Whoopie Pies to Celebrate

Happy Valentines Day!

  I hope you all enjoyed celebrating with your loved ones.  

 

My sweet husband surprised me with a large box of chocolates.  It was wonderful, however,

the longer I go without eating sugar daily, the more I feel my body's intolerance to it.  I get shaky and sick. So, when I saw the beautiful red heart shaped box wrapped up all pretty, I knew I was doomed.  You see, chocolates are my favorite, favorite, favorite sweet treat to eat.  All of those gooey, chewy centers put a smile on my face. 

  

Those gooey, chewy centers took that smile off my face too.  I had a major tummy ache, the kind you are always warning your kids about.  I should be more mature than this right?  Ya, well, I really can't resist the chocolates.

 By dinner time, I felt so sick, and I only ate 2, 3, or  was it 4 chocolates?  I lost count, but really it wasn't more than 4, I promise. 

All I wanted was some good nutritious veggies, and that's what I got in the delicious stir-fry my husband made. (On a side note...he has definitely been holding out on me as far as his cooking abilities.  After 10 years of marriage, he's starting to whip up these awesome dishes that blow my socks off.  I didn't know he had it in him....we'll talk more about this later.)

Wholesome food made my tummy feel so much better, but I was doomed once again.  Do you want to know why?

Because of these:

  For weeks I had been planning to make these RED VELVET WHOOPIE PIES for my family on Valentines Day.  I baked my little heart out all afternoon, and I wasn't about to let this day pass, without eating one.

So I did, eat one

 or at least 3/4 of one before  I was back to tummy ache and now wanting to puke.  But let me tell you, that whoopie pie was so very delicious, I wouldn't change a thing.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

2 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 C butter, softened

1 C sugar

2 eggs

1/2 C sour cream

1 Tbsp red food coloring

1 1/2 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla 

2 1/4 C flour

1/4 C baking cocoa

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese softened

1/2 C butter, softened

2 1/2 C confectioners' sugar

2 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

In microwave, melt chocolate; stir until smooth.  Set aside.

In large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, sour cream, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.  Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and baking soda; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.  Stir in melted chocolate.

Drop by tablespoons 2 in. apart onto greased or parchment lined baking sheets.  Bake at 375 degrees F. for  8-10 minutes or until edges are set.  Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

For filling, in a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Beat in confectioners' sugar and vanilla until smooth.  Spread filling on the bottoms of half of the cookies. Top with remaining cookies.

*This recipe comes from the Feb/Mar 2011 issue of Taste of Home Magazine.

p.s. I ran out of red food coloring, so they don't look very "red velvety", but they sure tasted it.

p.p.s. Please don't make yourself sick like I did.

New Beginnings

Welcome to my blog!  This is my first official post of this new blog.  I hope there will be many more to follow.   

It seems like introductions are in order...but I don't yet know how anonymous (or not) I want to be.  So I will be cryptic....here it goes:

I am a wife and mother of three.  I love to spend my time avoiding chores by cooking, reading, running, sometimes crafting, and watching tv. Recently we uprooted our home on one side of the country and moved to the other side.  It's different out here, good different; I like the change.   I'm a bit of a grammar and punctuation nut. (Note all of the commas, colons, semi-colons, and parenthesis.)  I will try not to go too crazy with it. 

I've been a non-committal blogger for a couple of years now.  In fact, I have another food blog that I gave up on.

  It just wasn't working for me. So I'm starting this one.

 Some friends, IRL, (here, here, and here) have,  inspired me to commit. They are committed and I love to read what they have to say.

So here I am committing.

To get things started, we're going to satisfy a sweet tooth, because really life is so much easier, happier, more gratifying (pick your adjective) with that satisfaction. 

In an effort to eat healthier this year, I am cutting out refined sugar as much as possible. That makes satisfying the sweet tooth a bit more difficult, but it is possible.  This dessert is something my mom made growing up.  It's completely sugar free, and it still tastes great.  It is not, however, fat free, so beware.

Chocolate Delight

1 C. flour

1 stick butter

1 C. finely chopped pecans

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 large package instant chocolate pudding (sugar-free)

4 C. milk

1 pint whipping cream

1/3-1/2 cup splenda

Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, pecans, and butter in a food processor, until crumb like. Press into 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 20 min. Cool.

Pudding layer:  With electric mixer, beat cream cheese until soft.  Add milk, 1/2 cup at a time. Let the milk and cheese mix together after each addition.  Add pudding powder, beat for 2 minutes. Pour over cooled crust. Refrigerate until set.

Whipped cream layer: Beat whipping cream with electric mixer until stiff.  Add splenda to desired sweetness, while cream is beating.  Spread whipped cream on top of pudding layer.  

Refrigerate until ready to eat.

So there you have it...my first of many delicious recipes.  Go try it out!