These Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies are soft and moist chocolate cakes with a creamy peanut butter frosting sandwiched in between. It's a classic, yet simple treat that is easy to make for any occasion!
½teaspoonEspresso Powder(gets dissolved in the warm water)
peanut butter frosting
1cupUnsalted Butter(room temperature)
1cupPeanut Butter(creamy)
2 ½cupsPowdered Sugar(sifted)
2teaspoonVanilla Extract
Instructions
whoopie pie cakes
Adjust oven rack to 2nd level position (just above center) and preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2 cups All-Purpose Flour, ½ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder, 1 teaspoon Baking Soda, ⅛ teaspoon Salt, ¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
Dissolve the espresso powder in warm water. Set aside.
½ teaspoon Espresso Powder, ½ cup Warm Water
Using your hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the vegetable shortening and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add in the egg, vanilla extract, milk, and espresso powder dissolved in warm water, then mix until blended.
½ cup Vegetable Shortening, 1 cup Granulated Sugar, 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract, 1 Large Egg, ½ cup Milk
Add in the whisked dry mixture, then mix on low speed until just combined. The batter will be on the lighter, fluffier side and not heavy or runny.
Using a cookie scoop (I used my 1 ½ tablespoon or medium-sized cookie scoop, drop a generous scoop of batter onto the lined baking sheet, spacing each cake about 1 ½- to 2-inches apart. I got 6 cakes on each baking sheet. They will spread out, but not by a lot.
Place in the oven and bake at 375ºF for 12-14 minutes or until the center of the cakes spring back when lightly pressed.
Allow cakes to cool slightly on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
peanut butter frosting
Using your hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the unsalted butter and peanut butter together until smooth. Add in the vanilla extract.
1 cup Unsalted Butter, 1 cup Peanut Butter, 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Add in the sifted powdered sugar, then mix until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
2 ½ cups Powdered Sugar
Using a small spatula or piping bag with a decorating tip of your choice, add the peanut butter frosting to the bottom of a whoopie pie cake. Then top with another cake.
You can keep each whoopie pie tightly wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 2 days. Alternatively, you can store them wrapped and kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to about 5 days; or you can wrap them tightly in plastic wrap, then place in a sealed freezer bag, and kept in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Notes
To scoop out the batter, I used my 1 ½ tablespoon or medium size cookie scoop, which gave me roughly 3-inch diameter chocolate cakes. And I was definitely generous when I went to scoop out the batter to drop it onto the parchment-lined baking sheet.
You could even get away with using the 2-inch cookie scoop if you wanted to make them a little bigger.
If you're not going to fill the whoopie pie cakes that same day, you can keep the peanut butter frosting covered tightly in the mixing bowl with plastic wrap in the fridge overnight. When you're ready, take it out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temp before filling the whoopie pie cakes. You may need to re-whip the frosting a little to bring it back to life.
You can easily double the whoopie pie cake and peanut butter frosting recipes for more whoopie pies.