I very excited to tell you I am in London!!! For the next two weeks we are shooting the photos of the recipes for my new book which is going to out in March 2011. To say I am excited is probably a total understatement because for me this is the most interesting part of producing a cook book. The first time around for Good Mood Food I was a totally unorganised mess, when it came to planning the photography, I was coaxed along the way by my lovely Aunt Erica who did the majority of food styling, but this time around it's all rolled nicely into two weeks. It also helps that this time I have a far better idea of what I'm doing! My kit has been upgraded and I have a set work pattern which hopefully by this time two weeks will have held up long enough to have provided me with all the photos required! I'll try and stick up a few posts about the whole process if I can- for now enjoy these very cute whoopie pies which look very pretty indeed! :)
Go Nuts Nutella Whoopie Pies!
By dropping the cocoa powder from the original whoopie recipe and substituting flour you get left with really beautiful plain whoopie discs. As a filling I use a combination of nutella and smooth peanut butter but you could also use the chocolate frosting from the cupcake recipe.
Makes 16 whoopie pies
120g/4oz butter
190g/6 ½ oz caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
345g/12oz of plain flour
5g/1 tsp of baking powder
5ml/1 tsp of vanilla extract
250ml/8 ½ fl oz of buttermilk
For the filling:
80g of smooth peanut butter
80g of nutella
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350oF/Gas Mark 4 and line two baking sheets.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.
In another bowl, using an electric whisk, cream the sugar and the butter until pale and fluffy. Add in the eggs gradually, mixing well to combine.
Add the vanilla extract to the buttermilk and, alternating with the dry ingredients, add to the bowl, mixing until everything is combined and you are left with a thick batter.
Spoon rounded teaspoons of the batter onto lined baking sheets, allowing space for them to spread while cooking. Place in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until the tops have puffed up and spring back when lightly pressed.
When they are cooked, remove the mini pie halves from the baking sheets with a metal spatula and place on wire rack to cool.
Once cooled, spread a teaspoon of the nutella on the flat side of 16 of the pie halves. Spread a teaspoon of peanut butter on the remaining 16 pie halves and sandwich together with the nutella pies.
These little pies are heavy going so make sure to serve with a glass of cold milk.