of the circle's edge.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 6-7 minutes, or until edges start to brown. Slide parchment onto a cooling rack and then remove cookies to the rack to cool completely. Be careful; the bottoms are a bit sticky.

For the frosting, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter and beat again until smooth. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar. Mix on low to start off with, so the powdered sugar doesn't explode out of the bowl. Once the sugar is incorporated, beat until thick and creamy.

After cookies have cooled completely, sandwich about 1 teaspoon or so of cream cheese frosting between two cookies.

Store, lightly covered, in the refrigerator, until ready to serve. Refrigerate leftovers as well.

Makes about 50 mini whoopie pies (I think)