Making whoopie!

Okay, so I must apologize for the lack of proper photography skills (help Melissa!). But these are very scrumptious little treats. They are called whoopie pies and hail from New England. They are not giant homemade oreo cookies nor made from cake batter. I found this recipe on marthastewart.com (wow, she get's two hails in two blog posts! She must be my up and coming idol or something). Anyway, I used her cookie recipe and the pumpkin filling from her website. However, the link for the filling did not work so I called up my sister-in-law Marci for hers. I filled them w/plain cream cheese stuff (Marci's), pumpkin (martha stewart) and peppermint (mine). Next time I'd like to try peanut butter (martha stewart) or mint.

I made them for our Christmas Enrichment activity last night. I must admit that the cookie was the perfect texture of dense and fluffiness and flavor. However, my creams were a bit too runny and I made the cookie too big and thick. So I popped them in the freezer to firm them a bit. Enjoy!

Here is the recipe:

Festive Whoopie Pies
taken from marthastewart.com

Makes about 20

* FOR THE COOKIES
* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
* 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
* 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
* 1 large egg
* 1 cup whole milk
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* FOR THE FILLING
* 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
* 1/4 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
* Pinch of cinnamon
* Pinch of nutmeg

Directions

1. Prepare cookies: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Place butter, shortening, and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in half the flour mixture, then the milk and vanilla. Mix in remaining flour mixture.
3. Drop about 2 teaspoons dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies spring back when lightly touched, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and let cool 10 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheets and transfer to wire racks using a spatula; let cool completely.
4. Prepare filling: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together cream cheese, butter and confectioners' sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg; whip until smooth, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
5. Pipe or spoon about 2 teaspoons filling on the flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping the flat sides down.
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Plain and Peppermint fillings:
I doubled the cookie recipe and made these fillings for the 2nd batch.

4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
lots of powdered sugar
a bit of milk
vanilla, for plain only
1/4 tsp peppermint extract, for peppermint flavored only
add 1 crushed candy cane and red dye for peppermint filling only
**prepare same as pumpkin filling.