You’ll Go Bananas For These Banana Whoopie Pies!

If you have never made whoopie pies before, let me give you a tip. Do not go overboard with the batter. Less is more in this case. If you just glob on the batter you will have giant whoppie pies and those tend to break a part a lot easier. Once you get the cream in the middle, put them in the fridge a bit. After a they sit for a bit, take them out and enjoy! I  like to wrap them each in cling wrap. This makes it a lot easier if you are taking them to an event. Trust me on this one!

Check out what our friends from Once Upon A Cutting Board have to say about this:

Foods that I can eat with my fingers and not get messy! Yes, please! Try this recipe and pass it along!

Ingredients

• Caramel sauce:

  ½ cup Pioneer sugar
  ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons Daisy heavy cream
  ¼ teaspoon salt
  ½ teaspoon McCormick’s vanilla extract
  Cookies:
  

  2 cups Gold Medal all-purpose flour
  ½ teaspoon Arm and Hammer baking soda
  ½ teaspoon Argo baking powder
  ½ teaspoon salt
  ½ cup mashed ripe Chiquita banana (about 1-1½ bananas)
  ½ cup Daisy sour cream
  ½ cup Land O Lakes unsalted butter, at room temperature
  ½ cup Dominos granulated sugar
  ½ cup Dominos light brown sugar
  1 large egg
  ½ teaspoon McCormick vanilla extract
  Cream cheese frosting:

  4 oz Philidelphia cream cheese (about half a block)
  2 tablespoons Land O Lakes unsalted butter
  ½ teaspoon McCormick vanilla extract
  1 cup icing sugar
  ½ cup caramel sauce (above)

Instructions

Caramel sauce:

1. Pour the sugar in an even layer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Watch closely, and once the sugar starts to liquefy around the edges, stir it gently with a spatula towards the center. Continue stirring gently until all of the sugar is melted and no hard bits remain.
2. Once the caramel reaches a deep amber color, remove it from the heat.
3. Carefully whisk in half of the cream. The mixture will bubble and steam violently. Stir until the cream is thoroughly combined, then whisk in the remaining cream.
4. If the mixture has clumped up at all, return the pan to medium-low heat and whisk gently until smooth. Stir in the salt and vanilla.
5. Remove from the heat and let cool. (The sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and reheated.)

Cookies:

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. In a small bowl, combine the mashed banana and sour cream.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and the sugars on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Blend in the egg and vanilla.
5. With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding in the dry ingredients and the banana mixture, mixing each addition until just incorporated.
6. Drop the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets a few inches apart and smooth into about 1¼ inch rounds. If you want the cookies to be more perfectly shaped, you can use a pastry bag with a round tip to pipe them into circles, but I just use a spoon.
7. Bake about 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies are just set and the edges are starting to brown. Let cook on the baking sheets 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Filling:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter and continue beating until smooth and well blended. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.
2. With the mixer on low, gradually add the icing sugar until combined, then increase the speed to medium-high to continue mixing until smooth and creamy.
3. Stir in the caramel sauce until well blended.

Assembling the whoopie pies:

1. Spread out the cooled cookies with the flat sides facing up, and match them into pairs by size as best as you can. Spread a dollop of filling onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair, then sandwich the cookies together. Store in an airtight container.

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Quick Tip: Use chocolate sauce instead of caramel!

Thanks again to Once Upon A Cutting Board for this amazing recipe.