Please accept my apologies; I’ve been on quite the hiatus, dear friends. February has almost escaped me and I feel like all I’ve done is work, work, work. Real work, my J-O-B work, not blog work, yard work or house work. Just plain work. And I’m just plain exhausted.
What does any good mother do when she doesn’t have an ounce of energy left? She musters up every last bit of it, takes the day off work, then stands up on her two tired little feet and makes treats for her kiddo’s school birthday party.
That’s right, folks. Tired doesn’t have anything on this super mom as I tie my apron on and throw together these red velvet whoopie pies for Aiden to bring to school to celebrate turning 4 with his preschool buddies.
You’ll need two bowls for the batter: one for dry ingredients, one for wet ingredients.
I don’t sift the dry into the bowl, I measure it all into one bowl and then use a whisk to mix it all up and incorporate the cocoa powder into the flour and sugar.
This is me sifting. Er, I mean, whisking the dry ingredients together.
Be sure your eggs, sour cream and cream cheese are at room temp. Your butter can be cold – doesn’t matter here since you’re melting this lusciousness down anyway.
I don’t know why I feel compelled to photograph my butter, but I do.
Beat the eggs, melted butter, sour cream, vanilla and cider vinegar together, then add your food coloring.
I did not photograph the addition of the red food coloring to spare you the perceived pain I caused the batter. It looked like a massacre!
So here you have it, dry ingredients can be added to the wet ingredients in 4 doses. Mix each addition until well incorporated, then stir in the melted chocolate.
Using a cookie scoop, dollop the batter onto parchment paper placing about an inch apart. For smooth tops, use your finger to round out and press down. Learn from my mistake here: lumpy batter into the oven = lumpy cookies out of the oven.
While they are baking, cream together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add vanilla and beat until fluffy. Once combined, you can add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup to 1 cup at a time.
Start beating slowly and let the powdered sugar blend in. Over zealous mixing here will puff the sugar out all over you. Doesn’t matter how much your Kitchen-Aid loves you.
After your cookies cool, it’s time to assemble them. I match up the sizes so the cookies will have even tops and bottoms. Oddly enough, even if you use your cookie scoop to measure the batter when cooking, it doesn’t guarantee you even sized cookies!
Flip a cookie upside down and scoop some frosting into the center.
Top with a cookie right-side up and place into a cupcake cup to wait for their white chocolate drizzles.
Melt down your white chocolate chips and shortening. You can do this in a double boiler, or microwave. I was lazy and microwaved.
Stir each minute to avoid burning as the chips deceptively hold their shape. Spoon into a piping bag, or good old fashioned zip-top baggie. Cut the tiniest part of the corner off the bag and squeeze to decorate whoopie tops.
Makes the perfect kid-sized treat with just about the right frosting-to-cake ratio. Not too much cake, not too much frosting! Also, saves me $2.50 per each will-power busting indulgence at S-Bucks when my sweet tooth kicks my butt.
- 2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 ounce milk chocolate, chopped
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon red food coloring
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 pkgs cream cheese (8 oz each), softened
- 8 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2-3 cups powdered sugar
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Combine the semisweet and milk chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave at 50 percent power until melted, about 2 minutes. Whisk until smooth.
- Using the whisk attachment on the electric mixer, whisk the melted butter, sour cream, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla until well combined.
- Add the red food coloring and mix well.
- In another bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Switch to the paddle attachment and add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in four equal batches, mixing each batch completely before adding the next. Stir in the melted chocolate.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop tablespoonfuls of batter onto the prepared baking sheets and smooth the tops with a damp finger, pressing down in the center of each cookie.
- Bake 8 minutes, then let cool 5 minutes on the baking sheets; transfer to racks to cool completely.
- Once cooled, assemble with cream cheese frosting below.
- Select two similar sized cookies, turn one upside down, add frosting and top with the other cookie right-side up. Place in a cupcake wrapper for presentation.
- Optional: Once they are all assembled, drizzle with melted chocolate, I prefer white chocolate (1 cup chocolate chips + 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening melted for 30 seconds on 70% power in the microwave).
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate up to two weeks. Attempt to let the whoopie pie come to room temp before devouring.
- Using an electric mixer, cream together the cream cheese and butter until well combined. Beat in the vanilla extract until smooth and fluffy. Add powdered sugar ½ cup at a time. Taste after 2 cups of sugar. This may be sweet enough for you. If you like your frosting super sweet, add the 3rd cup of sugar.
