You don't have to "hand-roll" CTR mode to get this part wrong; you have to choose the nonce yourself, as the API user.
My objection to encrypt-then-HMAC is that it adds a moving part to your design that you have to get right. If your toolkit doesn't provide a well-implemented AE cipher mode, (a) you're doomed, but (b) yes, you should probably use HMAC rather than trying to hand-roll CBC-MAC for CCM mode.
My objection to encrypt-then-HMAC is that it adds a moving part to your design that you have to get right. If your toolkit doesn't provide a well-implemented AE cipher mode, (a) you're doomed, but (b) yes, you should probably use HMAC rather than trying to hand-roll CBC-MAC for CCM mode.