Look at this delicious little morsel:

Carrot cookies with orange icing!

When I met my husband, Mike, I didn’t realize how I was really getting the whole package.  By that I mean I gained a wonderful mother and father-in-law.  Two of the nicest people you will ever meet!  Over the course of the years, Debbie has brought some delicious treats to my house.  (One that we never let her forget is her homemade dinner rolls until now since I’ve stolen her Kitchen Aid :))  So back to the cookies — I didn’t realize that these yummy delights were the product of her friend, Betty.  Recently I had the opportunity to snarf a few of these and request the recipe.  Today is kind of a cooking day at the casa, because we are smoking a bunch of meat, so I thought I might brew up these cookies.

It calls for boiled, mashed carrots.   So, I started with boiling water and just threw in a whole bag of baby carrots.  What I didn’t use I ate:

I threw them in my (Debbie’s) 🙂 Kitchen Aid and within just a few minutes, they were ready for the oven:

Don’t let the carrots scare you….there’s just a hint of taste and combined with the light flavor of the orange juice, they are delish!  A really nice light-textured cookie.  And, I SUCK at making cookies, pretty much, and these came out really good.

Also, I wanted to share a really yummy invention that we threw on the smoker, that’s super delicious EASY!  We buy the cheapest 1 lb. roll of breakfast sausage at the grocery store, and wrap it in thick cut bacon, securing with toothpicks soaked in water.  Next liberally douse it with a Wild Cherry Chipotle seasoning (we purchased at a grilling store) and throw on the smoker at 225-250 degrees for about 4 hours.  When it comes out, place on a rack to cool, then wrap it in plastic wrap, then foil and freeze it.  Once it’s frozen, it makes it easy to slice.  Just remove from freezer and let it defrost.  GREAT with cheese and crackers.  And, a word of advice:  be sneaky when it comes out and score a little piece of the bacon…WOWSER!  Here’s a pic:

Thank you, Betty, for the recipe, and Debbie for being a wonderful part of our family!

Enjoy,

~Connie Kaye