Today we’ll be cooking with Sonia the whoopie pies, amazing American treats with a marshmallow cream filling! Find this and many more recipes with pictures on the Giallozafferano App (in English) http://itunes.apple.com/app/giallozafferano-recipes/id384387249?mt=8
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Today we’ll be cooking together the whoopie pies, amazing American treats with their origins in the Amish community. Do you know why they are called whoopies? Because when children found them in their lunch boxes, they shouted whoopee, expressing joy! Let’s make them together!
Whoopie pies
(36 pieces)
• 2 cups (250 g) of flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• ½ tbsp (8 g) of baking powder
• 1 cup (80 g) of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 ½ sticks (180 g) of butter
• ¾ cup (150 g) of sugar
• 1 medium egg
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract • ¼ cup (60 ml) of buttermilk
• ¼ cup (60 ml) of milk
For the marshmallow cream filling
• just under 1 cup (180 g) of granulated sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 good pinch of salt
• ¼ cup (60 ml) of water
• 2 egg whites
• 2/3 cup (80 g) of powdered sugar
In a bowl, combine the room-temperature butter with the sugar, and beat with an electric beater, or in a stand mixer if you have one… until you have a pale, fluffy mixture.
This is how the mixture should look. Now add the vanilla extract — or as an alternative you can use the seeds from a vanilla pod or a pinch of vanilla powder — the pinch of salt… and continue to beat. Then add the egg, at room-temperature… and finally the buttermilk — if you can’t find buttermilk, you can use the same amount of heavy cream, mixed with a teaspoon of lemon juice — beat for another 2 minutes.
In a bowl, sift the flour, the cocoa powder and the baking powder, then add to the mixture, one spoonful at a time, alternating with the milk.
And here’s our dough, as you can see it’s pretty thick. Now take a pastry bag — I am using a disposable pastry bag, but you can use a cloth one of course — fold down the outer edge, so it’s wide open… in this way; insert a ¾-inch (2 cm) round tip, to squeeze out mounds of dough… fill the bag with the mixture… and we’re ready to form our mini-cakes, to sandwich together, on a baking sheet.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, then pipe the dough into mounds, about 1 ½ inches (4 cm) in diameter… space them out as they will spread when baking.
This amount makes about 36 pieces; bake in a static oven at 350°F (180°C) for about 13-14 minutes. Once cooked, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
While our mini-cakes are baking, move on to the cream filling, so combine the water with the sugar in a small saucepan; allow the sugar to dissolve and come to a boil, then let it simmer for at least 5 minutes.
Meanwhile put the egg whites in a large bowl, add a pinch of salt… and beat to stiff peaks.
When the egg whites are stiff, add the hot syrup in a thin stream, beating constantly… and continue until the mixture has cooled.
All we have to do now is add the vanilla… and the sifted powdered sugar. And the marshmallow cream filling is ready.
At this point, fill another pastry bag with the cream filling… and we’re ready to assemble our whoopie pies; cut off the tip of the bag… and pipe the filling onto the flat side… sandwich with another mini-cake, and here’s our whoopie pie! Repeat until the ingredients are used up.
Our delicious treats are ready! If you have leftover cream filling, you can pipe into small mounds and bake like meringues… and now: whoopeeeeee!