Marshmellow Fluff

I recently visited a bakery and bought 3 cupcakes.  I’m researching bakeries in an attempt to identify and perfect a handful of delicious dessert recipes. One could say I do these visits in the name of science – so to speak.  

This store was immaculate with shiny black and white 50′s linoleum, bee-bop music playing and ribbons of sugar wafting through the air.   I picked out 3 cupcakes with forced casualness – I didn’t want to give the impression that I had every intention to devour each cupcake by myself in less than 10 minutes flat.  The girl behind the counter with dyed black hair, blood red stained lips and pomp-ed up bangs handed me a clinical white dessert box and I was on my way.

I ate the first cupcake and was disappointed.  It lacked the moist goodness I was expecting.  I ate the second cupcake and was further let down.  The frosting wasn’t as delicious as it looked.   I ate the last cupcake and again…disappointment.  After eating three cupcakes in their entirety I was unsatisfied and sick to my stomach.

After a few days the taste of let-down had dulled and I decided to return to the bakery.  I figured that one day when I own a bakery I hope someone who wasn’t satisfied would be kind enough to return to give me another chance.  I saw this as an opportunity to create an act of karma, or a Mitzvah –  if you will.

I skimmed past the cupcakes (they knew what they did!) and decided to try the Whoopie Pies.  I had no prior knoweldge to a Whoopie Pie but it’s fluffy frosting center called my name.   I immeditaly ordered two of them, silently promising myself that I would eat only one in the car and save the second one for later that night.

Once in the privacy of my car with tinted windows, I took a bite and my stomach stirred, my heart lept – I was in heaven.  This cookie…pie – what have you, is:

The kind of cookie that helps heal a broken heart.

The kind of cookie that when you are crying you reach for and it comforts you lovingly within its embrace.

The kind of cookie that reminds you of what Sunday morning cartoons felt like.

The kind of cookie that brings back the feeling of summer break.

This is the kind of cookie that were the world ending, I would drive 100mph in my car to outrun the falling asteroids as they engulfed the world in fiery destruction, only with enough time to spare to eat one last final Whoopie Pie. 

Yes people, these Whoopie Pies are that good.

Needless to say immediately after eating the second Whoopie Pie I continued onto the second (alright, alright…yes, I ate them both in the car) and began my search  for a recipe for Whoopie Pies. I wanted to replicate this delicousness while it was still fresh on my taste buds. 

This is my first attempt at Whoopie Pies and while this recipe for the cookie prt is near perfection (they could be a tiny smidge softer) the icing center needs more work.  Next time around I think I will use butter for the frosting center instead of shortening – and I say next time because you better believe there will be a next time…and a next time and a next time.  Because that’s what you do when you are in love.

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 3/4 cups shortening
• 2 large eggs*
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large egg whites*
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 baking sheets and set aside.

To make the cookies, in a large bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the sugar and 1/2 cup of the shortening. Add eggs and mix well.

Onto a sheet of waxed paper, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add to the wet ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk. Add 1 teaspoon of the vanilla and mix well. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake until tester comes out clean, about 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks.

To make the filling, in a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups of shortening and 1 tablespoon of vanilla, and mix well. Add the milk and sugar, and beat until smooth.

Lay half of the cookies flat on a work surface. Divide the filling among the cookies, spreading out to the edges. Top with the remaining cookies to form sandwich pies. Serve immediately, or cover tightly and refrigerate before serving.

(recipe taken from Emeril Lagasse on http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/whoopie-pie-recipe/index.html)