Carrot cake sandwich cookies (#LowFodmapGBBO)

To be frank, I wasn’t very inspired by this week’s biscuit challenges on the Great British Bake Off. A cookie sandwich? How queer. It was the lesser of three evils though, so off I went to wreck my brain for baked goods that would fit the brief. It’s my birthday on Saturday and my dad is coming for a visit, so why not make something that is presentable, nice-tasting and a bit of a treat? Why not indeed.

Ingredients

Cookies

• 200g gluten free flour
• 70g gluten-free oats
• 80ml maple syrup
• 1 tbsp granulated stevia
• 80ml virgin coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 medium carrots, grated
• 60g walnuts, chopped

Frosting

• 250g lactose-free cream cheese, homemade or shop bought
• 50g butter
• 4 tbsp rice malt syrup or maple syrup
• 1 lemon, juice and zest

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Beat the maple syrup, granulated sugar and coconut oil until well combined, then egg the egg and vanilla and continue beating (with a handheld mixer or KitchenAid). Grate the carrots and add to the mixture. Add the flour and chopped walnuts bit by bit and mix on low speed.
4. Form small balls (Ferrero sized) and flatten on the baking sheet. They won’t melt any further, so determine the size you’re going for at this stage. Bake for 12-14 minutes.
5. Frosting: beat the cream cheese, butter and rice malt syrup until smooth. Stir in the lemon juice and zest.
6. To assemble the sandwich cookies: spread the frosting on the flat side of the cookie and set aside. Once firmed up (after about 5 minutes), press the flat side of a second cookie on top. If you do it any sooner, it might fall off.