Martha and Me: Raspberry Whoopie Pies

When looking through all my saved recipes to decide what to bake, I decided I would finally take on the challenge of Whoopie Pies. I saw a special on the Food Network once spotlighting Whoopie Pies; they had pumpkin and chocolate and mixed every single possibility of all flavored cookies with whipped cream filling.  Ever since then I have been entranced. Two cake-like cookies sandwiched atop flavorful whipped cream: they called my name!

However, I was never up to the challenge of baking them because they intimidated me. I worried about getting the cookies fluffy enough and getting enough flavor into them, but today was the day I decided to try. I chose to do the Raspberry-Lemon Whoopie Pies because not only do I love raspberry and lemon, but they seemed to be an easy enough recipe for my first shot.

Ingredients:

●      1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

●      1 cup plus 3 tablespoons light-brown sugar

●      1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

●      1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

●      1 large egg

●      2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

●      3/4 teaspoon baking powder

●      1/4 teaspoon baking soda

●      1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

●      1 cup whole milk

●      3/4 cup heavy cream

●      1 cup fresh raspberries (4 ounces)

This recipe makes 15

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, 1 cup brown sugar, and lemon zest until light and creamy. Add vanilla and egg and beat to combine, scraping down bowl as needed. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With mixer on low, beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk and ending with flour mixture (scrape bowl as needed). Beat well to combine.
2. Drop batter in two-tablespoon mounds, about two inches apart, onto two parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until puffed and pale golden around edges for 17 to 19 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cakes cool completely on sheets on the wire racks.
3. In a large bowl, whip cream and 3 tablespoons brown sugar to soft peaks. In a small bowl, mash raspberries with a fork, then fold into whipped cream. Divide raspberry cream evenly among bottoms of half the cakes, then sandwich with remaining cakes.

With the ingredients set out in front of me, and donning my new apron to increase my confidence, I tackled the Whoopie Pies. The batter came together well. After creaming the butter and sugar and whisking the dry ingredients it is important to alternate the milk and dry when mixing. When you add the milk it gets very watery but it will thicken up! The batter is very thick; it’s like a super sticky pancake batter more than it is like cookie dough. Now the recipe does not say this but I warn you chill the batter! I was so eager to make the Whoopie Pies that I baked my first batch without chilling and I ended up with huge Whoopie Crêpes…not good! But after chilling the batter they stayed small and fluffed up.

Two table spoons is the perfect amount; since the cookies do spread and fluff up it works very well. They baked nicely and turned a nice golden brown. The lemon flavor got lost in the cookie, I would have maybe used some lemon juice to boost up that flavor.

The filling could not be easier to make, but I did run into a problem. Whipping the cream and sugar went smoothly and using a fork to mush the raspberries went well but after mixing them together, I found that the water from the raspberries made the whipped cream deflate. I tired whipping up another batch of whipped cream and folding it back into what I had already and it still deflated. Due to the deflated whipped cream it does not stick to the cookie very well but it tastes amazing. I could just eat it off a spoon without the cookie!

I had five people taste the Whoopie Pies and rate them on a scale of 1 to 5- 1 being the lowest 5 being the highest- on over all taste, texture, appearance, fun level, and willingness to try making recipe. I also had them make comments on what they would change about the cookie.

Overall Taste- 5

Texture- 4

Appearance- 4.5

Fun Level-4.5

Willingness to make Recipe-5

The three main comments I got were: they wanted to have more flavor in the cookie, they wanted to make the whipped cream fluffier or they wanted to have fun with the shapes of the cookies.

Over all the Whoopie Pies were a pretty good success for my first try. They tasted delicious and were easy to make. I now feel that with my knowledge I can move on to other more complicated pies but I will for sure be keeping this recipe and using it in the future.