Mini Whoopie Pies

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!

Meyer Lemons

Meyer lemons, to a New York foodie, are a bit like the Holy Grail. Living on the east coast of the United States, we are often mocked by this illusive citrus fruit.

Thin skinned with a juice that has a flavor somewhere between an orange and a traditional lemon, they make a great addition to breads, cakes and sauces.

Meyer lemons are generally only found in California and are rarely, if ever, shipped as far as NY so we're forced to use a combination of oranges and lemons which never quite matches the unique flavor of a Meyer lemon.

I was recently given a wonderful gift of 2 Meyer lemons from a tree in my cousin's yard. Since it's such a rare and wonderful treat, I want to make sure I appropriately pay homage to this treat. The pressure to make the perfect dish was huge. Every morning I would pick up the fruit, smell it and gently squeeze it (no, I'm not calling it George) to make sure I didn't wait too long.

Last night, I began to panic - it had been 4 days since I received them and I knew they'd been picked at least a day prior but I still couldn't decide what to make.

So instead of making something sub-par, I made a big decision. With my breath held, I squeezed the juice, every last drop, into a measuring cup (2 Meyer lemons gave up nearly 1/2 cup of juice) and poured it into an ice cube tray. Yes, that's right, I froze the juice into 5 large cubes.

As the dry skins went into the trash, I immediately regretted not grating some of the zest along with the juice but at least I saved the most important part, right? RIGHT??

At least I bought myself some more time to make something delicious. Maybe I'll make my Lavender-Lemon Tea Cakes with it, maybe I'll take a cube and throw it into a sauce for fish, maybe I'll make my favorite pasta dish with some butter, black pepper and Parmesan cheese. The possibilities are endless... Anyone have any other suggestions?

I will post the result(s) here. Stay tuned.