Whoopie Pies

Whoopie Pies

The Loving Spoonful

Ingredients

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup natural cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons fine salt
18 large marshmallows (not minis) or use Marshmallow Fluff (you'll find more Whoopie Pie Recipes there)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking sheet.
Put the unsweetened and semisweet chocolates and butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl; heat at 75 percent power until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir, and continue to microwave until completely melted, about 2 minutes more. (Alternatively, put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with an inch or so of water to a very slow simmer; set the bowl over, but not touching the water, and stir occasionally until melted and smooth.)
Whisk the sugar, eggs and vanilla into the chocolate mixture until smooth.
Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt into another bowl. Gradually whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until moistened. Switch to a rubber spatula and finish folding the batter together; take care not to over-mix.
Use a small cookie scoop or spoon to drop a heaping tablespoon of batter onto the prepared pan. Repeat to make 36 cookies, spacing them about 1-inch apart. Bake until the cookies spring back when lightly touched, about 6 minutes.
Cool the cookies slightly. Transfer half of the cookies to a rack. Turn the remaining cookies on the pan over, so they lay flat side up. Place a marshmallow on top of each flipped cookie and return pan to the oven. Cook just until the marshmallow begins to soften and puff, about 3 minutes. Cool marshmallow topped cookies slightly, about 2 minutes. Top with the remaining cookies, pressing lightly to make sandwiches. Cool whoopie pies completely on wire racks. Serve, or store in tightly sealed container for up to 1 week.

NOTES
If you use a pan designed specifically for Whoopie Pies please follow the manufacturer's baking directions.
If you use Marshmallow Fluff as a filling allow the cakes to cool first.


*Whoopie Pie recipe and image adapted from Food Network Kitchens please visit their website for more recipes.

Gingerbread Man Cookies

Photo from McCormick.com

Gingerbread Men Cookies
Adapted from a recipe found at the Simply Recipes website.  Posted by Elise.

 3 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature, softened)

1/2 cup Butter flavored Crisco
1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses (or honey if you don't like molasses)

• Optional raisins, chocolate chips, candy pieces, frosting

Royal Icing
I use Wilton products for Royal Icing.  Instead of just water add 1/2 tsp of Clear Vanilla and 1/2 tsp of No Color Almond Extract after the first two Tbs of water.  The original recipe is HERE.

Method

1 In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and spices. Set aside.

2 In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Mix in eggs and molasses. Gradually add the flour mixture; combine on low speed. (You may need to work it with your hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.) Divide dough in thirds; wrap each third in plastic. Chill for at least 1 hour or overnight. Before rolling out, let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. If after refrigerating the dough feels too soft to roll-out, work in a little more flour.

3 Heat oven to 350°. Place a dough third on a large piece of lightly floured parchment paper or wax paper. Using a rolling pin, roll dough 1/4 inch thick. Refrigerate again for 5-10 minutes to make it easier to cut out the cookies. Use either a cookie cutter or place a stencil over the dough and use a knife to cut into desired shapes. Press raisins, chocolate chips, or candy pieces in the center of each cookie if desired for "buttons".
4 Transfer to ungreased baking sheets. Bake until crisp but not darkened, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Let sit a few minutes and then use a metal spatula to transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate as desired.
Makes 16 5-inch long cookies.

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Notes:

- There are several versions of this cookie.  I combined the recipe we have from 1980 with the one on the Hersheys web site.  They are just a little different but I like the "old family recipe".

- My Mom always gave us the job of unwrapping all the Hershey's Kisses while she started to mix the dough.  (We were always surprised that there was enough candy left for all the cookies - I think she knew better and planned ahead)

- There are many flavors and colors of  Hersheys Kisses available.  My favorite is the traditional milk chocolate but the caramel filled kisses are really good too! You can also make chocolate-peanut butter cookies or use other candy centers.

- Use the butter flavored Crisco sticks if you can find them.

- This is another one of those "roll the dough into a ball" cookies.  It's a good idea to just continue rolling until all the cookies are ready to bake. Bake each batch on a cooled pan.  (One in the oven, one cooling off if you make a big batch)  

- Don't over-bake. These are better soft.  Adjust the baking time if you need to after the first batch.

- You should make a double batch!  They disappear very fast, especially when warm. 

- Even though these are easy to make they make great looking gifts.

The Recipe:

-Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates.

1 ¾ cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

-Whisk flour mixture together in a separate bowl and set aside.

½  cup shortening

½  cup peanut butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar (plus a separate ½ cup to roll dough balls into)

½ cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 Tbs milk

1 tsp vanilla 

-Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture and beat into the moist ingredients.

-Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet.

-Bake 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove cookie sheet from oven and immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Bake 3 mins more. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely on wire racks. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Snickerdoodles

A few notes:
-For the basic cookie you roll the batter into 1" balls and then coat with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. You could roll them in colored sugar, add extra sugar to the top before baking or decorate with a swirl of royal icing but they are pretty sweet without added icing.

-There are lots of recipes in old cookbooks and on the internet but there a very few that vary the basic ingredients.  The oldest recipes use a mixture of cream of tartar and baking soda.  Newer recipes call for baking powder. 

-Some recommend 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening.  Shortening melts at a higher temp making a thicker cookie.  I like to use all butter.  You can gently flatten the rolled dough into a disk with the bottom of a glass or criss cross with a fork to flatten before baking but the all butter ones will probably melt flat on their own.  If the cookies spread too thin, try chilling the balls of dough, and maybe even the pan, before baking.

- You should NOT grease the baking pan.  Bake the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet or line pans with parchment paper.

-I bake the cookies at 375 degrees (recipes differ from 350 - 400 degrees)

The Recipe:

All purpose flour - 2 3/4 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder - 2 tsp

-Whisk flour mixture together in a separate bowl and set aside.

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar

Place the butter and sugar in a mixer bowl and beat until smooth. (about 2 minutes)

2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

-Add the eggs, one at a time and finally the extract to the mixer and beat until combined with the butter and sugar.

-Add the flour mixture in a little at a time until combined with the wet ingredients.

-Mix
1 - 2 Tbs of Ground Cinnamon
4 Tbs of Granulated Sugar

-Roll the dough into 1" balls and then roll into Sugar and Cinnamon mixture.

-Place the balls about 2" apart on the pan and gently flatten a bit with the bottom of a glass or a fork.

-Place pan in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to chill before baking.

-Bake (375 degrees) for 8 - 10 minutes - just until the edges start to brown.

-Place on a wire rack to cool and store in an airtight containers.

Resources: My Mom's recipe file, www.Food.com and SmittenKitchen.com

Vanilla and Chocolate sugar cookies

Vanilla Sugar Cookies

*adapted Sarah & Cindy Rippe from a recipe on the Kitchen Gifts website

Note: We use Wilton products whenever possible to create our cakes and cookies.

3 Cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 Cup butter
1 Cup sugar
1 egg
½ tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. almond extract
pinch of salt

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and extracts. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.

Roll out dough and chill. Use parchment paper for easy cleanup. Bake on ungreased baking sheets at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Makes 2 dozen 3 inch cookies.

Decorate with Royal Icing. We've adapted this Wilton recipe with a combination of flavors. The No-Color and Clear extracts don't affect the colors that we mix and are delicious. Meringue Powder adds body and stabilizes the icing.

Chocolate Rolled Cookies

*adapted by Cindy & Sarah Rippe from a recipe on the Kitchen Gifts website.

1 Cup butter
2/3 Cup granulated sugar
½ Cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 Tbsp. coffee liquor
½ Cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
3 Cups flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and coffee liquor. Add dry mixture and mix until incorporated.

Roll out dough and chill. Use parchment paper for easy clean up. Bake on ungreased baking sheets at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Makes 2 dozen 3 inch cookies.

Decorate with Royal Icing. We've adapted this Wilton recipe with a combination of flavors. The No-Color and Clear extracts won't affect the colors that we mix and are delicious. Meringue Powder adds body and stablilizes the icing.

Grandma Cookie's Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 pkg Betty Crocker Super Moist Devils Food Cake Mix (18.25 oz)
2 XL eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted then cooled to room temperature
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup raisins

Combine dry cake mix, eggs, butter, and oats with an electric mixer.
Stir in the chocolate chips & raisins.
Drop by heaping tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until set.
Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then move to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Makes 3 1/2 dozen.