chocolate chip whoopies

It's a bird!  A plane!  Actually, my friends, it is I.  Back from the blogging hiatus to bring you a few wonderful treats upon which to feast your eyes.  And then, hopefully, your tummies.  


Yesterday was Katie's birthday.  And for months I've been plotting planning the perfect baked good to create for this occasion.  This isn't just any birthday, folks.  It's the big 2-5.  And it's Katie Peters.  Perhaps you recall the depths of our baking history, 20 years in the making.   So you understand: this had to put the good in baked good.

Let me take you back to 1998 for a second.  I don't remember how many times Katie and I stopped at Mrs. Field's during our million and a half mall trips and feasted on these beautiful creations: two chocolate chip cookies sandwiched between a good solid inch of white sprinkled frosting.  Pure heaven in dessert form, if you ask me.  So after high school, college, and the disappearance of preteen metabolism, these little suckers have existed only in our memories.  Until now.

I graduated the term "cookie sandwich" that Katie and I have used to refer to these treats for years to a much more mature "Chocolate Chip Whoopies" as you can tell that they play on the whoopie pie form, yet don't fully embody the term enough to dub it as such.  So, there you have it: kinda whoopie, kinda sandwich, but mostly just bliss.  The cookie is my own recipe, and since I've been dying to try the "best frosting ever" that has been raved about by one of my favorite bloggers, I used that as the filling.  The frosting is not overly sweet, and definitely unique in that it uses flour (gasp!) and no powdered sugar.  It doesn't mirror the Mrs. Field's frosting precisely, but it still was a hit.  I'll be trying it again on my next batch of cupcakes.  Or just when I feel the need.  The need for frosting.

Chocolate Chip Whoopies
cookie recipe from yours truly; frosting from Missy Dew on tasty kitchen

Cookies:
1 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups cake flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
2 sticks butter
1 ¼ cup light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
¾ package Gihardelli 60% cacao chips

1. Cut butter into small chunks and place in saucepan. Heat over medium heat until completely melted, and continue to stir until butter becomes somewhat clear and brown-ish colored (about 5-8 minutes.) 
2. Remove from heat and add to sugar mixture (do not stir or mix together) and allow to come to room temperature – put in fridge for about 10 minutes. 
3. Meanwhile, prepare dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
4. Once sugar/butter mixture is completely cooled, beat together until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. 
5. Add flour mixture to butter and sugar mixture, one cup at a time, until just combined. 
6. Once all ingredients are combined, mix in chocolate chips. 
7. Spoon dough into desired size and roll together in hands to ensure uniform size and baking shape. It is imperative that the cookies be uniform in shape and size. 
8. Bake cookies on parchment paper-lined cookie sheet for approximately 12 minutes, until holes/cracks appear in middle of cookie and border becomes golden brown. 
9. Let cookies cool completely for one hour before assembling whoopies. 

Frosting:
5 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated (not powdered!) sugar

1. In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. (This won't take long - you want it about as thick as brownie batter.) 
2. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature completely. Stir in vanilla. 
3. While mixture is cooling, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy - until all of the graininess of the sugar is gone. 
4. Add the cooled flour/milk/vanilla mixture and beat completely until it resembles the texture of whipped cream.

Assembly:

1. Make sure your cookies are completely cool. I know I already said this. But seriously, they better not be warm in the least! 
2. Match cookies up with the one that most closely resembles its size and shape. In other words, find its whoopie soul mate. Flip one of each of the pairs so that the flat edge is facing up. 
3. Fill pastry bag with frosting, using the star attachment. Holding the bag at a 45 degree angle and about 1/2" away from the cookie, outline the outer edge of the flipped cookie and complete the outline. Fill in the rest of the cookie with circles with decreasing size until cookie is completely frosted. 
4. Gently place the other half of the whoopie on top of the frosted half and let sit until the temptation overcomes you. Enjoy.