Cookies
I can already hear the creak of the step stool hinge unfolding the second I tell my 4-year old daughter that I’m about to bake something that involves sprinkles. That’s her cue to drop what she’s doing and get herself propped up next to me at the kitchen island to get involved in the action.
This weekend Heart-Shaped Whoopie Pies were on the menu. We had so much fun with the Bunny Whoopie Pies we made last year at Easter that I was eager to try some for Valentine’s Day. If you’ve never tasted a whoopie pie, these pillowy cakes with marshmallow frosting sandwiched in between are a real treat. Once again, we turned to a Wilton pan (included in today’s giveaway!) to create the fun shape. We decorated them simply with Valentine’s sprinkles around the edges but you can also get really creative and pipe words and other designs on top (like these from Baking Bites).
Ready to bake some fun Valentine’s treats of your own? Wilton is sponsoring a fabulous giveaway for us today: a Valentine’s Day Baking Prize Pack, valued at $50, including the heart-shaped whoopie pie pan plus Valentine’s Day cookie cutters, a pie press, sprinkles and more. Read on for how to enter the giveaway plus the Heart-Shaped Whoopie Pies recipe! [THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED]
Win a Valentine’s Day Baking Prize Pack from Wilton, including:
- Wilton Heart-Shaped Whoopie Pie Pan
- Micro Hearts Sprinkles
- Jumbo Hearts Sprinkles
- You Bake Me Smile Window Bag
- Text Message Icing Decs
- Heart Shaped Mini Pie Press
- Hearts a Flutter Cookie Cutter Set
- You Bake Me Smile Combo Cupcake (baking cups & picks)
- Valentine’s Nonpareils
Here are five ways to enter, you can do any or all of them (please leaveseparate commentsfor each entry):[THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED]
- Leave a comment at the very end of this post telling uswhat Valentine’s Day treat(s) you’re hoping to make this year.
- “Like” Cooking On the Sideon Facebook
- Subscribe to free updates from Cooking On the Side viae-mailorRSS
- Follow me on Pinterest
- Follow me @kathystrahson Twitter
The giveaway will close onWednesday, February 8 at noon PST.I will use random.org to select one winner and I will announce the winner in this post. I will contact the winner via e-mail – if I don’t receive a response within 5 days I will draw another name. My apologies to international readers, the prize can only be shipped to U.S. addresses.
** UPDATE 2/8/12: Congratulations to our winner, #69 Kathryn! **
Heart-Shaped Whoopie Pies
From the back of the Wilton Whoopie Pie Pan package
Prep time: 20 minutes | Cook time: 40 minutes | Total time: 1 hour (plus cooling time)
Yield: 12 whoopie pies (24 cakes total)
INGREDIENTS:
Whoopie Pies:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
Whoopie Pie Filling:
- 6 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow crème
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS:
For the Whoopie Pies:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray the whoopie pie pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until it’s light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla; beat until well combined.
- In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add half the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and mix on low speed. When the dry ingredients are almost incorporated, stop the mixer and add the buttermilk. Continue to mix on low speed until all ingredients are almost incorporated. Stop the mixer and add the remaining dry ingredients. Mix on low until just combined. Spoon 2 tablespoons of batter into each cavity; spread the batter to the edges (I got more even tops when I smoothed them with a rubber spatula). The cavity should be about 2/3 full.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back when touched. Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 8 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely before filling. To assemble the pies spread filling on one cake and sandwich with another cake.
For the Whoopie Pie Filling:
- In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until it’s creamy. Add the sugar and salt to the butter, mix well. Add the marshmallow creme and vanilla; blend well. Use immediately to fill the whoopie pies or refrigerate covered up to 1 week. Bring back to room temperature and lightly beat before using.
Many thanks to Wilton for sponsoring today’s giveaway.
Cookies
88 Comments
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88 Comments
Michelle wrote:
I am looking forward to making a strawberry cheesecake.
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Michelle wrote:
I already subscribe to your blog via email.
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Michelle wrote:
I already like your facebook page
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Rosemary wrote:
I would make heart shaped whoopie pies too! 🙂
And I liked you on facebook!Posted 2.7.12Reply
T.R. wrote:
What V-Day treats and I thinking of making fudge brownies. I love brownies and they are just a great comfort/love food. Though I wouldn’t mind making these whoopie pies.
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Debby G. wrote:
A giant heart shaped cookie!
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Debby G. wrote:
I subscribe to your RSS feed.
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Armindy wrote:
Wow! These look delicious. I’ll have to try and make these Valentines’ Day this year if I can. A friend of mine has a birthday the day before Valentines’ and I’m making him a car cake- my first 3D cake without help from a pan. Yikes. Then I have been ordered by my mom to make her some truffles. Maybe I’ll just sneak her some Whoopie Pies instead. ;D
Ah, I’m now following you on Pinterest. 🙂Posted 2.7.12Reply
Theresa wrote:
Honestly I was thinking of just buying some chocolate covered strawberries for my husband. They’re not my thing but he really loves them. Maybe I shouldn’t wimp out and at least dip them myself? We’ll see 🙂
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Angela wrote:
What a cute idea! I planned to make cookies to share at work, but these look a bit more fun!
Posted 2.7.12Reply
JessFee wrote:
So like I have posted before I was going to look around on your blog and it was a treat to see your corn muffin recipe. I had everything on hand to make them. I was making chili anyways so the corn muffins where a add on and a hit with my boyfriend and I. <3 I am so happy to of found your blog.. from your new fan.. Jess 🙂
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Jessica F wrote:
I’m hoping to make cake pops this year!
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Jessica F wrote:
I like Cooking on the Side on facebook 🙂
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Jessica F wrote:
following you on twitter!
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Kathryn wrote:
I’ll be making oreo cheesecake truffles.
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Kathryn wrote:
I follow you on Pinterest
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Kathryn wrote:
And I follow you on Twitter
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Ann wrote:
I plan on making these tiny ladybugs again (lovebugs! http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=562407274376&set=a.519946840426.2027892.22501825&type=3&theater ) for Valentine’s, among other cut-out cookies!
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Victoria Schwartz wrote:
I’m thinking of making a heart-shaped meringue and filling it with raspberries. I’ll probably make some chocolate meringue cookies while I’m at it.
Posted 2.7.12Reply
Carolyn wrote:
Those whoopie pies look wonderful! This year for my daughter’s class, we’re going to make things easy on ourselves and make chocolate chip cookies with a twist. We bought some cherry flavoured M&Ms to put in them too!
Posted 2.8.12Reply
Kathy Strahs wrote:
I haven’t seen cherry M&Ms yet – how cool, I need to find those!
Posted 2.8.12Reply
Jen @ Juanita's Cocina wrote:
I can’t wait to make boston cream pie cupcakes for my sweetheart!
Posted 2.8.12Reply
Amy in Austin wrote:
I’m hoping to make graham crackers and heart-shaped shortbread. Maybe even chocolate dipped.
Posted 2.8.12Reply
Amy in Austin wrote:
I followed you on Pinterest.
Posted 2.8.12Reply
Amy in Austin wrote:
I ‘liked’ you on Facebook
Posted 2.8.12Reply
Mary wrote:
I’ll be making Star Wars shaped chocolates for my bf for Valentine’s Day this year!
Posted 2.8.12Reply
Marilyn wrote:
Thank you for posting these instructions and recipes!!! I have a Wilton Heart-Shaped Whoopie Pie pan that came with no paper work. Now, thx to you, I can make Whoopie Pies for today==Valentines Day! I am going to try making the cake part from a cake mix and then make the filling recipe…wish me luck!! I’m making them for dinner tonight for my Mom and Hubby. Hubby is making Surf & Turf for dinner…I thought this would be the perfect dessert!
Have a love-filled, fun-filled Valentines Day!
Love,
SoftaPosted 2.14.12Reply
Wendy Marstaller wrote:
I made these last Sunday, the cakes were way to big so I cut down the amount of dough and that worked better, smoothing them out with a knife before baking also helped. The frosting was like soup and I have made a lot of Whoopie pies in the past. I followed the recipe and even my husband said, “what happened to the filling?” The cake tasted fine but the filling was not good at all.
Posted 2.8.13Reply
Kathy Strahs wrote:
Hi Wendy,
Sorry to hear the filling didn’t work out for you. I hope you didn’t maybe leave out an ingredient? Or perhaps melt the butter rather than soften it? Between the marshmallow cream, sugar and solid-state butter it would be pretty hard for it to turn out like soup – there’s nothing liquid in it but a small amount of vanilla. It sounds like something didn’t go quite right. Glad the cakes tasted good!
~ Kathy
Posted 2.8.13Reply
