toddler-friendly carrot cookies

My former self is rolling her eyes at my current self for making toddler-specific 'sneakily healthy' food. So know that you're in good company if you're doing the same.  I made these by accident as I was on a quest to ignore an Everest of cold laundry and make these carrot cake cookies sans flour and sugar while making good use of the lone can of pumpkin left in our pantry.  If Julia had her way she would subsist solely on gummy vitamins, scoops of peanut butter, cold hot dogs, diet coke, coffee, and her latest additions of garlic and raw onions. So, I guess I have to admit that she is kind of a picky eater -- minus the kind of. But, she gobbled these up lickity splickity, a very skeptical Simon ate five before dinner and Sebastian didn't spit out the 1/10 of the cookie he was allotted -- all wild successes in my good parenting and great wifery book. Is this enough fine print before the actual recipe?

Two more lines for good measure.
And done.

To make ~30 semi-healthy carrot cookies...
Preheat oven to 350 hot degrees
1 3/4 cups ground old fashioned oats (oatmeal)
3/4 cup flax seed (meal)
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
4 tablespoons butter/margarine
1/2 cup packed brown sugar (failed on the no sugar front)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
3/4 cup shredded carrots
1 tbsp any liquid within reason (I used my watered down formerly iced coffee)

icing/glaze (optional - its your kitchen/mouth/toddler)
4 oz cream cheese softened
2 tbsp almond or regular milk
1 tsp sweetener/sugar/honey

I know I should've creamed the butter, pumpkin, sugar, egg, and vanilla together first and then alternately added the dry ingredients whilst blending but I didn't. I just dumped everything in the bowl and mixed.

 appetizing meets her maker

I then made sure a neglected and far too quiet Julia was still breathing ...

 obviously.
 and more obviously.

I scooped whole tablespoons of the batter onto a greased cookie sheet and baked for 14 minutes -- but I think our oven is extra hot -- so you might want to run with more time.

With my 14 minutes I peeked outside to make sure Sebastian hadn't run away...

nope.
right where I left him ... with three visitors ... two immodest, one modest.

And with the remaining 13 minutes and 50 seconds I whipped together the icing ingredients.
Whip!
Just like that.
And then just dipped the hot cookie tops directly into the icing.
FYI - Julia cared little to not at all for the icing - so maybe save yourself the trouble and nix/skip/omit that step.

Anyway .... then feed your unsuspecting young

 and consider your work done.


Enjoy.