Mini Raspberry and White Chocolate Mascarpone Whoopie Pies,..very tasty!

Tip: If you do not have buttermilk on hand, add one tablespoon of vinegar to 1 cup of milk and let stand for 10 minutes.


I made a go at my very first whoopie pies! These are not your traditional Whoopie Pies! Whoopie Pies began as a Pennsylvania Amish tradition. Made from leftover batter, they were a special treat they would send off in their children's lunch bags. Simple, neat and delicious, these dome shaped pieces of cake with a creamy middle are sure to make you call out "Whoopie!" every time you take a bite.

In some form or fashion, there are constantly cupcakes littering my entire house! The kitchen counter, the refrigerator, the microwave, the freezer, etc. I have left over practice frosting, old cupcakes for practice, cupcakes in the freezer and cupcake books scattering the house... Soner is probably beginning to feel like he walked into an alternate universe and instead of playstation and pizza, he gets Cupcake Wars and cupcakes. Poor guy! No matter how much you may like cupcakes, even I stopping licking the bowl after the first 2 or 3 experimental batches a few weeks ago!

This week I am shaking things up. No more experimental batches for the week (well maybe one more)! I will work on technique and actually baking delicious, already yummy, desserts! So yesterday I began my first foray into Whoopie Pies and if I hadn't been so high on sweets and sugar from all the cupcakes and frostings of the past week, I probably would have yelled "Whoopie!" (if only you could hear me now, I am actually testing out the way Whoopie sounds out loud with joy and excitement in my voice!).

I found this wonderfully decadent looking Whoopie Pie recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens website for Mini Raspberry and White Chocolate Mascarpone Whoopie Pies. Doesn't the name just scream out to you! These Whoopie Pies were very good. Although I did have a little trouble getting them to rise instead of spread.

Side Note: I used an air bake cookie sheet for the first batch but a normal flat cookie sheet worked much better for these little ones. The bottom had a much better texture upon switching the pans.

Mini Raspberry and White Chocholate Mascarpone Whoopie Pies

makes 72 sandwich cookies (fairly accurate if you use a teaspoon to scoop,..I may have ended up with about 60 or so)
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup seedless raspberry preserves
White Chocolate and Mascarpone Filling
Colored sugar (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Alternately add flour and buttermilk, beating on low speed after each addition just until mixture is combined. Spoon dough with a teaspoon, 1 inch apart onto prepared cookie sheet.

3. Bake in the preheated oven for 7 to 8 minutes or until tops are set. Cool completely on parchment-lined cookie sheet on a wire rack. Peel cooled cookies off the paper. Spread the flat side of half of the cookies with about 1/4 teaspoon raspberry preserves. In a large pastry bag fitted with a small star tip, pipe White Chocolate and Mascarpone Filling over the raspberry preserve layer. Top with the remaining cookies, flat sides down. If desired, pipe additional filling on top of whoopie pies and/or sprinkle with colored sugar. Chill for 30 minutes before serving. Makes about 72 sandwich cookies.

White Chocolate and Mascarpone Filling: In a heavy small saucepan, combine 3 ounces chopped white baking chocolate (with cocoa butter) and 1/4 cup whipping cream. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate nearly melts. Remove from heat; stir until smooth. Cool for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese and 1/4 cup softened butter. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until smooth. Beat in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Gradually add 4 cups powdered sugar, beating well. Beat in the cooled white chocolate mixture. Chill about 30 minutes or until firm enough to pipe.

To Store: Place bars in a single layer in an airtight container; cover. Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at least 1 hour in refrigerator before serving.

Make sure to melt chocolate and cream on low so as not to burn. Burnt white chocolate tastes likes burnt not-so-goodness.

Wait until the mascarpone cheese reaches room temperature or it may not blend smoothly with the butter.

Add a little powdered sugar at a time to avoid sugar flying everywhere!!

The Mascarpone Cheese before adding the White Chocolate would make a great frosting!

White Chocolate Mixture added in.

You get a wonderfully creamy and smooth mixture that you must refrigerate for about 30 minutes so it will pipe out beautifully.

A little flat but they taste very cake-y and delicious!

Raspberry Preserves spread on every other half.

These Whoopie Pies were absolutely delicious. They were a bit flat but they were the perfect bite size treat. I probably polished off about 4 or 5 before Soner got home just to make sure "they tasted good." I definitely need to figure out why they spread so much and how to make perfectly round pieces because I really enjoyed the taste and would love to make them again. I used a rounded teaspoon and tried to fill it with exactly the same amount each time but the sizes and shapes of the Whoopie Pies never were consistent.

I look forward to trying out more of these treats. I loved the Whoopie Pie almost as much as cupcakes because each "pie" yielded the perfect ratio of sweet fillings to cake. If I could find some fancy way to decorate them, they may become my newest favorite baking item although they do take quite a lot of time and effort.

Side Note: Can anyone tell me why the cake tops were sticky to the touch? My cupcakes sometimes come out like this also. I baked them for the recommended time and actually baked one batch for longer to see if the flattening of the cakes was a structural problem (possibly it fell flat upon taking out of oven because it wasn't finished forming its structure??)

Cupcake Experiment #2 using Martha Stewart's Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes

Well, I am kicking myself in the butt a little right now as I literally two seconds ago as I wrote the blog title, realized I made Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes and NOT Vanilla Cupcakes as my intent. The Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book does not seem to find the plain 'ol "Vanilla Cupcake" quite worth its page space so instead they feature the Yellow Buttermilk Cupcake. Although the Buttermilk Cupcake is quite similar, it does in fact, have buttermilk. But anyway, close enough for the time being. Can anyone tell me what the major difference in taste would be between Martha Stewart's Vanilla and Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes? Recipe-wise it seems the Buttermilk recipe calls for more eggs, more cake flour, buttermilk and a little less butter. Will this drastically change the overall taste or only provide a different texture?

On to the experiment, I divided the recipe in two this time for an original batch and a Greek Yogurt infused batch. I set out all of my ingredients including milk, eggs and butter to warm to room temperature and prepared my egg yolks while they were still cold as I read this will allow the yolk and whites to separate easier. Then you know, I kind of shook things up, did a little dance, walked around a bit, jammed to music, got my heart pumping and prepared for another day of tasting batters and cupcakes while not adding to my "sleek" figure.

Cupcakes are a funny thing. They always look mouth watering delicious and scrumptious but a lot of times they don't pass muster. Sometimes the frosting is too overwhelming to taste the cake or the cake cannot pull its own weight as part of a team (the cake and the frosting) but since our eyes play a major part in the experience of a cupcake, we are tricked into believing a beautifully decorated cupcake is delicious as well. I probably cannot count the number of truly great cupcakes I have had on one hand but I can tell you the frosting always looks pretty.


I mixed my cupcakes per the recipe instructions and added 1/4 cup Greek Yogurt to one batch, roughly 15 cupcakes. The bake time for the yogurt infused cupcakes was 2 minutes longer than the original batch as to be expected. Upon completion, the Greek Yogurt infused Martha Stewart Buttermilk Cupcakes held their "cupcake" shape a bit better than the yogurt infused JoyofBaking.com's Vanilla Cupcakes. Overall, both the original and yogurt infused Martha Stewart Buttermilk Cupcakes felt a little heavier and a bit more dense than the JoyofCooking.com's Vanilla Cupcakes. The yogurt infused JoyofBaking.com's Vanilla Cupcake on left and yogurt infused Martha Stewart Yellow Buttermilk Cupcake on right.

In a taste test, the original Buttermilk Cupcakes had a sweet corn bread like taste and similar texture in my opinion while the yogurt infused Buttermilk Cupcakes were more moist. However, while the texture was fairly similar to the original, the exterior of the cupcake was thicker and not quite as easy to cut with a fork thus making it not so much a winner in my book. Compared to the JoyofBaking.com's cupcakes, overall, the Martha Stewart's Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes were more moist in general which can probably be attributed to the use of egg yolks in the recipe. Egg yolks contribute to a spongier and more moist texture.
Head to head, the yogurt infused Martha Stewart Buttermilk Cupcake vs. the yogurt infused JoyofBaking.com's Vanilla Cupcake... both were moist cupcakes, however, the MS Buttermilk was more moist. Since I was not a fan of the texture though, I would definitely have to tweak the amount of yogurt added. I believe I may be able to achieve similar results if I substituted some of the egg in the JoyofBaking.com's Vanilla Cupcake with egg yolks.
This experiment is definitely a learning experience. If you taste the batter, you can definitely distinguish between the flavors and while none of the cupcakes are winners yet, I am learning what works and what doesn't and through research, why it works out as it does. Oh and eating lots of yummy cupcakes! You can tell we enjoyed the yogurt infused cupcakes (in the yellow wrappers) more than the original versions!)

Martha Stewart's Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes
* 3 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
* 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 2 1/4 cups sugar
* 5 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
* 2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
* 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium. Add whole eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add yolks, and beat until thoroughly combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each. Beat in vanilla.
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.