Making Whoopie... Pies!

Whoopie Pies
Cookies adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies (page 207), Filling adapted from Emeril Lagasse
Makes about 3 dozen (or 1 dozen large pies)

Cookie:
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Filling:
2 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups shortening
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup whole milk
3 cups confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Make cookies: Line two rimmed baking sheets with nonstick baking mats (such as Silpats), or with parchment. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat until well combined. On low speed, slowly add dry ingredients; mix until well combined.

2. Drop 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until set, about 8 minutes, rotating halfway through. (When the top of the cookie is gently touched, it should feel soft but not wet.) Cool completely on a wire rack.

3. Make filling: In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff. Add the shortening and 1 tablespoon of vanilla, and mix well. Add the milk and sugar, and beat until smooth.

4. Assemble cookies: Spread 1 heaping tablespoon filling on the flat side of 1 cookie. Sandwich with another cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Cookies can be refrigerated in single layers in airtight containers up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.

---

After what seems like a never-ending streak of cupcakes, I think I am finally cupcaked out! I don't think I've made cookies (which is my favorite thing to bake) in months—since my St. Patrick’s Day disaster! It’s time to finally get back to my baking roots. Flipping through my Martha Cookies book, I came across a recipe for Whoopie Pies. Hmm.. They’re on my baking list, and they sound pretty good, so why not? The recipe was for chocolate cookies and a peanut butter filling, but I’ve already done a chocolate/peanut butter combination. Boyfriend suggested chocolate mint, but I’ve done that too. Maybe I’d just stick with traditional chocolate and vanilla whoopie pies. You can’t really go wrong with that, right?

Mixing all the ingredients together, I realized this recipe seemed to have the potential to make a whole lot of cookies. 3 and a half cups of flour, and a cup and a half of cocoa powder? One batch pretty much wiped out my cocoa supply I thought I was pretty well stocked on. It also wiped out my both my pure vanilla extract and my clear vanilla for the filling. Guess I’ll have to stock up again.

The recipe said to drop about 1 and a half tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheets, but I’m terrible at making my cookies even with just spoonfuls. I always use cookie scoops. The only problem is, I have three small scoops, and a large ice cream scoop, but nothing in between. The last time one of my Martha recipes called for a scoop larger than I had, I used the small scoop as a substitute, and ended up with miniature cookies! I didn’t want a repeat of that, so I went with the big scoop this time. Big mistake.

Pulling the first batch out of the oven, my first thought was that they looked less like Whoopie Pies, and more like “cow pies” (aka cow poop). They were really dark, and HUGE!! And not fully cooked. Apparently I was going to have to adjust my baking time for my insanely large cookies. What had the potential to make a lot of cookies, ended up making only about a dozen filled and assembled cookies. I almost halved the filling recipe, thinking it would be way too much for the amount of cookies I had, but I was literally scraping the bowl by the end of filling them, so I’m glad I didn’t!

I heard someone once say something to the effect of bakers never being able to eat the best of their creations. It’s so true! I picked out the ugly, misshapen ones for Boyfriend and I to sample, leaving the pretty ones for me to take to work to share. Man! Eating these monsters took 2 hands! It was like eating a hamburger—they were SO big! Neither one of us could finish a whole one. The outer “cookie” layers are actually more cake-like than a cookie. They were incredibly tender—almost too much. They kind of fall apart when you eat them. I swear I had to either eat over the sink, or vacuum the floor where I was standing after eating these! (Although, to be completely honest, most of the crumbs managed to find their way down the front of my shirt as I ate, so maybe I needed a bib as well.) The filling, despite having 3 cups of confectioners’ sugar and an entire tablespoon of vanilla in it, has a very light, subtle flavor. I was pleasantly surprised.

Other than being humongous and crumbly, these were pretty good. I’d make them again (but just a bit smaller next time…), and I’ll definitely test different flavors of filling inside. I’d say it was an almost-success, and another thing to check off my list!