Whoopie!

Hello again!  Well, I have completed my third Challenge 52 task, and I must say I like the idea of making some of them food-related!  My whoopie pies were a great success, not very beautiful to look at perhaps (the mixture 'splurged' a little!), but they tasted yummy, and everyone else agreed, so I was very pleased with my first attempt!  And next time, they will look much prettier, because my lovely Mum bought me a special whoopie pie baking tray, which I can't wait to use!  As promised, I have included some photos, and below that I have included the recipe I used, as requested by Jane of the Emporium of Curiosities, who is also taking part in the Challenge 52 over on her own blog.  There are many different variations on the basic idea though, and several books dedicated just to whoopie pies.  Mine is "The Whoopie Pie Book" by Claire Ptak, and the Amazon link for that is here in case you're tempted to give them a go yourself!

The cakey part of the Whoopies - as you can see, they are a variety of shapes from where they all splodged together on the baking tray; try to imagine they are perfect and round!

The completed Whoopies!  The classic is a chocolate cake with marshmallow filling, but these are chocolate chip whoopies, with a chocolate marshmallow filling, for which the recipe is below.

Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies

280g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1.5 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
.25 teaspoon salt
125g softened unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
100g light brown sugar
1 large egg
120ml buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g dark chocolate chips

• In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, stir in the salt and set aside.
• In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and mix well.
• Measure the buttermilk into a jug and add the vanilla.  Pour this into the butter mixture and beat until well combined.
• Slowly add the dry ingredients in tow batches, mixing until just combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.
• Chill the mixture for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C and line two baking trays with baking paper.
• Drop scoops of the mixture onto the baking trays - this should make either 9 large or 24 small whoopie pies, meaning 18 or 48 scoops of the mixture.  Beware, the mixture does spread out a lot!  Either space them well apart or bake them in several small batches if you want to keep them separate - see above for the results if you don't!
• Bake for 10-12 minutes for larger whoopies, or 8-10 minutes for smaller ones.  Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Chocolate Marshmallow Filling

You can buy jars of marshmallow fluff, or cheat by melting down marshmallows, but for my first go I wanted to go the whole hog and make it myself, so this is the recipe for it.

100g dark chocolate, broken up
3 egg whites
150g caster sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Melt the chocolate, then leave it to cool slightly whilst yo make the marshmallow.
• Place all the ingredients into a bowl, and place this over a pan of barely simmering water.  Whisk the mixture continuously by hand (good for building up arm muscles!) until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is frothy and slightly opaque - about 10-15 minutes should do it.
• Remove the bowl from the heat and whip the mixture on a high speed (using an electric whisk, or a freestanding mixer if you have one) until it is white and thick and holds its shape.
• Fold in the melted chocolate and use the mixture straight away.

Assemble the whoopie pies by spreading a generous scoop of the marshmallow filling on the underside of one whoopie cake, and top with another whoopie cake to make a sandwich.

The whoopies keep quite well in an airtight container, but the marshmallow is best on the day it's made, it goes less light and fluffy and a bit chewier after that, but I kept mine in an airtight container overnight and they were still edible the next day!