Meet Emma the 14 year old daughter of my best friend Jacinta. Emma is a fabulous baker and has kindly stepped in tonight as guest reviewer in a packet mix vs homemade challenge. Take it away Emma.....
Betty Crocker Vanilla Sprinkle Whoopie Pies
I don’t normally use a packet mix, but I love whoopie pies and thought I’d give the packet Betty Crocker Vanilla Sprinkle Whoopie Pies Mix a go.
straight from the oven
While the recipe and the whoopie pies themselves were easy to make and follow, the overall taste was very disappointing (such a shame because they looked very delicious).
making vanilla cream filling mix
finished Betty Crocker Whoopie Pies
They just had that artificial taste that you often get with a packet mix.
I then decided to compare the packet ones with some whoopie pies made from scratch. I got the recipe from the “Whoopie Pies” book by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell, given to us by The Lone Baker.
I used the Classic Chocolate Whoopie Pies sandwiched together by a cream cheese filling.
classic chocolate whoopie pies
cream cheese filling
The homemade ones were far superior to the packet ones (they were just as easy to make as well). My family preferred the homemade ones over the packet ones.
We soon devoured them all!!!
Emma
text and photography by Emma Darlison
The Lone Baker back tomorrow with two ingredient tuile... topping a cupcake of course :)
mini whoopie pie tops a marshmallow and chocolate cupcake
Off the shelf
baking book reviews
This weeks off the shelf is loads of fun & it's not cupcakes; it's Whoopie Piesby Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell.
This super cute 120 page padded cover hard back book is packed full of whoopie pie recipes & fillings. What is a Whoopie Pie (also known as Gobs)? They're a cross between a cake and a biscuit (cookie), soft textured with a creamy frosting type filling.
As for the name 'Whoopie Pies' according to Wikipedia; Amish women would bake these (known as hucklebucks at the time) and put them in farmers' lunchboxes. When farmers would find these treats in their lunch, they would shout "Whoopie!"
For those outside the US there is a few points I should mention first. Many of the recipes use half butter/half Crisco. Crisco is a vegetable shortening common in the US (copha is not a suitable substitute). However, you can successfully use all butter in the recipes or buy Crisco online in Australia from USA foods; available in three sizes, plus sticks and butter flavoured.
marshmallow spreads... 'Fluff' and 'Jet-Puffed'
Most of the fillings are buttercream based, though the traditional marshmallow fluff filling is included too. 'Fluff' or 'Jet-Puffed' marshmallow are difficult to obtain in Australia but if your curious to try it out Jet-Puffed marshmallow spread & Crisco vegetable shortening both are available online in Australia from USA foods.
Ahhhh, the publishers of this book have gone a little far with the "cute factor" by listing the ingredients in smallish pink font, it can demand some "squinting" or least popping on your glasses.
Now on to what I love about this book!! The cake and fillings recipes (listed below) are mix and match, giving you lots of opportunity to experiment with flavour combinations, plus the authors give other suggestions such as jam, cream, fresh fruits, glazes and sprinkles. How about Classic Chocolate Whoopie paired with strawberries & cream, mint buttercream or chocolate ganache? Good to see a couple of vegan & gluten free recipes are included too.
So far I've baked the classic chocolate whoopie, vanilla whoopie and the pumpkin whoopie... all tasted great with the pumpkin just beating out the chocolate as our favourite. We tried four fillings from the book; salted caramel, strawberry buttercream, coconut cream, classic cream cheese and I also made a plain melted white marshmallow filling. The coconut cream & classic cream cheese were Marks favourite & I love the salted caramel.
Kids will find the mix and match fillings and decorating the whoopies fun, adults will love the tiramisu, matcha and ganache flavours to name a few. They're something different to bake for your next function; bake them large, medium or mini, piped or plopped onto the trays they are delicious. Can't wait to try the carrot cake whoopie's and step son Daniel wants to try lemon with a flavoured cream cheese filling.
Recommended because of the novelty factor, the multitude of possible flavour combinations & they are loads of fun for kids and those young at heart.
I piped the whoopie batter into small rounds & baked for 5 minutes to create mini sized whoopie cupcake toppers, filled with melted white marshmallow.
The cake recipes:
Classic chocolate whoopie
Red velvet whoopie
Vanilla whoopie
Mocha whoopie
Marbled whoopie
Chocolate chip whoopie
Lemon whoopie
Gingerbread whoopie
Peanut butter whoopie
Banana whoopie
Pistachio-cardamom whoopie
Graham cracker whoopie
Oatmeal whoopie
Pumpkin whoopie
Carrot cake whoopie
Vegan chocolate whoopie
Vegan vanilla whoopie
Gluten-free chocolate whoopie
Gluten-free vanilla whoopie
Whoopie cake
Jalapeno cornbread whoopie
Recipes for fillings:
Classic marshmallow
Chocolate buttercream
Classic cream cheese
Classic buttercream
Chocolate ganache
Whipped chocolate ganache
Mint buttercream
Honey buttercream
Rosewater buttercream
Salty peanut butter
Coconut cream
Malted buttercream
Salted caramel
Candied ginger
Dulce de leche
Maple
Maple-bacon
Root beer
Orange cream cheese
Lemon mascarpone
Tiramisu cream
Strawberry buttercream
Peachy marshmallow cream
Banana
Matcha buttercream
Vegan chocolate "butter" cream
Vegan vanilla "butter" cream
Bacon-chive goat cheese
Chocolate glaze
See Whoopie Pies made by the authors themselves in this short video
Thank you to Jennifer for pointing out that 'Solite' a vegetable shortening available in Australia from cake decorating stores can substitute for Crisco if desired.
Friday, December 9, 2011 at 6:28PM 
Betty Crocker Vanilla Sprinkle Whoopie Pies
straight from the oven
making vanilla cream filling mix
finished Betty Crocker Whoopie Pies
classic chocolate whoopie pies
cream cheese filling
