The December Daring Bakers’ Challenge had us all cheering – the lovely and talented Bourbonnatrix of Bourbonnatrix Bakes was our hostess and challenged us to make fun, delicious and creative whoopie pies! Delicious little cake-like cookies sandwiching luscious filling in any flavors we chose… What else is there to say but “Whoopie!”
I went with Chef John’s Gingerbread Whoopie Pies with cream cheese filling recipe on All Recipes.com – you’ll find a great little video demonstration there too. I’d never made Whoopie Pies before – being an American invention, we don’t really see much of them Down Under. However, they are very similar to something we call Ginger Kisses – little ginger sponges with sweet vanilla cream in the middle.
It was a little tricky getting the batter to the right consistency, but I think I did quite well for a first go. They certainly were delicious! Just one note: I only made half of the filling recipe (didn’t have enough icing sugar) and found that it was actually pretty much enough for the nine Whoopie Pies. However, I’ve left the recipe as is, so you can decide for yourselves.
GINGERBREAD WHOOPIE PIES
Ingredients
- 10 oz by weight all-purpose flour (about 2 cups of sifted flour – see note below*)
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 rounded tsp ground ginger (3 if you like it spicy)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup dark molasses
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup boiling water
For the filling (makes extra!):
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)
- 1/4 cup butter (room temperature)
- 2 tsp cream or milk
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Combine flour, white sugar, molasses, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Mix in vegetable oil and egg until combined. Pour in boiling water and whisk until smooth.
- Drop dough in balls onto prepared baking sheet, about 1 inch apart, using a 1-ounce (30ml) ice cream scoop. Bake in the preheated oven until puffed and golden, about 12 minutes (I found they were ready at 10 minutes). Allow to cool on the pan for about 5 minutes before transferring onto a rack to cool completely.
- Beat confectioners’ sugar, cream cheese, butter, cream, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer on low until combined. Increase speed to high and beat until light and fluffy.
- Spread or pipe filling onto the bottom of a cookie; top with another similarly sized cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies. Chill for 30 minutes.
it looks delish!
Thanks! It sure was!
They look great! I’m bookmarking this recipe 🙂 Thanks for playing along this month!
Hey, and thanks to you for the great challenge! One of my favourites!
Hi, what kind of molasses did you use? A lot of American recipes frown upon using blackstrap as it’s too strong but that’s all I can find in NZ supermarkets…
Hi JD. The one I used was Chelsea Easy Pour Blackstrap Molasses – I guess it is strong, but I had no concern about the flavour at all – I thought the end result was fabulous. I’ll be interested to hear how you go.