With one day to spare, I made it…a Halloween (ish) recipe. I’ve been wanting to share these with you all for a while now, Whoopie Pies. I’m sure my readers who are from up north are all too familiar with a Whoopie Pie. We had a block party a couple nights ago, and I made these and no one had a clue what they were. I really hope they start to become more popular down south, because they sure are tasty! The recipe actually comes from an amazing cookbook, one of my favorites, Baked Explorations. They take very little time to whip up and put together, so my advice is get going on them now. Beware though….the filling is no ordinary buttercream frosting. It is entirely too easy to eat yourself sick with that stuff, Ah-Ma-ZING! Happy Halloween Everyone!
3 1/2 cups (17.5 oz) All Purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup (2.18 oz) dark cocoa powder, sifted
2 tsp instant espresso powder
1/2 cup (4 fl oz) hot coffee
1/2 cup (4 fl oz) hot water
2 cups (15.32 oz) light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup (6 fl oz) canola oil
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (4 fl oz) buttermilk, shaken
Swiss vanilla filling (recipe follows)
In a separate medium bowl, combine canola oil and light brown sugar. Slowly add the cocoa mixture and whisk until combined. Add the egg, vanilla, and buttermilk and whisk until smooth. Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture until just combined (do not over mix).
Using an small tablespoon sized ice cream scoop (or cookie dough scoop), transfer the batter one scoop at a time onto prepared baking sheets, 1 inch apart. Bake 10-15 minutes, until the cookies crack slightly on top and a toothpick comes out clean. Watch carefully, do not overcook.
Let cool completely on the baking sheets. To assemble the whoopie pies, using the same cookie scoop, put heaping scoops of the filling onto half of the cooled cookies and place an empty cookie on the top to sandwich the filling.
Swiss vanilla filling
5 egg whites
1 1/2 cups (10.5 oz) sugar
2 cups (1 pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp food coloring (orange or red and yellow combined)
In a double broiler or heat proof bowl, whisk together egg whites and sugar. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water (make sure the bowl is not touching the water) and gently whisk constantly until the sugar dissolves (make sure not to leave this on its own, you don’t want the egg whites cooking) – when the sugar has dissolved, it will be a milky white color, should take about 5-10 minutes. Transfer egg/sugar mixture to a stand mixer and beat with the whisk attachment until the mixture is smooth, white, and fluffy – about 5 minutes. Switch to a paddle attachment and add in the butter, beat until light and fluffy (about 5 more minutes). Add sea salt, vanilla extract and food coloring, mix until combined. Beat until the filling is smooth and glossy. If at any point if it looks curdled, just keep mixing, it will blend.
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