Whoopie Pies

Have you heard? The whoopie pie is the new cupcake. Whether or not that is true, whoopie pies are making a comeback. The story of their origin depends largely on the storyteller's heritage. Was it the Pennsylvania Dutch who carried the little pies in their lunchboxes while working the fields and would "whoop" with delight at the treat? Or did they originate in the South where cooks would make them to keep children out of the kitchen, like hush puppies created to keep dogs quiet? Anyone familiar with my blog knows which side I back. :) I scoured the internet for a cream filling that did not include shortening and found this one.



Personally, I'll take a whoopie pie over a cupcake any day and this recipe is the best I have found. In fact, it is so perfect that I will stop trying out other recipes and use it exclusively. When Tinker Bell took a bite she said, "there are no words for how good this is." I agree!! Then she said, "you're pretty good at this baking stuff." Aw, shucks.

But the best part of this recipe is that the little pies are even better the next day. They should be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the fridge, but allow them to come to room temperature before eating.

For the cakes:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (it has a stronger, deeper flavor than regular cocoa)
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (I used less, about 1/2 tsp)
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick butter, softened (I used Smart Balance 50/50)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg



For the filling:
1 stick butter (again, I used Smart Balance)
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup Marshmallow Fluff
1 tsp vanilla



Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Combine buttermilk and vanilla in another, small bowl and set that aside. Beat the butter and sugar together in mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat until combined.



With mixer on low, alternate adding the flour mix and buttermilk mix, beating after each addition. Begin and end with the flour mixture. Grease or line with parchment at least two cookie sheets. I used two large and one small and greased them with cooking spray--I was out of parchment paper. The original recipe calls for using a 1/4 measuring cup, but I just used a large soup spoon and got 24 cookies total, which makes a dozen whoopie pies. Using a 1/4 cup with give you 9 pies total.



They are not exactly round and perfect, are they? It won't matter when you eat them!

Bake at 325 for 13 minutes, let set on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.



While they are cooling (and they do need to be completely cool before frosting), beat together the butter, sugar, marshmallow, and vanilla on medium speed until smooth. About 3 minutes or so.



I turned over 12 of the 24 cookies and evenly distributed the unbelievably delicious filling amongst them, then topped them with the remaining cookies.





We couldn't wait until the next day and ate, well, most of the pies right after they were made. I stacked the leftovers on a plate, covered them in plastic wrap and put them in the fridge. The next day...oh, wow. Perfection.

Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes

This week's found recipe is from Martha Stewart's website. I didn't try to make this recipe any healthier, sorry. It's been my experience that cupcake recipes do not like to be messed with. I made one minor substitution and doubled the recipe, but that was it. Now let me tell you about the taste...perfection. They were fluffy with a bit of heft, not-too-sweet, moist (even the next day), and even better without the frosting. I measure the success of a cupcake by how good they are without frosting. If they need it, the recipe needs tweaking. A cupcake should be able to stand alone and then the frosting is just an extra special treat.

I pureed enough strawberries in my mini food processor to make 2/3 cup. Half of that is for the cupcake batter and half for the frosting.



Your strawberries should look like this:





To the strawberries, add 1/4 whole milk (or heavy whipping cream, which is the only change I made) and one tsp of vanilla. Set that mixture aside.




Cream 1 stick of butter (Smart Balance stick) and 1 cup of sugar until light and fluffy. That is the secret to good cakes and cupcakes. You need to beat a lot of air into the butter/sugar combo.





It is also important to add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. The recipe calls for 1 large egg and 2 large egg whites. I put the 2 discarded yolks into a baggie and add them to the scrambled eggs in the morning. In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Add half of the flour mix to the butter, sugar, eggs mix and beat just until combined.




Then add all of your strawberry, cream, and vanilla mix.




The last step is to add the rest of the flour. Be careful not to overbeat! Just until combined.



Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners, fill, and bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes. I found that 23 minutes was perfect. If you overbake your cupcakes will be dry and sad.

The frosting is amazing, if unnecessary. I ran out of powdered sugar before I could give the frosting a fluffy texture and ended up with more of a glaze. But it was a darn good glaze!

3 squares white baking chocolate
2 T heavy cream
2 cups (more!!) powdered sugar
1/3 cup strawberry puree
3 T butter, melted



I melted the chocolate in a double boiler. Really just a metal bowl over a small saucepan. The water should not get hot enough to boil and should never touch the bottom of the bowl.





Add the rest of the ingredients to chocolate and beat, adding more cream or powdered sugar, until you get the consistency that you prefer. Thick is good. :)



You've fallen in love a little bit, haven't you? I can't blame you. The little guy tastes even better than it looks!