Whoopie!!

It's the first day of spring!  So I thought after the beautiful sunny weekend we had here in DC, whoopie pies would be quite appropriate.  It's 9:51PM and since I'm preggo, I'm exhausted!!  If it's alright with you guys, I'm going to keep this post short and sweet, and just leave you the recipe with some good pics. 

Chocolate and Marshmallow is the classic whoopie pie flavor, and I'm a HUGE fan of the whoopie pies that Red Hook Lobster Pound sells on their food truck (along with some ridiculously amazing lobster rolls, of course), so I was excited to try my hand at making some from scratch.  The most interesting thing about whoopie pies is that the outside is a mix between a cake and a cookie.  The batter was exactly somewhere in between, and made for interesting scooping.  I went out this weekend and bought a #40 cookie scoop from Hills Kitchen, and I would venture to say it was the best decision ever.  The size of the batter dropped onto the pan was about the size of a silver dollar (do people even know what that size is anymore?!), and it easily doubled (if not more).  If you were to use an ice cream scoop, it would be fine, but you would have pies almost the size of your whole hand.  Depends on what you want!  This size (maybe the size of my palm or smaller) made about 50 pies.

So give it a go!  Make some whoopie pies, and say, "WHOOPIE!!!" to spring!!  But first, let me tell you about my little system...

Every time I buy powdered sugar, I think two things.  The first, I think of my Mom.  Somehow every time my Mom bakes, she buys more powdered sugar.  This results in about 4 or 5 half opened powdered sugar bags in her pantry, rolled up, tied with rubber bands, and tucked away to be forgotten for the next trip.  It cracks me up!  So when I moved into my first apartment, and started baking, I found myself doing the same thing!  All of the sudden there were three half-full powdered sugar bags in my pantry, rolled up, and poofing out little spurts of powdered sugar every time something was set on top of them.  Finally I realized this was ridiculous, so I bought a big box of gallon-sized freezer bags, and voila!

I'm a genius!  If I buy an extra bag? No big deal, just add it to the freezer bag!  It doesn't tear when I measure out of it, I'm always aware of how much I have left, and there's no need to have an annoying lump in my cupboard taking up awkward space.  Okay, so enough preaching.  Just a little idea I thought I'd share (with you, too, Mom!). 

On to the recipe!  This one comes from Annie's Eats.  I know you know I have a tendency to obsess when I find a food blog I love, and this one is no different.  Check her out!!

Chocolate Marshmallow Whoopie Pies
Yield: about 24 sandwich cookies (mine made about 50 small pies)

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

• 3½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the filling:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 7½ oz. marshmallow fluff
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

 

Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Combine the flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium bowl; whisk together to blend. Set aside. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Blend in the buttermilk and vanilla extract until incorporated. Mix in the dry ingredients, blending just until combined.

 

Using a 1-oz dough scoop, drop the batter onto the prepared baking pans, 12 cookies per pan. Bake for 12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Allow to cool on the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining batter.

 

To make the filling, place the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Blend in the confectioners’ sugar until incorporated. Beat in the marshmallow fluff and vanilla until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.

 

Once the cookies are completely cooled, match them up in pairs by size. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain with the marshmallow filling. Pipe a dollop of marshmallow filling onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair, and sandwich the cookies together, pushing the filling to the edges. Store in an airtight container.

 

Source: cookies and filling from Martha Stewart