Banana Whoopie Pies

Bananapalooza seems to have ceased with the completion of these tasty treats.  Besides using the last of the freezer bananas (I know now that I've said that somehow more will appear), the result was a delicious whoopie pie with a great texture, the right density and a yummy icing.  I'm very picky about my whoopie pies and I like the cake part to have some oomph to it.  These are perfect.  The banana flavor isn't overwhelming and the cream cheese filling, while sweet, isn't sugary and dominant.  There was some concern about this tasting like banana bread with icing, but that was quickly dismissed after biting in to the thick cakes.

This recipe comes from Baking Bites and I'm thrilled to have stumbled upon it.  My love for whoopie pies and the plethora of bananas in my kitchen made this a no brainer.  One slight change to the recipe included dividing the sugar into part brown sugar and part white sugar.  I like the way brown sugar enhances the banana flavor and thought this would be a good idea. (Guess what?  I was right!)  I used a medium cookie scoop to size the cookies but I probably could have overfilled the scoop a bit more since I ended up with a few extra cakes, and therefore a couple extra whoopie pies.  Dave wasn't complaining when he polished off three of them for dessert. 



Banana Whoopie Pies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 medium bananas, mashed

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.  Beat in egg and vegetable oil; then beat in bananas and vanilla.

Add flour mixture to banana mixture and stir until combined.

Using a medium cookie scoop, drop balls of batter on a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-14 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cakes spring back when touched in the center.  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through baking. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.

Remove from oven and let cool on pans for 2 minutes then transfer to wire racks to complete cooling, about 30 minutes.

While cakes are cooling, prepare cream cheese filling.

Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients

3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar


In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Beat in vanilla and powdered sugar until mixture is smooth and thick.  Add additional powdered sugar if filling seems too thin.

Note: The trick here is to just keep beating the filling.  Stand mixers are great for icing because you can just let them go and leave it alone for a few minutes.  Seriously, once the mixture is combined, let it run and go prepare your piping bag and tip, get a plate for the whoopie pies, or get a glass of water.  Just let it go and you'll end up with a perfect icing.

Pipe onto the bottom of half the cooled cakes.  Top with a similarly sized cake to create a sandwich effect.

Makes about 1 dozen whoopie pies.


Happy Baking
The Cookie Princess


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