DJL Dishes Dessert: Whoopie Pies!

Title:  Whoopie Pies
Creator:  *Parsley*
The Dish:  It's been awhile since I've dished on dessert, and I thought it was the perfect time for making whoopie pies!  What is a whoopie pie?  To look at one, you'd think it was a giant version of an Oreo cookie, but it's really so much more than that.  A whoopie pie is a nice layer of creamy vanilla filling sandwiched between two almost cake-like chocolate cookies.  They are so much fun to eat and fun to make as well, especially when you have a recipe like this one provided online by the above creator.  I have used other recipes, but because of food avoidances by several of my coworkers I wanted to make sure that everyone could enjoy these delightful treats.  So I searched for a recipe that didn't make use of either shortening, marshmallow cream, or gelatin, which did take a bit of searching.  However, I was able to find this gem of a recipe which I'm going to list below.

Ingredients:
Whoopie Pie:
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 tablespoon vegetable oil or canola oil (I used vegetable oil)
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup baking cocoa (I used Nestle unsweetened cocoa)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons milk

Cream Filling:
- 4 tablespoons milk
- 4 tablespoons butter (that's half a stick)
- 3 to 3 1/4 cups of confectioners' sugar (I used about 3 cups of powdered sugar)
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Lightly coat cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray.

2. For whoopie pies: In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar and oil until crumbly.  Add eggs and beat well.  In a separate small mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

3. Gradually beat flour mixture into sugar mixture.  Add milk and mix together well.

4. With lightly floured hands (or damp hands as I did), roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls.  (I took a bit of liberty with this and formed them into 1-inch balls.)  Place 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  Flatten balls slightly with bottom of lightly greased flat-bottom glass.  (On this one, I just lightly pressed them down with my fingers.)

5. Bake at 425 degrees for 5-6 minutes or until tops are cracked.  Cool for 3 minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

6. Filling: In a mixing bowl, beat together butter and confectioners' sugar.  Beat in milk and vanilla extract until fluffy.  (I actually had to add another tablespoon of milk here since the filling seemed a bit too thick, but that will vary on how each person prepares the recipe. ^_^)

7. Pipe filling using pastry bag (or spread with knife, though I used a small spoon to add the filling) on to flat bottom of cooled whoopie pie and top with another whoopie pie to make a sandwich.

Here are mine already packed and ready to take with me to work on Monday!

Although the filling was rather sweet, the cookies really do help to balance out the sweetness.  Overall, this was one of the best whoopie pie recipes I've used, and I highly recommend it for anyone to use.  I can't wait to see how my coworkers like them on Monday.

Bon appetit!