Recipe : Whoopie Pies

Woopies Pies!  Just saying the name is fun!  These bring me back to grade school when I was eating Ding Dongs and Long Johns as a treat, except these are off the chart delicious and homemade!  They are fun and easy!  My daughter and I made them for friends the other night and they were a big hit.  The filling is amazing!  If you add a little red food coloring to the filling they become a perfect gift for Valentine’s Day.  I got the idea and recipe from the February, 2011 issue of Disney’s Family Fun Magazine. 

Whoopie Pies

Ingredients:

For the cakes:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg

For the filling:

1/2 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup marshmallow creme
1 teaspoon vanilla
Red food coloring (optional)

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a glass measuring cup or small bowl, stir together the buttermilk and vanilla extract.

3. In a large bowl with a mixer set at medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until evenly blended, about 1 to 2 minutes.  Add the egg, increase the speed to high, and beat until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute more.
4.  Pour half the flour mixture into the butter-sugar mixture, and beat at medium speed until combined.  Add the buttermilk mixture and continue beating until just blended.  Add the remaining flour mixture and beat again.
5.  Use a cookie scoop or spoon to place a heaping tablespoon of batter on a prepared cookie sheet.  Add more mounds of batter, evenly spacing them, until there are nine on each sheet.  Slightly flatten each mound with a spoon.

6.  Bake the cakes one sheet at a time for 10 minutes (they should be moist and spongy).  Let them cool on the sheet for 2 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a rack to cool completely.  Reline the sheets and scoop, shape and bake the remaining batter.

7.  Using and electric mixer at medium-high speed, beat all the filling ingredients except the coloring in a medium bowl until evenly blended, about 2 minutes.  If you want to give the filling a Valentine hue, fold in drops of red food coloring until the desired tint is reached.

8.  To make each pie, spoon and spread a heaping tablespoon of the filling onto the bottom of a cake, then gently press another cake on top.

From Disney Family Fun February 2011