Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Greek Yogurt-Peanut Butter Filling
How about another chocolate recipe? No one is ever really THAT tired of chocolate, right? I spent this afternoon in a pleasant haze of chocolate, coffee and peanut butter. It all started with spotting the Reese's Peanut Butter Oreos. While the idea was exciting enough to open the pack right outside Target, the cookies didn't live up to my very high expectations. Only one side was peanut butter and the proportions were just not right.
Of course I had to come home to do some major research on a peanut butter-chocolate cookie. I decided on this chocolate cookie recipe from SmittenKitchen but I cut down the butter, replaced it with greek yogurt and made it more whoopie pie like. You remember a long time ago, I made pupcakes for Maddie with a yogurt-peanut butter frosting? I have to admit that I did taste it before I gave it to her and decided to dress it up a bit with cream cheese after googling a bit. The end result was a soft, pillowy chocolate cookie with a salty, creamy and very delicious yogurt-based filling.
Ingredients -
For the Whoopie Pies - (Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Flour - 1 1/4 cup Unsweetened cocoa - 1/2 cup Instant Coffee - 1/2 Tbsp Brown Sugar - 1 cup Butter - 2 Tbsp Greek Yogurt (with no liquid at all) - 1/2 cup Baking soda - 1/2 tsp Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp Egg - 1 Vanilla Extract - a dash Salt - a pinch
For the Filling - (Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction)
Greek Yogurt - 3 tablespoons Peanut butter - 1 tablespoon - I used the chunky kind Cream Cheese - 2 Tbsps Honey - 2 Tbsps Vanilla extract - 2 Tsps
Method -
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Sift together the dry ingredients of the whoopie pie.
2. Add the yogurt, vanilla, butter and egg and mix. The mix is wet and definitely not a dough. Just sprinkle a little flour if it's too wet but only to make it workable.
3. Spoon a teaspoons of dough on a baking sheet lined by parchment. I got around 35 spoonfuls. Dip your finger in a little water and form them into rough circles and flatten them slightly but not too much. Bake for 9 minutes.
4. Allow them to completely cool.
5. In a bowl, whip together the ingredients for the filling.
6. When the cookie is completely cool, spoon or pipe a little mixture onto one cookie and press down firmly with another.
Obviously, having a hand mixer will make the entire process much faster and easier. I don't have one though and I didn't find it too hard. The whoopie pies are super chocolate-y with a creamy,salty peanut butter filling. YUM. I hope you enjoy the recipe!
