Dave and I are alike in a lot of ways, but there is one thing that I will never understand about him – he’s not a sweets person. He doesn’t need a bite of chocolate or a cookie after finishing dinner – he doesn’t walk past a bakery salivating – when we go out for ice cream, he settles on a frappe or a milkshake instead of a hot fudge sundae. He’s lucky I still married him 🙂
I on the other hand live for dessert – something salty needs to be followed by something sweet – usually chocolate – I like sampling sweets but moreso baking them. My only problem is that I need to get them out of the house immediately – or if it stays in the house, I have sometimes been known to do something drastic like drizzle dishwashing soap on it so that I will stop eating it (I’ve even been known to pull a Miranda on Sex and the City, and pull a dessert out of the trash – Dave caught me once – it was on the top though I swear!)
One of my most favorite desserts is a whoopie pie. I come from a long line of whoopie pie makers – my grandmothers whoopie pies are world famous (well, in my world they are). It wasn’t a holiday if Grammy Murphy’s whoopie pies weren’t one of the 50 desserts on the table (our family is known for having more desserts than regular food at most holiday gatherings – which I have no problem with!)
And when my friend Ashley got me a cookbook dedicated solely to whoopie pie recipes, AND a special baking sheet to aid in making perfectly shaped whoopie pies, well I just knew immediately what I’d be trying out for Easter dessert. I wanted to pay homage to the amaaazing’ness that is a whoopie pie from grammy’s kitchen, but with a twist.
Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell – Thanks Ladies! My whoopie pie fetish will continue!
When I think of Easter, I think of bunnies – when I think of bunnies, I think of carrots and right there in the Whoopie Pie Bible was a recipe for Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies! BAM!
Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting
INGREDIENTS
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 & 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 medium carrots grated (about 2 cups)
1 cup raisins
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt.
3) In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and both sugars until light and creamy.
4) Then add the eggs and vanilla and beat until combined (a taste test at this point is HIGHLY recommended :))
5) Mix the flour mixture in until just combined – then add carrots and rasins.
6) Chill batter for at least an hour.
7) Drop balls of dough (about 2 tbsp’s) onto a prepared baking sheet with parchment paper.
8) Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until cakes spring back when pressed lightly.
9) Remove and let cakes cool on sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Cream Cheese Frosting
INGREDIENTS
4 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
4 tbsp. unsalted butter at room temperature
3 & 1/2 cups of confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1) With an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese and butter on medium speed.
2) Add sugar and beat on low until combined.
3) Add vanilla and increase speed to medium.
4) Beat until creamy and smooth – about 4 minutes.
Slap some delicious cream cheese between those delicious carrot cakes and BAM – carrot cake whoopie pies – you won’t be sorry you made them! Even Dave, who prides himself on ‘not really being that into sweets’ grabbed one of these bad boys and enjoyed every last morsel. He even said ‘Yeah those are pretty good’ which to me is a rave review coming from a non-sweet eater!
