The December Daring Bakers’ Challenge had us all cheering – the lovely and talented Bourbonnatrix of Bourbonnatrix Bakes was our hostess and challenged us to make fun, delicious and creative whoopie pies! Delicious little cake-like cookies sandwiching luscious filling in any flavors we chose… What else is there to say but “Whoopie!”

I’ve never made Whoopie Pies before. I’m not sure they’re a big thing in Utah. At least they weren’t at my house growing up. However, people often searched my site looking for a Whoopie Pie recipe, so baking them has been on my to do list. I was excited when Whoopie Pies was the Daring Bakers December challenge so it finally gave me the nudge I needed to give them a try.

Whoopie pies are super easy to make. The dough comes together quickly. Then you just scoop the dough on to cookie sheets; bake them, let them cool and fill them with a marshmallow creme filling. I decided to use an easy to make, fat free, 7 minute icing for my filling instead of the marshmallow creme filling in the original recipe.

My plan was to make traditional chocolate whoopie pies, but when I opened the fridge, I had to pick up the egg nog to move it out of the way to get the milk. That’s when I decided egg nog would make a great addition to the whoopie pie recipe. The egg nog spiced up the whoopie pies just a little bit and gave them a holiday flair, but if you’re not an egg nog fan just use milk instead.

Yield: 12 large whoopie pies

Chocolate Egg Nog Whoopie Pies

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Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 16 minutes

Total Time 36 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa, sifted
• 2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup egg nog

7 Minute Icing

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cold water
• 1 egg white
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment or silpat liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla until creamy. Add the egg and beat until smooth. Add the cocoa, mix to combine.
3. Add the flour to the batter alternately with the egg nog, beating until smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and beat again briefly.
4. Drop the dough by the 1/4-cupful (I used a #16 ice cream scoop) onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving plenty of room between the cakes; they'll spread.
5. Bake the cakes in a preheated moderate oven for 15 to 16 minutes, until they're set and starting to firm up. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

7 minute Icing

1. In the top of a double boiler, combine the sugar, water, egg whites, cream of tartar, and a pinch of salt. Beat with an electric mixer at low speed for 30 seconds, then set the pan over boiling water (the pan shouldn't touch the water).
2. Beating at high speed, cook the frosting for about 7 minutes, or until it's stiff and glossy. Remove it from the heat, add the vanilla, and beat an additional 2 minutes.

Notes

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour