Sasha's Kitchen: Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Probably not so surprising at this point, but I made another Whoopie Pie recipe as one of the desserts for Rosh Hashanah.  Now, I will finally get back to making cupcakes and my next cupcake plan is to make True Blood, Vampire Cupcakes.  Saturday is Yom Kippur (Jewish fast holiday) but I plan to make my True Blood cupcakes on Sunday.  Anyhow, enough talking about what I'm going to make - these red velvet whoopie pies were a huge hit with my in-laws. They absolutely loved them and I'm sure I will be making them again soon.  I had fun decorating these too - instead of simply adding the marshmallow filling, I rolled the pies in rainbow jimmies - so pretty! You could pretty much roll them in anything though from sprinkles to non pareils to pixie stick dust. I cut the recipe in half and it made about 30. Unless you are planning on feeding a lot of people, you will probably want to do the same thing - so here's the half recipe below.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies from Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 stick butter, unsalted

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 oz red food coloring (about 5 drops)

1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine the dry ingredients. In the bowl of a mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening, and both sugars at low speed until fluffy and combined. Add the egg, vanilla and red food coloring and beat until just combined. Add half the flour mixture and beat until combined. Then add the buttermilk and the rest of the flour and combine.

Make the whoopie pies by spooning out 1 T of batter for each cookie. Bake each sheet one at a time, for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool completely before frosting with Marshmallow frosting (see below)

Sarah & Amy's Classic Marshmallow Buttercream
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Combine the ingredients for the frosting using your mixer and add between two cookies to make a pie.  Dip the sides in sprinkles to decorate.