Thursday, October 4, 2007

Chocolate Peanut Butter Filled Whoopie Pies & Sweets for my Sweet (chocolate peanut butter, of course)!

Please head over to my new blog at TheUrbanHousewife.com, where you'll find this post & more!

As I've mentioned many times, I love to bake for others. In fact, nothing I make is for myself, it's always to share! I try to keep busy & attend events almost every weekend, so my baking is always for others & I like it that way. One such event was a board game night a few weeks back, of course I volunteered to make treats. A bit burnt out on cupcakes (gasp!), I scoured the internet for a fun treat to bring that was more exciting than cookies, but still individual servings. I happened upon the perfect item, Kittee's Chocolate Peanut Butter filled Whoopie Pies! I can't help but tinker with recipes, so my changes are noted with a star & listed as optional.

Chocolate Whoopie Pies
Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa
dash of salt
1 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup Spectrum Brand non-hydrogenated shortening
1/4 cup applesauce mixed with a 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup warm water
*1 teaspoon Instant Espresso Powder (optional)
*2 teaspoons semi-sweet chocolate, melted & cooled (optional)

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375F.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cocoa, espresso powder, and salt; set aside. (I like to sift my dry ingredients together, but it's your call!)

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine sugar, shortening, and applesauce/baking powder mixture & beat for about 2 minutes.

Add the dry ingredients, milk & water into the wet mixture & beat at medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add vanilla & melted chocolate and beat again until mixture is thoroughly blended, but do not over beat, it will be moderately thick.

Using a small ice cream scoop or large spoon, drop by rounded tablespoons onto a Silpat or un-greased non-stick cookie sheet leaving room for the pies to spread. Smooth out the tops of your scoops, as this will affect the aesthetic of your pies.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the center springs back when lightly pressed or a toothpick comes out clean. These are very cake like in texture, be careful not to over bake them.

Let them cool for a few minutes, then remove them from the cookie sheet to cool on wire racks. They need to cool completely before the peanut butter filling can be spread on.

Peanut Butter Filling
Ingredients:

1 tablespoon Earth Balance or other vegan margarine
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons soy milk

Instructions:
In a large bowl, beat together Earth Balance and peanut butter.

Add the confectioners' sugar and slowly add the soy milk, beating with an electric mixer at medium speed. Add more milk if needed, then beat at high speed until light and fluffy.

Assemble your Whoopie Pies!
Take one cookie & spread a layer of peanut butter filling in the center, not quite touching the ends, apply another cookie on top & you're golden! woo.

This yields around 16 whoopie pies, depending on the size of your ice cream scoop.

My Notes:
These were delicious & people instantly requested I make them again. The recipe I posted above is halved from the original since it yielded around 35 whoopie pies & I felt like I was assembling them for days! I added the instant espresso powder & melted chocolate to add depth & flavor, as I tend to find cocoa based recipes a bit bland. I noticed the photos of Kittee's pies almost look like french macarons! Mine were much flatter & spread more than I expected, but we're still lovely little fluffy little cakes of joy. Shortly after I made these, the hot ladies at Bake & Destroy Flickr pool started discussing & baking their own versions. Great minds think alike! By the way, Kittee's recipe site & Kittee's blog contain a wealth of information, do yourself a favor & check them out!


Awhile back Ryan & I celebrated another anniversary, 9 years of dating. While most people stop celebrating dating anniversaries once they're married, we thought 9 years was something worth a mention & used it as an excuse to get out of town for a weekend. On a photo shoot, someone had mentioned their friend gave her husband a gift called "Dessert of the Month" & every month he could pick any dessert he wanted & she would make it for him, no questions asked. For our dating anniversary, I decided Ryan should be given the gift of a dessert of his choice every month. The man loves anything peanut butter & chocolate, so his first choice was hardly a shock, Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Sandwiches. These were inspired by Celine, especially since I was given similar ice cream sandwich molds shortly after her post.

The cookies are straight from Celine's post with a bit of espresso powder added. For the filling, I used a previous recipe I've mentioned for Peanut Butter Gelato, but upped the peanut butter content, threw in a smidgen of agave nectar, & used half almond milk to make sure the ice cream would be nutty & rich! The ice cream was wonderful & we were happy to have some leftover from the sandwiches to cover in Ricemallow & melted chocolate! There was also spaces left between the animal cookie cutter shapes, so I made mini chocolate heart cookies to send with Ryan for work snacking. Ice cream sandwiches are fun to make & went over VERY well, I recommend making these, they keep well for a good amount of time in the freezer, individually wrapped. By the way, are animal shaped foods still vegan? hehe.

I'm pretty sure he's going to ask for something chocolate-peanut butter every month. While the rules stated I wouldn't object to his choices, I must admit I've tried to influence him by sending links & begging him not to request plain peanut butter cookies. I was hoping he'd GO BIG, but that doesn't look to be the case, as he wants peanut butter cups this month. *sigh*

By the way, I'll be working in Seattle next week.
I've been to some great places there, but I'm always looking for more recommendations on places to see, events to attend, bands to check out, & even people to dine with! Feel free to post a comment or get in touch!

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

the whoopie pies are seriously making me swoon.
have fun in Seattle!

Anonymous said...

hi!
just recently came across your blog and wanted to say i thoroughly enjoyed it (and added it to my "blog roll"). great stuff!

Anna said...

Woah, so impressive. I just can't resist choc-PB combinations, and LOVE the cute animal-shaped ice cream sandwiches. Happy 9th dating anniversary! :) I think it's sweet that you still celebrate that. Nine years IS very significant.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

I'm the same way - I always bake for others, NEVER for myself (although, I must admit, I do save a sample of my bake goods for myself, after distributing the rest to family and friends, haha). Wow, Chocolate Peanut Butter-filled Whoopie Pies?? How delightful!! As are those sensational ice cream sandwiches. Yum!!

Have a wonderful time in Seattle!!

Vegan_Noodle said...

Those whoopie pies are awesome, especially for another peanut butter and chocolate lover!! What a lucky man you have, dessert of his choice every month!! Those ice cream sandwiches are too cute, I love the pig shape :-)

AJ Bindel said...

I might make these for my hubby's upcoming birthday!

Gigi said...

oooh. my boyfriend loves peanut butter and chocolate, i bet i could get major brownie point for these! thanks!

Anonymous said...

Even though I just ate quite a few spoonfuls of peanut butter out of a jar (I know, I know, I have a problem!), I could still go for those whoppie pies! The piggy! He's so cute.

bazu said...

If anyone could convince me to love chocolate/PB, it would have to be you with all these gorgeous creations. Wow.

And happy 9th anniversary! I agree about celebrating dating anniversaries- we have first date, first kiss, first ... other things... they all need to be commemorated! With dessert, if possible.

Anonymous said...

What a fun-filled post! Both treats look delicious. Marty's been bugging me to make up some ice cream. Peanut butter ice cream sounds wonderful. I'm putting the bowl in the freezer tonight!

Becka Robinson said...

aren't chocolate chips non-vegan?

Anonymous said...

My daughter is a new vegan - she told me she cannot use granulated sugar because the blades that they use to grind the sugar are made of animal bone. Is this true?

TB said...

Fantastic post! I loooovvvvve these choco pb whoopie pies and will bookmark them for the next time i need a dessert and feel burnt out on cupcakes (it happens to the best of us, at one time or another ;)).

Pink Theory said...

yummy! What lucky people in your life that get to benefit from you baking for them.

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

adorable! i could totally eat a few of those.

jess (of Get Sconed!) said...

Those are adorable!



And seriously, we have a 'I want a dehydrator' club, don't we?

aTxVegn said...

Those pies look fantastic! I'm always hesitant to make cookie sandwiches cuz my cookies are never equal in size, but yours look perfect.

Unknown said...

Ok, mine didn't turn out as beautiful as yours did. But they were well recieved and went down well at the Mercy For Animals meeting. Yummm.
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=117020283&albumId=1249127

KitteeBee said...

yum! they look awesome!

ox
kittee

Jody from VegChic said...

PB and chocolate...the best combo every.

The whoopie pies look perfect.

urban vegan said...

All I can say is..."Whoppeee!"

vko said...

Whoppie for whoopie pies!!

Looks great and those little animal ice cream sandwiches are too damn cute. Your husband is lucky lucky lucky. Have fun in Seattle!

Mikaela said...

Oh. My. God. I can't handle looking at all this chocolate and peanut butter...! Your hubby is insanely lucky, he knows that, right?

:)

Joni Marie Newman said...

pb + chocolate = super yummy!

Congrats on your 9 years of dating!
(My husband and I ONLY celebrate our dating anniversary. 13 years is way more impressive than 2!)

robotslingshot said...

Wow! For a chocoholic, your page is a lovely discovery... Thanks for sharing your baking prowess!!

Paula

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

celine- they were totally swoon worthy! hehe.

allie- thank you!

veganista- choco-PB make the world go 'round.. well in my house at least! Thank you for the well wishes.

veggiegirl- I always sample my goods, but I try to push them out to others ASAP, so I don't sample too many! hehe.

amanda- thank you! I enjoy making the desserts, so it's a pretty fair trade.

EBS & gigi- Do it! The men love these things.

Ash- I used to eat a jar a week, all by myself, mainly by the spoonful! eeeek.

bazu- Thank you! It's fun to find reasons to eat decadent food, right?!

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

vivacious v- We were more than happy to have left over PB ice cream to top with ricemallow cream & chocolate! hehe.

miss mrs- nope! most brands of semisweet chocolate chips should be fine! there's some with traces of milk, so it's best to check the label. i use e. guittard chocolate for my baking.

anonymous- there's great info on vegan sugar here: www.pakupaku.info/knowledge/sugars.shtml
if you have a whole foods nearby they now sell "vegan sugar".

textual- they're indeed a hit when you don't want to make cupcakes!

atxvegn- it's all about the ice cream scoop!

chicagov- i'm glad you made & enjoyed them!!

kittee- thank you for an awesome recipe!

mikaela- I *think* he knows, haha! He gets tired of my constant messes though!

pink theory, pp vegan, jess, jody, urbanvegan, vko, joni, robotslingshot- thank you so much!

Anonymous said...

I'm lovin the Chocolate and Peanutbutter Whop Pie recipe!!! I will definitely give this a try soon. If you and your readers love chocolate you'll be intrigued by the creative college student baker at http://thestudentstomach.blogspot.com she has some really appetizing chocolate recipes and photos including her yummy Brown-ka-roons! Check it out! By the way...."Chocolateshow" is coming to New York City on November 10-13. You may know that it is modeled after the famous Salon du Chocolat in Paris!

Anonymous said...

Hi there! I just made your whoppie pies, after discovering your blog the other day. There's one thing about the recipe though--nowhere does it say how much vanilla to add. (Vanilla is mentioned in the narrative part of the recipe, but is not on the ingredient list.) I checked Kittie's recipe and the omission is there too. I added 1 teaspoon vanilla -- does that sound about right?

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

the banker- Thanks for shopping by! I'd love to go to a Chocolate Show!

anon- I'm so sorry there's no vanilla measurement! I'm no sure what I used, but 1 teaspoon sounds about right!

jd said...

Wow - hello, delicious - these cookies look fantastic! I have to admit, there's almost nothing better than a chocolate + peanut butter combo in any fashion whatsoever. By the way, your blog is great - I'm so glad I found it!


PS By the way, congrats on your recent anniversary! My bf & I actually just celebrated our 10yr dating anniversary in October - we all sure know how to commit, huh?! :)

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

jd- we're huge fans of the chocolate-PB combo around here, so these were perfect! Congrats on your 10 years of dating, that's awesome!