Baking for Nightshift- Lemon Whoopie Pies

Just cooked and cooling

The small ice cream/dough scooper

So tonight is my last night shift before I have next week off on annual leave for the school holidays. Adelle at work is also on tonight and the other day ordered some whoopie pies for tonight after seeing my post on the last ones I made, for tonight. As I have hardly slept today (only 3 hours), I had plenty of time to whip these up. The added bonus is that it keeps me off the couch feeling dopey and sorry for myself because of my lack of sleep. 


Whoopie pies are so so so good! They are easy to make and really versatile in that you can change both the flavour of the pie itself and the filling. I was thinking a chocolate salted caramel one might be my next whoopie pie treat. They are easy to eat and you don't get the messiness you can get with a cupcake when you eat them. These ones are delicious. I was a little bit skeptical as the recipe has brown sugar in them which I thought might make them a bit caramelly. But it didn't. The lemon in the pie is subtle but with the lemon buttercream, they are really delicious. I put a photo on of my little scooper so if you want to buy one you can see what you are looking for. Just don't buy the big one or your pies will be massive as they do spread quite a bit.


Lemon Whoopie Pies


2 1/4 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
115g softened butter
1/2c white sugar
1/2c packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2c buttermilk
zest of a big lemon
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla


Oven to 170C and line trays with baking paper.


Sift together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt.


Cream the butter and sugars until light and creamy. Add the eggs and buttermilk and beat until incorporated. Add the vanilla, lemon zest and juice and beat until combined (it will look curdled but don't worry because it all comes together).


Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add the other half of the flour, mix on low until incorporated then increase the speed to medium and beat until well combined (about a minute).


Drop spoonfuls onto your trays but space them as they do spread. Bake about 12 minutes, cool on the trays for a couple of minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.


Sandwich them with a yummy lemon buttercream (don't be stingy with the butter) and sprinkle the tops with icing sugar.

Baking for Nightshift- Choco-Mint Whoopie Pies

I would say that the new cupcake is really the whoopie pie. I know these are nothing new in the USA but here in little old NZ they are finally starting to make an appearance. For those of us who follow a whole lot of cooking and baking blogs, (it's almost as much an addiction as getting new cookbooks...if not more), whoopie pies are nothing new. I have made them before but not for ages. The whoopie pie is like a cross between a cake and a cookie in texture which is really part of their appeal, as it sthe fact that you can make alsorts of flavour combinations. So last night I got out my "Whoopie Pie' book, which was one of the many books I bought when the UK Amazon site had free postage to NZ. Of course you had to spend 25 quid BUT all that did was give more reasons to buy more books. Luckily (or unluckily), that deal is finally over so I'll have to go back to the good old Book Depository to buy my books where the postage is always free. 


Anyway I digress. I wanted to make some baking treats to take to work and to drop into our Ward Clark who has just had a knee replacement. She loves my baking so I wanted to make something she could have with a cup of tea while she was holed up in a hospital bed. I made these and some biscuits which I will post about next. 


I decided to make plain chocolate whoopie pies but put in a minty-flavoured buttercream. I love chocolate and mint together so I knew this would be a winning combination. I coloured the buttercream a light green and I have to say the colours look really lovely together....and the flavours are also delicious too. I'm pretty sure they will go down a treat at work. If you live in NZ I would also watch out for the onslaught of the whoopie pie too in cafes and bakeries. One thing to buy is a small spring-loaded ice cream scoop so you can get uniform sizes. I also use this for cookies to get them all the same size too. I got mine form Living and Giving and I have also seen them at Stevens if you want to get one.


Choco-Mint Whoopie Pies


1 2/3c flour
2/3c cocoa
1 1/2tsp baking soda
115g butter
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4c milk


Preheat the oven to 180C and line baking trays with baking paper.


Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for another couple of minutes.


Sift together the flour, soda and cocoa and add half of this mixture to the butter with half of the milk. Mix until incorporated then add the other half of the flour mixture and milk. Drop spoonfuls onto the tray but not too close together as they do spread a bit. Bake about 10 minutes until they spring back when pressed slightly.


Cool on a wire rack after cooling them on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes.


Sandwich together with a mint buttercream but make sure you add the mint extract bit by bit until you get the minty strength you want.

Baking for Nightshift- Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Tonight is my last night duty thank god! I often sleep terribly on my second sleep day and today was no exception. Within the next 2 weeks I am going onto WW to get rid of those pesky 6-7 kg that seem to have crept on over the last year or so and will obviously not be baking as much as I have had. Of course I will still take baking into work but for the first couple of weeks I'll have to try to refrain so I can get into the swing on the WW-way. As it is my birthday and a big family wedding in the next couple of weeks I may even have to wait until afterwards as once I start I don't want to fall off the wagon too soon into it. Anyway I digress but the point of that was, I'm trying to make the most of it now to bake things that I have really been wanting to try and this recipe is one of them.


Whoopie Pies are an American thing. They seem to be the 'new-cupcake' and are increasing in popularity outside of the USA- where they are already popular. They are a cross between a cake and a cookie with icing sandwiched in between. In American you can get something called Marshmallow Fluff and I have seen this used as a icing ingredient in quite a few recipes. Doesn't that sound fabulous!!! I really wish we could get it here along with those packets of Toffee Bits, Butterscotch bits, Cinnamon Chips and so on. I may have to see if I can bring some in from America through Amazon..... Anyway the whoopie pie is though to have been originated from the Amish times when the women would pack them into their husbands lunchboxes when they were working out in the field. Apparently the men upon seeing these treats would call out 'whoopie!' and so the name came about. I'm sure there are many other stories out there but I like this one.


If anyone has ever eaten a red velvet cake you will know that it has a slight chocolate flavour and is tender and made even more delicious with the obligatory cream cheese frosting. After looking through one of my favourite blogs the other night I came upon this recipe. It is easy and fast to whip up. I have a very cool little scooper thing that I got from Living and Giving bought for this purpose originally. It's like a little ice cream scoop with a spring thing on it to release the mix. It makes the pies all the same size as you can see in these photos...

Uncooked

Cooked

Of course you don't need one but I really like mine BUT I am a real kitchen gadget kind of girl (as you can see if you were to look through my kitchen cupboards). Anyway these whoopie pies aren't as tender as the Red Velvet cake but nor should they be given that they are a cross between a cake and a cookie. I think the girls will really like them tonight.


Red Velvet Whoopie Pies


2 c flour
2 Tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (I omit as I use salted butter)
115 gm butter, softened
1 c packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c buttermilk
2 Tbsp red food colouring (yes you read this right)


Oven to 170 C. Line baking trays with baking paper.


In a bowl combine the flour, cocoa, soda and salt.


Beat butter for 30 sec. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla. Add in the flour mix and the buttermilk alternately, mixing until just combined after each addition. Add the food colouring.


Drop spoonfuls onto the tray and bake 9-11 mins until the tops are set. Cool on the trays for 5 mins then cool on a rack. Sandwich together with your favourite cream cheese icing.