Living in a new city and state means meeting lots of new
people. On my first real dinner party at a friend’s house, I offered to bring dessert. Knowing my new friend lived in New England for years, I opted for an
old favorite, Whoopie Pies. I also knew her 4 year old would be there and long
ago I determined that sweet treats are more often eaten if made in smaller
sizes, especially for little ones. So… the Mini Whoopie Pies.
I learned something when I made these. Apparently, what I
know as Fluff – that gooey marshmallow stuff that you put on peanut butter
sandwiches (Fluffernutter), is only known as Fluff on the east coast. The rest
of the country calls it Marshmallow Crème. It’s the same thing, just called
something else. Oh, and the rest of the country doesn’t know of Fluffernutter
sandwiches. How sad!
Cakes:
2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder (if you have Dutch process, us it. I had
plain old Hershey’s cocoa powder and it worked splendidly)
1¼ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp Kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken well
1 tsp good vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light packed brown sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
Filling:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup powdered sugar (or to taste)
2 cups marshmallow fluff (or crème!)
1 tsp good vanilla extract
Cakes:
Preheat oven to 350˚F
Whisk or sift together the flour, coca powder, baking soda
and salt in a bowl.
Stir buttermilk and vanilla in a measuring cup (you have to
measure the buttermilk anyway, why dirty another bowl?!)
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and brown
sugar with the paddle attachment, at medium high speed (3 or 4) until pale and
fluffy. (Should take about 3 minutes). You can use a hand mixer, too, but it’ll
take a little longer.
Add egg and beat until combined, about another minute. Make
sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you go.
Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then half of the buttermilk,
another 1/3 of the flour mixture and then the remaining buttermilk mixture and
then the remaining flour mixture. You can stop the motor as you add in each
addition so you don’t make a mess. Make sure the stand or hand mixture is on
low for these steps or you will be covered in flour and cocoa powder. Beat
until the mixture is smooth. It should be a light and airy batter – not thick.
Spoon 1 Tbs mound of batter onto baking sheets covered in either buttered parchment paper or silicone mats (Silpat), spacing the mounds about 2" apart.
Bake about 10 minutes, switching positions halfway through,
until the mounds are puffy and spring back when touched lightly.
Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
You should get about 40 cookies, if you don’t nibble on the
batter.
Filling:
Using the cleaned out bowl of your stand mixer, beat
together the softened butter, powdered sugar, marshmallow fluff (crème) and
vanilla with the (cleaned) paddle attachment until it’s smooth and shiny.
Tip: Measuring the fluff is the hardest part because it’s so
sticky. Spray the inside of a 1 cup dry measure (or 2 cup if you actually have one
of those!) before filling it with the fluff. This will prevent it from becoming
a sticky mess.
Assembly:
Using a small offset spatula or piping bag, spread a thick
layer of filling on the flat side of one cookie. Then gently press another
cookie on top of the filling to make a sandwich.
Store in between sheets of wax paper for up to 3 days.
Enjoy!
