Reading our most current issue of the Costco Connection magazine (“A lifestyle magazine for Costco Members” published by our big-box warehouse store), I saw a recipe titled
Whoopie Pies. I liked the picture of the finished product and with a name like Whoopie Pies, I just had to make it. I knew that I had my nephew and his family coming in a few days and they would be glad to help eat up any extra whoopee pies so that my wife and I wouldn’t feel obligated to eat them.
On a recent trip to the store, I picked up the cheapest cake mix I could find: Betty Crocker Super Moist Dark Chocolate cake mix. I also found a small container (like a pint milk container) of pasteurized egg whites as called out in the recipe.
This recipe was very easy to make. I dumped the cake mix into the mixer bowl, added the melted butter, and the one egg. I mixed it for less than a minute and it clumped into a large thick mass. (I must say that if you ever want to make fake poo, this is the way to do it.)
I turned on the oven to heat to 350 degrees and started rolling out the dough into one-inch balls. I was able to fit twelve balls on a cookie sheet by leaving two-inches between the balls. I baked the first batch of cakes for twelve minutes, which seemed a little too long, as they were very brown on the bottom. I cooked the other batches for eleven minutes each. The recipe says to let the cakes cool for five minutes on the cookie sheet, but I found that I could lift them right off onto the wire cooling rack without a problem.
Once all the cakes were finished baking and cooling on the wire rack, I let them sit for at least thirty minutes until they were all room temperature.
The filling was also fun to make, I put the two-cups of powdered sugar in the mixing bowl with the 1/4-cup of vegetable shortening, three-tablespoons of the pasteurized egg whites, and a tablespoon of vanilla extract. I mixed this combination for about one minute until it was very smooth and creamy.
All that was left was to place about a tablespoon of the filling on each of the bottoms of half the cakes, and place the other half of the cakes on top to make a sandwich. I had some of the filling left over, I guess that I could have used more in each sandwich. The article said it should make 18 whoopie pies, I only made 14 – maybe I made my dough balls too large.
When I ate my first pie, I was a little disappointed as the cakes were a little to dry, it tasted good, but it crumbled as I ate it. We put the remainder in a Tupperware container in the refrigerator to keep until eaten. I ate another whoope pie after dinner, it was much better. The filling had softened the cakes just a little bit and I really enjoyed that one.
This would be a fun recipe to make with children and I think they would really enjoy making the sandwiches out of the cakes and the filling.
Find the recipe here:
http://www.costcoconnection.com/connection/201005?pg=41#pg41
Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell
I scrubbed the outside of two large russet potatoes and sliced them into 3/8 inch slices. Next, I sprayed a cookie sheet with cooking spray and placed the potato slices on the cookie sheet. I brushed the top of the potato pieces with a little grape seed oil to keep them from drying out while cooking. On top, I spread a little salt and pepper for seasoning and they were ready to cook.
I already had the oven heated to 375 degrees in convection mode to cook the ribs, so I just added the potatoes on a rack near the top of the oven and let them bake with the ribs. When the ribs finished cooking after about 25 minutes, I checked the potatoes, but they were not quite finished, so I placed them back in the oven at 425 degrees for an additional 10 minutes while I prepared the rest of the dinner.
The finished potato slabs were a nice golden brown on top, crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside. Our only disappointment was that we were out of catsup, but we just used a little apple cider vinegar on top and we were ready to eat.
