Its been over a year since I made whoopie pies. The last time I made whoopie pies it was a bit more of a fiasco. It was the week before my wedding and I was trying to make over 600 whoopie pies for the Whoopie Pie Bar Reception Dessert! This time it was much more low key and I was making them for a small family gathering at Christmas. Regardless of whether you are making these peppermint whoopies for your own wedding or for some friends and family, they are guaranteed to be a hit and you will constantly have people reminding you to make some more! 

Makes 24 mini whoopie pies

Ingredients:

Chocolate Whoopie cakes:

3 ½ cups          All purpose flour
¼ tsp                 Salt
1 ¼ tsp             Baking powder
1 ¼ tsp             Baking soda
¾ cup               Dark cocoa powder
1 cup                 Hot coffee
¾ cup               Butter, unsalted
2 cups              Firmly packed brown sugar
1                         Large egg
1 tsp                  Pure vanilla extract
1 cup                Vanilla yogurt

Filling :

¼ cup              Butter, softened and unsalted
8 oz                  Cream Cheese, softened
2 ½ cups        Powdered sugar
1 tsp               Peppermint extract (or more to taste)
5                      Candy canes (preferably peppermint)

Method:

Chocolate Cookies and Filling:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 muffin pans (or cookies sheets if you don’t have muffin pans) with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and set aside.
• In another large bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and the hot coffee. Whisk until the cocoa is dissolved into the coffee.
• In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar. Add this to the cocoa mixture and whisk until combined. Add the egg, vanilla, and yogurt and beat until smooth.
• Use a rubber spatula and fold in the dry ingredients slowly to the wet ingredients. Scrape the sides of the bowl while doing this.
• Using a muffin pan (or cookies sheet if necessary) and a tablespoon measure, place dough in prepared muffin pans. For the cookies sheets, place the dough about 1 inch apart. Bake for 11-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The tops of the cookies should begin to crack. Let the cookies cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
• While the cookies are cooling, beat together the butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and the peppermint extract until the a the filling has the consistency of whipped cream.
• To razzle dazzle these whoopie pies, crush 5 candy canes of your choice in a mini food processor. If you don’t have one of these than put the candy canes in a thick plastic bag and hit them with a meat tenderizer. Have fun! When you are finished put the crushed candy canes in a bowl and set aside.
  

Assembling:

• Place a tablespoon amount of icing on the bottom side of the chocolate cookie. Place another cookie flat side down so that the filling spreads to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until you are finished with the cookies.
• Roll the prepared whoopie in the crushed candy canes and place the Whoopies in the fridge and serve when ready! Enjoy!