Whoopie Pies, Test #1: Fudge Whoopie Pies with Three Filling Variations

In my hopes to one day be my own boss and have my own little niche company, I continually try to think about what my outlet from the corporate world would be. Eventually, I can see a vineyard, or wine bar/cafe in the future...or perhaps some kind of event or travel planning gig...the issue with those is overhead, aka money...that which I do not have an excess of at the moment.

I am continually drawn back to my first love, baking. Since I was 6 or so I have been baking cookies, my gateway bake, if you will. I remember having my neighbor pay me for my peanut butter cookies when I was just a wee little thing. I would bake weekly - with frozen chocolate chip cookies being my absolute favorite treat. For me, there are only three kinds of cookie forms that I like: Dough, Freshly Baked, and Frozen. Let them sit for a day or two and I am less interested. I find that the Frozen cookies retain the delicious flavor and contain some kind of tatesensation that is simply incredible. This is especially true with cookies that are pulled from the oven just before they are fully cooked - this, for years, was my specialty.

Lately I have been taking a bit of a hiatus from baking for two simple reasons:

1) Derek isn't huge into sweets and Lord help me if I eat a whole batch of something
(FIX: Bring the treats in for scavenger-esque co-workers)
2) I am not an owner of a Kitchen Aid, the machine I learned to bake with and swear by - in fact, my hand mixer is a hand-me-down from my parents, and if my parents are giving something away...you know it's OLD.
(FIX: Buy a Kitchen Aid - oh, one day)

However, there is something so wonderful about a lazy Sunday afternoon spent in the kitchen baking up some kind of delicious creation. And this is exactly what I did this past Sunday, though not completely recreational.

Going back to my - I want to have my own "business" - thought, my latest and greatest idea is Whoopie Pies. These are a combination of two baking concepts, cookies and cupcakes, today's current craze in the market. I came to this middle-ground idea after thinking about cupcakes and how creative you can be with the flavors, fillings and frostings. Cookies have slightly less creative room. However, when you take cookies as the base and have the ability to add fillings and frostings, then the doors to creativity are opened! My thought is that whoopie pies can and should be the next big craze - so I thought I'd take my Sunday afternoon to begin my Whoopie Pie research.

I used a Dark Chocolate Cookie as the base:

1 oz. bar unsweetened baking chocolate
3 oz. bar dark chocolate 60%
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Whoopie Pie Filling (see recipe with variations below)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375° and line a baking sheet with a silpat (or parchment paper if you don't own a silpat). Place chocolate in a microwave safe bown and microwave on medium setting for about 60-90 seconds, removing the chocolate periodically to stir. Be careful not to burn the chocolate!!

Use a mixer on medium to medium-high speed to cream the butter and sugars together until light in color.

Add one egg and thoroughly incorporate - stopping to scrape as needed; repeat with second egg.

Add the warm, melted chocolate and mix completely, scraping down the sides.

Combine milk and vanilla extract into the mixture.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt; add to the mixing bowl and blend in, stopping to occasionally scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Portion dough with a 1-ounce scoop and place about 2-inches apart on prepared baking sheet. You should have 24 cookies. Bake until tops spring back lightly when touched, about 8 minutes.

To assemble: When cookies are thoroughly cooled, match up evenly-shaped pairs. Spread or pipe 1 1/2 -2 tablespoons filling onto the flat bottom a cookie, then top with its mate.

Basic Whoopie Pie Filling with Variations:

1 tub (7 oz) of marshmallow fluff (brought me back to my childhood!)
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Using an electric mixer, blend all of the ingredients until thoroughly incorporated and the texture is light and fluffy.

This is the basic whoopie pie filling.

Variations:
The measurements would depend on how big of a batch you are making, I cut the single filling batch into four different flavors. This is where you get to taste test and keep adding until it is perfect!

Strawberry and Chocolate: Add finely chopped strawberries that have been mascerated in powdered sugar and quality cocoa powder (I used Frontier's Cocoa Powder - incredible!).

Ginger: Add Ginger juice and chopped crystallized ginger

Adult Coffee: Add Van Gough Double Espresso Vodka (should probably be cooked down to elminate the alcohol, but I like the taste).

Honey and Vietnamese Cinnamon: Just that - honey and vietnamese (or regular) cinnamon

Other variation: Sprinkle some sea salt on top of the cookie before baking or just after they are taken out.

The four creations:

My critique on my "test":
- The flavors were killer
- The cookie baked up to the size and "puffiness" that I wanted but was a little dense and fudge-like which tasted great but wasn't exactly what I was looking for. This is likely due to the melted chocolate addition.
- The chocolate strawberry filling was the tastiest but got slightly runny with the addition of the strawberries
- I could use a little less sugar in the filling
- Super successful first round

Goal for next round: Lighter and fluffier cookie