Chocolate Stout Whoopie Pies with Bailey's Buttercream Filling

If a holiday ever screamed, "Make a delicious dessert filled with booze!" it would be St. Patrick's Day.  So when the Irish in me saw this recipe, I knew I needed to make it immediately if not sooner.  The stout in the chocolate cake batter provides a subtle distinction in the flavor.  You don't taste beer, but the deep richness of the chocolate makes you think, "this is a little bit different."  The stout compliments the dark chocolate in a very good way without being intense.  Paired with a fluffy Bailey's flavored buttercream frosting and it's a match made in St. Patrick's treats heaven.  Since I'm not a huge Bailey's fan, I was hesitant about the filling.  But paired together, there is a balance that really makes you happy (or you're drunk, but probably not).  I took these in to work as a little treat for my coworkers and they raved.  At 10 am, most of them devoured them as soon as I came up to their desk.

Rarely does a recipe come along that I find compelled to make right away. But when I saw this post from Jessica at Oh Cake this week, (well, she posted it last week, I just saw it on Sunday), I knew these needed to be made to celebrate the holiday this weekend.  Rarely do I advocate specialty pans--I'll definitely encourage you to invest in good quality pans that can be used for many things, but specialty ones aren't usually necessary in most occasions.  Even my biscotti pan is only in my collection because it was a gift.  But this time, I would encourage you to get a whoopie pie pan if you want to try this recipe (and think you'll make lots more whoopie pies).  For our anniversary this past year, my Mom got us got me got Dave sent a star-shaped whoopie pie pan because she "thought it was cute" (and it was probably on sale).  That's the only reason I have it.  I figured like my previous Whoopie Pies, Lemon Whoopie Pies and Banana Whoopie Pies, I'd just put the batter on a baking sheet.  But once I made the batter and saw how runny it is (thinner than regular cake batter), I knew I needed to find that pan!  Since a lot of my pans are scattered due to the move in January, I was fairly certain it was in the attic (and hoped that it wasn't in the storage locker!).  Luckily, it was in the exact box I thought it would be.  I suppose in a pinch you could use a muffin pan and fill them about 1/4 to 1/3 full.  Since my pan is star shaped, it's a bit smaller than a regular whoopie pie, so I was able to squeeze out a few extras.  The beer we had on hand was a Chocolate Stout from Harpoon, but any good stout will work (Guinness, Young's, etc.). I also made one slight change to Jessica's recipe by using 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla instead of a full teaspoon (Jessica had accidentally omitted the quantity in the ingredients list), so I guessed.  The true quantity is listed below.  Makes these, enjoy these, and have a happy St. Patrick's Day!

Chocolate Stout Whoopie Pies

Ingredients

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1.5 ounces dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate
6 Tablespoons butter
1 cup stout or chocolate stout (like the kind by Harpoon, Guinness, Young's or similar)
1 teaspoon vanilla (not pictured)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 egg yolk

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt.

In a medium saucepan, combine chocolate chips, butter, stout, vanilla and brown sugar over medium heat.  Whisk to combine.

Once chocolate is melted, whisk again to incorporate and removed from heat.  Still whisking, add the eggs and quickly whisk to combine.

Pour chocolate mixture into flour mixture and whisk to combine.  Note: This is a thin batter--don't fear.

Grease a whoopie pie pan and fill each cavity about halfway.  Note: My pan with stars was slightly smaller, and I used a 1/4 measuring cup to distribute the batter.  I noticed I was using about half of that utensil, so I would say about 1/8 a cup of batter for each of my stars.  Maybe a little more for a regular whoopie pie pan.

Bake at 325 degrees F for 10 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Turn out on to cooling racks and let cool completely before filling.

Bailey's Buttercream Filling

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
2 Tablespoons Bailey's
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Cream butter at high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer. 

Add Bailey's and continue beating on high, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.

Reduce speed to medium and gradually add powdered sugar. Once all added, increase speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.

Pipe or spread filling onto half of the whoopie pies.  Top with remaining whoopie pies to make a sandwich.

Makes about 14-18 whoopie pies.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess

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