I baked: Chocolate chip whoopie pies with Crème Chantilly

The first time I tried a whoopie pie was in Pique Nique, Singapore. An American creation, a whoopie pie   may be considered either a cookie, pie or cake. It consists of two round mound-shaped chocolate cake/cookie/pie with a sweet, creamy filling. It is also sometimes called the "Big Fat Oreo".

According to food historians, Amish women would bake these desserts (known as hucklebucks, or creamy turtles at the time) and put them in farmers' lunch boxes. When farmers would find the treats in their lunch, they would shout "Whoopie!"! It is thought that the original Whoopie pies may have been made from cake batter leftovers.

I made these chocolate chip whoopie pies by adapting my chocolate brownies recipe, hence the texture is a cross between a soft cookie and chocolate brownie (a bit chewy and moist). For a simple filling, I made Crème Chantilly (vanilla flavored whipped cream). These chocolate rounds are actually pretty good eaten on their own but it wouldn't be a whoopie pie without the filling! These were a special treat for my kids since they are on school holidays at the moment - they were delighted to see and eat them!

We like to call them "mini chocolate burgers"

Baby D loves the crème Chantilly

School holiday treat

Chocolate chip whoopie pies with Crème Chantilly

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 11-13 minutes per batch

Makes 12-15 whoopie pies

Ingredients
For the whoopie pies

110g butter

50g unsweetened chocolate (I used Hershey's)

2 eggs, beaten

200g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

125g  plain flour, sifted

1/2 tsp baking powder, sifted

1/4 tsp salt

20g chocolate chips

For the filling:

200g whipping cream

1 tbsp icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan forced). Line 3 baking trays with greaseproof paper. 

2. Melt the butter and the chocolate (broken up into small pieces) together on top of a double saucepan.

3. Once melted, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Stir in the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract, followed by the sifted flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until well-combined.

4. Drop the batter in large spoonfuls on the baking trays. (First time I made it was using a tablespoon, and it came out rather big, like 9cm in diameter each, for a more dainty appearance use a teaspoon for to get 4-5cm diameter). Or alternatively you can pipe them for uniformly shaped rounds. Leave space about 4cm between the batter as they will expand during baking. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of each round.

5. Place tray in the preheated oven and bake for 11-13 minutes. It should be firm to the touch. Cool on the baking tray for a few minutes, and then place them on a wire rack to cool completely.

6. To make the creme chantilly, place the whipping cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl and beat until stiff.  Put in fridge until required.

7. To assemble, pipe whipped cream onto one of the chocolate rounds then top with another round. And voila, a whoopie pie! You can eat them straight or put them in the fridge first.. either way it tastes really good!

I am submitting this recipe to Bake-Along No.31: Whoopie Pies hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Lena from Frozen wings and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids. Check out all the other whoopie pie recipes here.

Full set of photos can be viewed on my Facebook page here. 

*This recipe was featured on Asian Food Channel's Facebook page on 13 Sept 2012.