carrot cake cookie-wiches

Let me tell you about Soma Cafe, the space in which I currently spend my workweek. I’ve been doing this cafe for close to 2 months now. The rose tinted glasses have gone, but it still brings great satisfaction. Cooking and baking in my own space with good background music – just like in my home kitchen. Except there’s a Lotto Booth in it. And I’m catering for 30 rather than 2.

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My day generally begins at 8am, except for the odd occasion where a catering order requires an earlier start. I open up the cafe, the ovens go on and the yeast for the days bread is set to rise in flour, water and sourdough starter. The dessert is prepped (muffins, a cake or tarts) and goes into the oven – needing plenty of time to cool and be iced before being served. The dough is kneaded (the kitchenaid and I are tight these days) and turned into bagels, buns or rolled into scrolls. While those bake, the grain – quinoa, wheat berries or barley – is cooked, drained, and refrigerated. The fruit – tomatoes, peppers, apples – and fresh herbs are chopped, the dressing mixed and all are tossed through the grain, allowing the flavors of the salad to meld before serving time. The sweet treat, normally a bar of some sort (or slice, as Kiwis say) is made the previous day and kept in the fridge. It is cut, placed on a serving tray and returned to the fridge until serving time. The ovens are turned off, the bagels filled and all is placed on the counter by 11am. From 12pm til 1pm its all go. And after 1pm I begin all over again, the ovens go on, in preparation for tomorrow.

Each day I like to have a main lunch option such as a bagel sandwich, a hearty grain salad which can be a main or a side, a dessert, and a sweet treat for taking with coffee (often biscotti).

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There is a rush between 10am and 11am where things are left to the last moment in order to be as fresh as possible for serving time. This is also the time where most people come for their Lotto tickets – the recent task I have taken on in my premises. This can be stressful, as all I want to do is get amongst my freshly made food, write up the menu, do the final touches and not be selling scratchies. But it is a great lesson in patience, time management and friendly customer service.

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Most of my recipes are favourite things Jesse and I cook at home, such as our Quinoa Apple Salad with Curry dressing, or Egg Salad on bagels, Lemony Olive Oil Banana Cake or Chocolate Fudge Bars. But I also try to bake something completely new every day, to continue growing my recipe repertoire and challenge myself in the kitchen. I keep my favourite Little & Friday cookbook close at hand, along with Simon Holst’s New Zealand Bread Book and Edmonds Cookbook. For non-New Zealand classics, I rely on food blogs, or my own imagination.

One such food blog is Sprouted Kitchen, for Sara’s clean, whole-food approach to cooking. I’m stoked to receive a lot of positive feedback for some of the more (deceptively) healthy desserts, those with a little more nutritional value (and a little less of the refined stuff) than the usual, say, Chocolate Banana Brownie or Marathon Cookies.

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These Carrot Cake Cookie-wiches came out on top, and are packed with goodies – oats, carrots, nuts, bran, dried fruit and applesauce. Sara fills hers with sweetened Greek Yogurt. I kept mine a bit more mainstream for the cafe, filling them with a barely sweet cream cheese icing which perfectly counteracts the fruitiness of the soft, cakelike cookie.

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Carrot Cake Cookie-wiches
Recipe from Sprouted Kitchen
Makes 12 (or 20 minis)

1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup wheat bran
1 cup rolled oats
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp each of salt, cinnamon, nutmeg
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 tbsp. real vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups carrot, grated
2 eggs
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tbsp. butter, melted
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup golden raisins

Filling:
250g cream cheese
¼ cup icing sugar
1 tsp. real vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325˚F
In a small bowl, pour about half cup of hot water over the raisins and let them soak. In a bowl, whisk the eggs well. Add applesauce, butter, brown sugar and stir. Drain the raisins and add them, and the carrots to the wet mixture. In another large bowl, mix all dry ingredients and the nuts.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold together until combined. The dough should be fairly thick, yet looser than normal cookie.
Use an ice cream scoop or roll cookie dough with your hands and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Flatten slightly – this will make them more stable when filled. Bake for 12-16 minutes, depending on cookie size, until edges brown a little and the middle is just set. Timing will vary.
In the meantime, beat cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla until fluffy (do not overbeat or it will go runny) and put in fridge to firm up. Dollop filling onto one cookie and top with another. Serve.

5 thoughts

  1. Christina – thanks for the interesting insight to the world of Soma Cafe, Your food truly is delicious and those of us that eat it are very appreciative of your efforts in the kitchen every day. I had 20 of your Marathon Cookies with me on recent backpacking trip in the Mackenzie Mountains and have to say that they are perfect for such a venture – they give you a good jolt of energy and are filling at same time. You know how much I love your brioche and I just wish I’d got back in time for your lamb sausage rolls yesterday!! I can only imagine the joys of doing the lottery booth – but it brings people in and provides a service that many in town were looking for. Keep up the excellent work – and with the writing and photography :-)

  2. Hi Christina – great blog, great food and great photos!

    I’m from NZ and I heard your interview on Radio NZ National. I’m so glad I did. These wee gems sound delicious. Question though: appleauce seems to be fairly common in Canadian/American recipes but less so in kiwi ones. Can I substitute grated apple? Or is it just plain old stewed apple without any sugar?

    Thanks for your help, and looking forward to browsing (eating) my way through your other recipes.

    …….mmmmm Little & Friday…..

    • Hi Pony. That is so cool to hear! Exactly – stewed apples would work great. Stew them right down without any sugar, and mash them until smooth. I used to make my own in NZ but if I remember correctly I could find applesauce at Pakn’Save, just can’t remember if in a jar or can.. Enjoy!

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