Whoopie pies have become something of a flash fad in the baking world this past year and I’ve looked at them from a distance, considering if I’d like them or not. Seeing they look like an unfrozen icecream sandwich I thought ‘Yes, I’m sure they are tasty but can I be bothered making them?’
Then the other week, in my post-op state (probably high on morphine still), I decided, yes I could be bothered.
Ingredients
125g softened unsalted butter
150g brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp orange juice
225g plain flour
75g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb soda
185ml (3/4 cup) milk
Method
1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line several baking trays.
2) Cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until pale and creamy. Add egg and juice and mix again.
3) Sift together dry ingredients and then, with mixer on slow speed, add this alternatively with the milk in batches. Mix until just combined.
4) Spoon 36 (or as close to) tablespoons full of mixture onto trays, leaving gaps for spreading. Bake for 8-10 min, swapping racks halfway through. Take them out while still soft – don’t overcook! Cool completely on rack
5) Make up a butter cream mixture (Google a recipe if needed) and spoon onto the pies, spreading carefully to the edges. Place another half on top.
Notes
1) For extra zing, I put a teaspoon of grated orange zest in the buttercream mixture.
2) I’m not a patient cook and so made my pies far, far too big. So they didn’t rise very high and looked more like hamburgers. They tasted fine, but really they’re just a fiddly, glorified cake. The kids thought they were delightful, of course.
This is week thirty of the 1 recipe a week for a year ‘living list’ challenge. (30/52).
