Strawberry Whoopie Pies

To the tune of “Peanut Butter Jelly Time”: straw-berry whoopie pies! Straw-berry whoopie pies!! Strawberry whoopie! Strawberry whoopie!

Sigh. I’m in love people. I love whoopie pies more than I love any other dessert right now. Insane, I know! They’re so much better than cupcakes. (GASP!!) And I believe that after our Nation’s Capital gets over this whole cupcake thing, we’ll all be running around trying to get our hands on the city’s best whoopie pie ever.

Since it seems I’m still an outlier on this position, I’ll keep making my whoopie pies and sharing the fun with ya’ll.

I got an actual cookbook awhile ago, called…wait for it…Whoopie Pies…and have been itching to try fun new combos beyond chocolate cake and traditional marshmallow fluff filling. And let me say, the recipe for the cakes was amazing! Each little cakester had a soft, round peak to it. They were soft and moist and after they cooled, they stuck to your fingers a bit. (Which was maybe the best part because this facilitated licking your fingers making everything that much more fun.)

But the frosting recipe. Whoa. I’ve never seen a recipe for something fail so quickly right before my very eyes. I read, read and re-read the recipe about a million times for the strawberry buttercream and after I determined (three times) that I’d done nothing wrong…just totally gave up on it. By this time it was about 9 o’clock at night and I needed a solution, fast! So, I revisited the other whoopie pie recipe’s frosting and improvised from there.

It makes me feel better to know that I’m not the only one who’s encountered strawberry buttercream problemos. At least I found a solution…even if it did have so much sugar in it that upon eating a whoopie pie one would immediately vow to go on a low-sugar diet.

Never mind that though.

Enjoy!

Adapted from Whoopie Pies

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4tbsp unsalted butter, room temp

4tbsp shortening

1/2c packed, brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2c buttermilk

2tbsp milk

1tsp baking soda

1tsp white vinegar

1tsp vanilla extract

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat it to 375F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.

In a separate bowl beat the butter, shortening and both sugars until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and buttermilk and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup, combine the milk, baking soda and vinegar. Add the milk mixture to the batter along with the flour mixture and beat on low until just combined. Add the vanilla and beat on medium for about 2 minutes until completely combined.

Using a cookie scooper, drop batter onto the prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time for about 10 minutes each, or until the cakes begin to brown. Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool on the sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

When they’re done cooling, you’ll want to stack them bottom facing bottom. Otherwise you’ll end up with little brown crumbs on the tops of your whoopie pies, which you’ll discover are quick sticky. It’s okay! They’re supposed to be like that.

For filling
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4-2 cups confectioners sugar

1 jar Marshmallow Fluff

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2cup chopped, strained fresh strawberries

If you have decided, like I did, to chop the strawberries and allow them to macerate in sugar overnight, using a mesh strainer, press chopped strawberries into the mesh to release as much juice as you can. Done this way, you’ll probably need to gradually add more confectioners sugar than the minimum in order to stiffen up the mixture.

If you have not. Carry on.

Beat together butter, confectioners sugar, marshmallow, vanilla and strawberries in a bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

Using the same cookie scoop you used to measure the cake batter, scoop up some filling and place it on the flat side of one cake. Place another cake, flat-side down, on top of the filling and gently squoosh down. Serve immediately, at room temperature. These can be covered and sit in the refridgerator over night though!