"Once in a while I say, 'Go for it' and I eat chocolate."-Claudia Schiffer
Break-ups, horrible bosses and the end of All My Children: some events in life beg for serious pick-me-ups. To date, the great cookie experiment has highlighted Martha's delicate side, so PR decided to try the decadent peanut butter whoopie pies. These are are not your granny's dainty tea cookies, but more a crack-like hit of chocolate, peanut butter goodness. While bikini season may not be the most ideal time for this caloric bomb, as someone whose personal motto is "I'm starting my diet next Monday", I was, of course, up for the challenge.
The whoopie pie is two cookies sandwiched together with heaps of yummy frosting. To call the ends, "cookies" is a stretch--they are more like thin cakes. Due to their distant relationship to the cupcake and cakeball, whoopie pies have been increasingly popular in bakeries (NYC's famed Magnolia Bakery has been serving whoopie cookies for the last couple of years) and cookbooks. The great thing about these humble little pies is that they are relatively easy to make, and call for ingredients that even the most reluctant baker would have on hand. I used the recipe from Martha's book which varies slightly from this recipe available online. The key differences: the book's version calls for buttermilk, white sugar and butter versus her online recipe of whole milk, a brown/white sugar combination and a butter/shortening combination. I'm sure you can't go wrong either way.
After mixing my ingredients, I was wondering..could this be? Easy as whoopie pie? Almost. The recipe calls for 1.5 tablespoons of batter for each cookie, but due to the runny, cake-like consistency of the batter, I could not keep the cookie sizes consistent. This resulted in crazy, whoopie pies of varying sizes and shapes, making sandwiching difficult. Sorry, Martha. I could just imagine her disapproving but composed smile. Cooking time is also essential, so don't even think about pulling the cookies out of the oven early, in hopes of a gooey version. The ends are meant to be firmly cooked and will fall apart if not cooked thoroughly.
With my golf ball-to-hockey puck sized cookies cooling in the background, I was ready to tackle the icing. Butter? Sugar? Peanut Butter? Hello heaven. After mixing up the icing and then licking the beaters like a crazed 7-year-old, I nearly keeled over in a sugar-induced coma. The icing is extremely rich. In a zombie-like state, I was able to ice and sandwich the cookies but could only bring myself to eat one of the completed pies. Traumatic life events aside, you only want to indulge in these whoopies if your diet starts next week.
image source: RW
-RW
I always enjoy your wit. :) i don't know how i feel about the name "whoopie"...never really liked it. the cookie on the other hand, looks awesome. good job. I need to exercise my baking equipment now.
Posted by: amee | July 22, 2011 at 01:15 PM