Halloween Whoopie Pies

Being home from college means an opportunity to bake for my favorite holiday! I made pumpkin whoopie pies last year, so this year I’m just making traditional ones, colored black and orange. Halloween sprinkles/nonpareils optional.

Have you ever written something down and then read it completely wrong, even though you wrote it? That’s what happened when I was making the cake portion of the pies. I didn’t do the steps in order and the batter came out completely lumpy and unappetizing due to me mixing the cocoa with the flour and then the coffee-water mixture with that. What were you thinking, brain? Granted, this isn’t my usual recipe for whoopie pies, and we didn’t have the full amount of brown sugar the recipe calls for, but oh well. My mom had one and says they taste good. I’m sure the amazing filling makes up for my cake mistake. Seriously. Try not to eat the whole bowl of that stuff before you fill the whoopie pies. It was hard for me not to.

Halloween Whoopie Pies
For the cake:

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup hot coffee (I used espresso powder mixed with water)
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 2 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1-2 tablespoons black food coloring (depends on how dark you’d like your cake to be)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

In a large bowl, add cocoa powder. Pour the hot coffee and water over the mixture and whisk thoroughly until powders are completely dissolved.

In another medium bowl, mix together the canola oil and light brown sugar. Add this to the cocoa mixture and whisk until combined. Add the egg, vanilla, and buttermilk, and food coloring and whisk until smooth.

Gently fold the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture with a rubber spatula. Add the food coloring until the batter is as black as you want it. (If you’re using liquid food coloring and the batter becomes too runny, add about 1/8 cup flour.)

Either use a medium ice cream scoop or piping bag fit with a large round tip to measure out the cookies. Release or pipe 2” rounds onto baking sheets, 1 inch apart.

Bake 8-10 minutes, rotating pans halfway through, until the cookies crack slightly on top and spring back in the center when gently pressed. Let cool completely, then remove from sheet with a spatula.

For the filling:

• 1 1/2 cups marshmallow Fluff
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• red and yellow food coloring (optional)

Add all ingredients to bowl and mix together. Add food coloring until filling is a noticable shade of orange. Scoop mixture into empty freezer back. Snip one corner off bag and pipe the frosting onto 1/2 of pie. Sandwich to make complete pie.