For Valentine's Day this year, I had this great idea to make these X and O-shaped whoopie pies that I saw in a magazine somewhere. I had dreams at night about my adorable Valentine-shaped pies; they were creamy, decadent, and also too cute for words. X and O, people! It doesn't get much better than that.
So I made them. X AND O FAIL.
First, Husband and I don't have a hand mixer to make the frosting (which of course is essential in getting that great, thick and fluffy frosting needed for these sammiches). So in a moment of desperation, we duct taped a whisk to our drill. Don't do this. It doesn't work.
Second, after cutting the pies into the X and O shapes (and let's not forget that I ordered an X cookie cutter on Amazon using two-day shipping for these little buggers), the crumbs got all over the place and stuck to that frosting like bugs in your ice cream. Gross.
So I abandoned ship and kept them in their original, classic shape. Thankfully, they are still tasty even with thin, runny frosting. Who cares if they look bad, right? Yours will look better. That is if you have a hand mixer and you don't use a drill. Again, not a good plan.
Classic Whoopie Pies
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine
Makes about 10 pies
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Add buttermilk to a glass measuring cup, then stir in vanilla. Beat together butter and brown sugar in an electric mixer on medium-high speed until mixture is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add egg and combine well. Turn mixer down to low speed and slowly alternate adding in small amounts of flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stop to scrape down bowl when needed. Mix until smooth.
Spoon a large spoonful of batter onto a greased baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between each mound. Bake until cakes are puffy and tops spring back when touched, about 11 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely before adding the filling.
Marshmallow Frosting
From Smitten Kitchen
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Add all frosting ingredients and a pinch of salt to a metal bowl. Set over a saucepan of simmering water and beat with a handheld electric mixer at high speed until frosting is fluffy and thick, about 6 minutes. Take off the heat and continue to beat until frosting has cooled a bit. Spread a large spoonful of frosting onto one of the cakes and sandwich it with another cake.
