Whoopie!

Ok it's time for me to confess...I am not a huge cupcake fan. I know, i know, you're shocked. Making them is fun, but I'd prefer other desserts. So what other individual cake serving can you have that is not a cupcake?  Whoopie pies!!

Despite their rather unfortunate name, these little guys are delicious.  The "pies" are typically chocolate or red velvet, but the recipe in this post is for vanilla.  Don't know what they are?  Click here for Wikipedia's definition.  They're basically a mix between a creme-filled cookie and a plain layer cake.

Oh and by the way, the pies that you see in pictures are vegan as well.  Wondering how to make them vegan?  See my note after the recipe below :)

Double Vanilla Whoopie Pies

•  2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 Tbs milk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 vanilla bean's seeds (I didn't put this in my batch, but it is in the original recipe and makes it "double" vanilla)

1.  Preheat oven to 375 F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter for one minute.  Then, add sugars and beat until creamy.
4. Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture, incorporating after each addition.
5. With mixer on slow, add buttermilk. 
6. In a measuring cup, add baking soda then vinegar to the milk.
7. Mix in 1/2 of the flour recipe, then the milk mixture, then the remaining flour.  Mix in the vanilla and vanilla bean seeds.
8. Drop batter onto baking sheets in one tablespoon portions, spacing them out about 2 inches (they spread quite a bit!)

     9.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until the small cakes are slightly brown.
 

      10.   After allowing to cool completely on a cooling rack, pipe ~2 tablespoons of your favorite buttercream frosting onto one "cake" and sandwich with another cake of the same size.
   Whoopie!! You're done and have yummy treats that are soft and delicious.

What's that? You're wondering how these could possibly be vegan as well? No worries, it's really simple!  Just replace the milk with soymilk (I use 8th Continent original...it tastes the best to me), the eggs with Ener-G Egg Replacer, and butter with vegan buttery sticks (Earth Balance makes them). *Note*: To make the "buttermilk," I mixed 1/2 Tbs white vinegar with enough soymilk to make 1/2 cup.  Yes, it WILL look curdled and gross.  Fear not, mine did and it turned out fine.

Once you get the recipe down, play with the flavors! How about a chocolate with coconut frosting?  Carrot cake with cream cheese filling?  Strawberry with fudge filling? Oh the possibilities!!