Soon after I began dating the man to whom I am now married, I asked him to tell me the name of his favorite cookie.  I was curious to hear his answer, but more importantly I wanted to surprise him with a batch.  Without hesitation, he replied "carrot cookies."  I was surprised, not only because I thought he seemed more like a chocolate chip cookie person (back then I thought everybody was a "chocolate chip cookie person"), but also because I had never heard of carrot cookies until that moment.  Without asking any followup questions, I went ahead and baked him the best interpretation of "carrot cookies" I could muster.... and he was very sweet about it when I surprised him with something that more closely resembled carrot cake than his evasive favorite cookie.  Later on in our relationship when he first took me home to meet his family, his mom made carrot cookies for us and suddenly I understood.  Because his mother boiled and pureed the carrots beforehand, they were light and textured pillows of carroty goodness unlike anything I'd ever tasted.  Read more.