Whoopie Pies

Full disclosure…these are a mess and a half and I always end up covered in the filling. That could just be because I’m also a mess, I acknowledge that. Doesn’t matter, these are fun to make and really tasty to eat. Plus, I think they look like a lot of work and they’re really not.

One thing I’ve found – depending on how much filling you like between the two pies, you might find that the filling below isn’t enough. If you’re the kind that likes a lot of goo in your cookies, just double the filling part. What’s the worst that could happen? You might have a little left over and have to lick the bowl clean. That’s kind of an awesome worst-case scenario.

Difficulty: easy but kind of a mess
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Ingredients

PIES

· 1 2/3 cup flour

· 2/3 cup cocoa powder – I prefer the sweetened because, well, it’s a CAKE not a vegetable….but you can use unsweetened instead if you must

· 1 ½ t baking soda

· ½ t salt

· 4 T butter, softened to room temperature

· 4 T shortening

· 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed tightly (you can let it overflow a little – a little more is better

· 1 large egg

· 2 t vanilla

· 1 ¼ cup milk

FILLING

· 1 ½ cups Marshmallow Fluff

· 1 ¼ cups shortening

· 1 cup powdered sugar

· 2 T vanilla

Directions

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Put it to the side.

In a separate bowl, use a hand mixer mix the butter, shortening and brown sugar. Not too long – just until they’re one uniform color. Then, turbo that thing – increase the speed to medium and beat for three more minutes. Basically, I just sing a song and when I’m done, it’s done.

Add the egg and vanilla, beat on medium for another 2 minutes. Not enough time for a song.

Add half the dry mixture from the other bowl and half the milk, beat on low until combined. Then beat in the remaining dry mixture and milk

: Already looks good, right?

Drop a tablespoon of batter onto a baking sheet (line it with parchment if you don’t want to have to clean it later). Two things: 1 – these things spread a little so make sure they’re a couple inches apart from one another (you can get, at most, maybe 9 on one sheet – see below) and 2 – try to use the same amount of batter each time – remember, these are going to be whoopee pies and you want both sides of the “sandwich” to be about the same size.

Bake for about 10 minutes at 375. They’re done when the pies spring back if you press them lightly. Take out of the oven and let them cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

: Clearly, more yet to be made…

Now, on to the filling. Beat the Fluff and shortening on medium for about 3 minutes (pick a new song).

Add in the sugar and vanilla and beat on low until everything is mixed together, then turn it back up to medium (or high if you’re feeling aggressive), until the mixture gets a little fluffy

Spoon the filling into a gallon-size sandwich bag and snip off a corner.

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