Whoopie Pies with Peanut Filling - Foodie Extravaganza

Do whoopie pies count as cookies? I found this recipe in Taste of Home's Ultimate Cookie Collection. Cookie collection. If they do indeed count as cookies, I can add them to the much-too-short list of cookies that I can successfully bake - Alton Brown's chewy chocolate chip cookies, these chocolate lava cookies, and biscotti/mandelbrot. However, if you consider them to be little cake sandwiches, then it's back to the drawing board for me. 

Waiting for filling

March is National Peanut Month and peanuts are the ingredient of choice for this month's Foodie Extravaganza. Chocolate and peanut butter is a classic combination. However, it's not one that I truly love. In fact, while I love peanuts, I am pretty nonchalant about peanut butter. I thought I'd explore chocolate plus peanuts where peanuts were also adding texture to the soft cakes. Great decision. One not so good decision was when I used spicy peanuts. I love spicy food. And I've been trying to figure out how to approach the cayenne + chocolate combination. This, however, was not it. I simply chose the wrong brand of spicy peanuts. They were much too savoury (from the addition of dried tomatoes, etc.) for this application. I will have to make my own spicy peanuts to try again. Or I could just stop hesitating and add cayenne to my chocolate batters. One day.

Whoopie Pies with Peanut Filling

Recipe by: Kelster   Adapted from: Taste of Home and Cook's Country

Yield: ~15 pies (30 mini cakes plus filling)

Filling Ingredients 3/4 cup sugar 2 tablespoons flour 1.5 tablespoons cornstarch 1/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup milk (I used almond milk) 1 teaspoon vanilla 3/4 cup butter, room temperature 1/3 cup peanuts (chopped or crushed) Cake Ingredients 1/4 cup cocoa 1/4 cup hot water 1/4 cup butter, room temperature 3/4 cup sugar 1 egg 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda pinch of salt 1 1/3 cup flour 1/4 cup buttermilk

Directions Filling.  Whisk together sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt in a small saucepan. Add milk to the saucepan and whisk until smooth. Place pan on medium-high heat. Stir continuously until the mixture boils and becomes very thick. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. You can refrigerate it to speed up the cooling.  When boiled milk mixture is cooled, place in a mixing bowl, add vanilla and whisk together for 30 seconds or until combined. Beat in the butter one tablespoon at a time until mixed in. Then beat the mixture on medium-high speed until it becomes light and fluffy. This could take about 7 minutes. Set aside to set at room temperature. It will thicken a bit more as it sits.  Cakes Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two half sheet pans or cover with parchment paper. Thoroughly mix together cocoa powder and hot water. Set aside to cool.  Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, beating until fully combined. Mix in the cocoa mixture. Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then alternate adding the flour with the buttermilk, beating well after each addition. Drop tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. Make sure that they are at least 2 inches apart as they will spread. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cakes are firm to the touch, switching and rotating pans halfway through baking. Cool completely.  You can fill cakes in different ways. Spread some filling on one cake, add some of the peanuts. Top with another cake spread with some filling. Or you could spread filling on a cake, sandwich with another cake, then roll the sandwich in crushed peanuts.

Notes Filling needs time to cool and set. It should be made before the cakes. Some of your cakes might be a bit smaller than others. Be sure to pair matching cakes together before filling. Aesthetically, I would have preferred bigger peanut pieces my but my Rocket made quick work of the peanuts.

Welcome to the March Foodie Extravaganza!  
  Where we all share delicious recipes with the same main ingredient.  

This month the ingredient is Peanuts!  We have a great variety of yummy recipes from main dishes to desserts to share with you.  If you would like to participate in the next Foodie Extravaganza, just go to the Facebook page to join.  We would love to have you!

• Peanut and Candy Popcorn Ball from We Like to Learn as We Go
• Kung Pao Chicken from Fearlessly Creative Mammas 
• Peanut Almond Polvoron from The Joyful Foodie 
• Cold Spicy Peanut Noodles from Culinary Adventure with Camilla 
• Oatmeal Peanut Butter Scones from Baking in Pyjamas 
• Reese's Cheesecake Brownies from Making Miracles 
• Peanut Crunch Pull Apart Bread from Mrs. Penguin 
• Spicy Georgia Sugared Peanuts from Food Lust People Love 
• Chocolate Caramel Peanut Clusters from The Freshman Cook 
• A Peanutty Treat from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Peanut Whoopie Pies from Passion Kneaded

Enjoy!

Jam-Filled Mandelbrot & A Baby Shower

Today's a very special day! A group of bloggers, led by Lauren from Sew You Think You Can Cook have joined together to celebrate a very special lady. Tara just had baby number two! And we are celebrating with twice baked cookies. Have you been to her blog - Tara's Multicultural Table? Beautiful pics. Amazing food. It's a great resource if you're planning an international menu or just want to learn about dishes from across the world..

For this event, I made some guava mandelbrot. Mandelbrot ("almond bread") is an Eastern European version of the Italian biscotti. Like the name suggests, they are typically made with almonds. Now, the history of the mandelbrot is a bit murky to me. The difference between the biscotti and the mandelbrot is even murkier. It seems that Italian Jews introduced their cookies to Eastern European Jews. In Eastern Europe, they were called mandelbrot. If you poll ten different persons, you will probably hear ten completely different explanations about the difference. Mandelbrot is softer. No, it's harder. Mandelbrot has more fat. No it doesn't. Mandelbrot uses oil to account for dietary restrictions. I found a recipe that used butter. The ratio of flour to eggs is different. One is sweeter. Etc.

I really have no idea. I think both recipes evolved so much over time that's it's hard to tell a difference. What I do know is that this is one delicious twice baked cookie. I opted for a mandelbrot with a filling - specifically, guava jam. I'm currently riding a guava jam craving and depending on my mood, there could be another guava jam recipe coming next week. Anyway, I came across this recipe on Sarabeth Levine's blog and she got the recipe from her mother-in-law.

The cookies are DELICIOUS. They were definitely a wee bit softer than traditional biscotti. But if left in the oven longer, they would harden more. However, I love them as is.  I am not a cookie-baker and I could do this. I encourage you to try this recipe with your favourite jam (GUAVA, use GUAVA). The only thing that I'd do differently next time is to roll the cookies a bit of cinnamon sugar before their second bake. I meant to do it this time, but I put them in the oven and forgot the cinnamon sugar sitting on the counter. It's probably for the best though. They were sweet enough as is. Plus, I am still pretending to give up refined sugar for Lent. When you're finished making these, leave your oven on so you can make the other delicious biscottis that you'll find listed below.

Congrats, Tara! And thanks for hosting, Lauren!

.

Guava Mandelbrot

Recipe by: Kelly  Adapted from: slightly from Sarabeth's

Yield: ~14 cookies

Ingredients 6 tablespoons butter 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1 egg, beaten 2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder pinch of salt 8 teaspoons orange juice 1/4 cup guava jam (or thinly sliced guava jam)

Directions Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stop and scrape the bowl when necessary. Gradually add the egg and vanilla then beat in the baking powder and salt.  Slowly add in the flour in three additions alternating with the orange juice. Mix until it just comes together. Remove the dough from the bowl and pat into a thick rectangle. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper.  On a lightly floured parchment, knead the dough a few times until smooth. Sprinkle the top lightly with flour then roll out to a 1/4" thick rectangle measuring about 16" x 8". Spread the jam over the dough leaving a 1/2" border around the edges.If using guava paste, lay the slices evenly across the dough. Fold the shorter sides over one inch. With a longer edge facing you, fold the top third down and the bottom third up (a letter fold). Lift the parchment with the dough and place the dough seam side down on the prepared half sheet pan. Remove the paper that's now on top. Bake 25 - 30 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes.  Slice at an angle into 3/4"-1" pieces. Put the cookies (non-jam side down) back on the sheet pan. Return to oven for 8-10 minutes until lightly toasted

Notes You could also bake them cut-side down as is down with biscotti. You'll a little jam stuck to your parchment - not a big deal.  Try rolling in some cinnamon sugar before the second bake.

Biscotti Bites from Nicole at I am a Honey Bee

Blueberry Pecan Biscotti from Renee at Magnolia Days

Cinnamon Biscotti from Lauren at Sew You Think You Can Cook

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti from Stacy at Food Lust People Love

Dark Chocolate Orange Biscotti from Amy at Amy's Cooking Adventures

Green Tea Biscotti Cookies from Rebekah at Making Miracles

Jam-Filled Mandelbrot from Kelly at Passion Kneaded

Maple Walnut Biscotti from Sally at Bewitching Kitchen

Nut-Free Anise Biscotti with Chocolate Chips from Susan at The Wimpy Vegetarian

Orange and Dark Chocolate Biscotti from Lynsey at Lynsey Lou's

Parmesan-Peppercorn Biscotti from Camilla at Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Tangelo, Date, and Almond Biscotti from Karen at Karen's Kitchen Stories

Spa Water from of Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious

Lemon & Herb Braided Loaf - CIC

This month, the ingredients for our Crazy Ingredient Challenge are lemon and basil. I really wanted to try a lemon and basil dessert. I have seen so many basil desserts and have been itching to try. Alas, I ran out of time. You see, I decided to give up refined sugar for Lent (failing miserably, by the way). It didn't make sense to make too many desserts that I couldn't eat.

So I decided to make a lemon basil bread. Buuuut, when I went to the supermarket, all their coolers were down (WEIRD) and everything that could be kept in a cooler was... I have no idea really. The sign said that one should talk to an associate. But I was not in the mood to wait so I grabbed a bottle of Italian seasoning mix. It has basil, marjoram, oregano and other herbs. I figured that I would make an herb-y bread instead of just basil.

It's a delicious bread. I think I could even increase the herbs. Maybe add in some garlic too. The crumb is relatively tight but still very light like a sandwich bread. Don't forget to check out what the other bloggers made today!

Lemon Herb Braided Loaf 

Biga
120 grams flour
75 grams water
1/8 teaspoon yeast

Final Dough
180 grams all purpose flour
60 grams whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
115 grams milk
25 grams water 
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice


Directions

Combine the ingredients for the biga. Knead to form a firm dough. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight. I left mine for 12 hours.

For the final dough, combine the biga and all the final dough ingredients. Knead until it forms a smooth dough and gluten is almost developed.

Cover and bulk ferment for approximately 1-2 hours or until dough has doubled.

Divide the dough into three equal pieces. Loosely form into logs and let rest for 10 minutes.

Roll each log into 12" - 14" ropes. Braid. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let proof until risen and puffy. This could take about an hour depending on your room's temperature.

About 20 minutes before baking, preheat oven to  425 F.

Bake loaf for 30 minutes or until the loaf is golden and has reached an internal temperature of ~ 200 F. 

An InLinkz Link-up