Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Frosting

We've had this recipe in our "drafts" folder for almost 2 years now. They just never last long enough to take pictures! My family devours these so quickly, it's ridiculous!

Emily made these for me for the first time right after I had my last baby (Sara, who is now 2 1/2). I'm pretty sure I ate all of them - and I don't even like Caramel!! These are so ridiculously delicious. Each time we've made them together since then, we keep finding ways to make more cookies so we can have more whoopie pies!!

What you'll need:
Cookies:
2 boxes devil's food cake mix (we prefer Betty Crocker brand)
1 bar Crisco
4 eggs

Salted Caramel Frosting:
1 c. softened butter
2 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. caramel sauce
1/2 t. Fine salt (fleur de sel is recommended but I can never find the stuff, so I use popcorn salt!  It's super fine)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix cake mix, Crisco and eggs until well blended. Batter will be very stiff.
2. Roll into balls, or use a small cookie scoop. Drop onto an ungreased baking sheet. Before baking, I slightly flatten each cookie. I just use the backside of a spoon to give them a very slight indentation.
3. Bake for 7-9 minutes. You want to UNDERbake them so they'll stay soft once they're filled. The cookies will definitely not look done when you take them out, but that's good. (Once you fill them, they have to be refrigerated. So if you underbake them, they'll stay soft and chewy)
4. Allow them to cool completely, and then refrigerate- that way they firm up a bit before you fill them.