Giant Chocolate Whoopie Pies

I love whoopie pies, I just don’t make them very often!  Usually when I get a spur of the moment baking rush, I find I’m missing half of the ingredients that I need, and then I can’t be bothered trailing out to the shop – so the idea is abandoned.  It was different tonight though! I was only missing one ingredient and I didn’t consider it that important (turns out it wasn’t because these whoopie pies were great!).

 

I adapted this recipe from the book Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell.  I don’t often adapt recipes, especially not from this book because the originals are perfect in my opinion.  I only tweaked it to accommodate the shortage of ingredients in my kitchen tonight and for a few American/British conversions!

I love this book; it’s one of those books in our house that has: “To Mum, have a wonderful Christmas, lots of love from Eve” on the inside cover, but somehow ends up finding a home on my bookshelf instead!  Oh well, here’s the recipe I used:

Recipe:

I followed and adapted the recipe for the Classic Chocolate Whoopie (p.43 of Whoopie Pies), and filled it with the classic buttercream I always use.

1  2/3 cups plain flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1  1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

8 tbsp unsalted butter, softened (the original recipe calls for 4 tbsp butter and 4 tbsp vegetable shortening)

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1  1/4 cup full fat milk

1. Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees Celsius (170 fan) and line to baking trays with grease-proof paper.

2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix to even distribution.

3. In a stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy,  Add egg and vanilla and beat well.

4. Add half of your flour mixture and half of the milk and beat, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

5.  Add the rest of the flour and milk and beat until thoroughly combined.

6.  I used an ice-cream scoop to get nice even whoopies; drop even spaced dollops of batter onto your prepared baking tray and bake for about ten minutes, until the whoopies spring back when touched.  Leave to cool on tray for about five minutes and then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

7.  Once cool, fill the whoopie pies with a filling of your choice.  Classic buttercream works well and is a simple option!

Sam would have adored these; he loved chocolate and buttercream!  Plus these pies are so velvety soft to eat.

Eve x