Peanut Butter Cup Whoopie Pies (Chocolate with Peanut Butter Frosting)

Here are the Peanut Butter Cup Whoopie pies I have been teasing you with the last few posts. They are a cinch to make and they were a big hit at the PTO meeting that I brought them too. (Along with my Easy Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with my Fluffy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting.)
   If you don't know what a whoopie pie is, you are really missing out. It's basically cake, baked in cookie form and sandwiched together with frosting. "How bad could that be?" - as Ina Garten would say.

It all starts with a cake mix. I'm sure you could start from scratch, but I don't have much time, and a cake mix will work nicely for that.
You'll need any chocolate cake mix you like. I thought "Triple Chocolate Fudge" would be nice, but anything you have would be fine.

The oil and vanilla go into the bowl with the mix.

Then goes in one egg.

and a little liquid. You could use water, but I had some Postum (roasted, ground and brewed barley) on hand so I used that. I've heard it tastes similar to coffee (I wouldn't know because I won't touch the stuff), but If you are a coffee drinker you could use that also.

Add just a touch more cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark Unsweetened Cocoa Powder).

Mix it all together, and it will be a thick, rich chocolate batter. Chill the batter in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Use the smallest scoop you have. (Mine was a little over 1 inch.) Scoop the batter out onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. Bake @ 350 for 10-12 minutes of until they are fragrant and cooked through.


While the whoopie pie halves  bake, you can make the peanut butter frosting.

The salt and butter go into a medium mixing bowl.

Then comes the peanut butter. Creamy works best.

Next, add the powdered sugar,

and pure vanilla extract.
 

Beat everything together for about 5 minutes, until smooth, scraping the sides as you go.

Finally, slowly add in the cream and whip until light in color and fluffy.

Like this:

When the whoopie cookies (as my 2 yr old calls them) are cool, just pick one up. Frost the bottom,

and put another one on top. Ta-da!

Here they all are put together.

Here is the platter I took to the PTO meeting, with both kinds of whoopie pies (pumpkin and peanut butter cup). They were both a big hit! I hope you like them too!!

Here's the recipe:

Peanut Butter Cup Whoopie Pies

1 box Betty Crocker Tripple Chocolate Fudge cake mix 
1/2 cup veg oil
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup water, coffee or Postum
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Hershey's Special Dark)

Mix all the ingredients together until smooth (1-2 minutes). Chill the batter for 30 minutes. Using the smallest scoop you have (about 1 1/4 inch) Scoop out and put onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. Bake @ 350 for 10-12 minutes, or until cooked through. Cool completely and then sandwich two "whoopie cookies" together using the Perfect Peanut Butter Frosting.

Perfect Peanut Butter Frosting

(AKA Kathleen's Peanut Butter Icing)

1 cup confectioners' sugar    

1 cup creamy peanut butter

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in a medium sized mixing bowl . Mix on medium-low speed until creamy (about 5 minutes?), scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.