Chocolate Whoopies & Homemade Skinny Cows

What recipes do you avoid? I'm sure that just like me, there are recipes you shy away from for big or little reasons: obscure ingredients, exotic spices, homemade pastry, maybe just a fear of the unknown.

As for me, I've always avoided recipes requiring a candy thermometer for no better reason than well...I've never had one. Obviously, a candy thermometer is no big purchase considering they're typically less than $10 or so. Well, I finally learned my lesson when I tried to become a human thermometer and estimate temperature by sight. I found a recipe for Chocolate Sandwiches with Marshallow Cream Filling.

Isn't that quite the title? I'm not sure what exactly constitutes a whoopie pie, but I hearby rename my culinary concotion Chocolate Whoopies, especially because it reminds me of my favorite 80's phrase: "What's the big whoop?!" In any case, because I'm stubborn and refused (or neglected) to buy a candy thermometer before making these, I ended up with a frothy sugary white mess instead of the fluffy white filling you see below:

While I did have to throw away the first batch of filling, a girl needs her nightly sweets fix, so I improvised and made Homemade Skinny Cow sandwiches with the already baked cookies. Skinny Cows are my absolute favorite "healthy" packaged treat, but boy are they expensive. Using free frozen yogurt I had been awarded from my Golden Spoon frequent customer card, I was happy to make myself some economical treats. That's peanut butter frozen yogurt swirled with chocolate peanut butter for those of you drooling. The chocolate cookies were perfectly textured and I will definitely be making these again. They were a little less chocolatey than the originals, so I may experiment with them next time around.

Back to the Chocolate Whoopies. After a lot of heartache (by principle, I try to never throw kitchen mishaps away), I returned to the store the following day and picked myself a trusty thermometer. Start again. Sugar, corn syrup, and water (otherwise known as the holy trinity) with a pinch of salt are allowed to stew together until the thermometer reaches 244 degrees. This process actually takes a long time and it's now clear why I previously ended up with a goopy mess. Once the syrup has thickened up, its added to softened gelatin and blended until fluffy and gooood. Seriously, it took all my adult willpower not to eat up all the marshamallow creme goodness and get sick from all the sugar. It's been known to happen.

Working quickly, the marshmallow filling is sandwiched between two chocolate cookies and voila you have yourself a Chocolate Whoopie Pie! I've frozen these and pull them out when I get a little chocolate craving. Within a few minutes both the cookies & the filling soften up and they're ready for my gobbling.

Chocolate Whoopies
Source: Cooking Light, July 08

1 cup sugar
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup fat-free buttermilk (I used reduced fat)
Cooking spray

Filling:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (about 2 1/2 teaspoons)
3/4 cup cold water, divided
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light-colored corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. To prepare cookies, combine 1 cup sugar and butter in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and eggs; beat until combined. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, 1 teaspoon salt, baking powder, and baking soda; stir well with a whisk. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
3. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until set. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.
4. To prepare filling, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water in a large bowl; set aside. Combine remaining 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar, syrup, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer registers 244° (don't try to eyeball this!) Remove from heat. Gradually pour hot sugar syrup into softened gelatin mixture, beating with a mixer at low speed, then at high speed until thick (about 6 minutes per the original recipe...it took me much longer, maybe 15 -18 minutes), scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; beat until well blended.
5. Quickly spread about 2 tablespoons filling over bottom side of 1 cookie; top with another cookie. Repeat procedure with remaining filling and cookies.

Homemade Skinny Cow Sandwiches

1. Follow recipe above (steps 1-3) for cookies. Allow cookies to cool completely and place cookies in refrigerator for approximately 1 hr so they aren't too soft to handle.

2. Allow ice cream or frozen yogurt of choice to soften. Scoop ice cream onto cookie and top with another. Return to freezer until ice cream hardens.