Chocolate Covered Banana Whoopie Pies

There is a rule in my house about bananas.  You aren't to eat them unless you have permission.  Which is weird, right, because most moms want their children to choose fruit and go to town without asking?  Well, when you live in a house with a baker it becomes a whole other ballgame.

Generally to avoid the whole confusing issue in the homestead, I try to find bananas at the store with some brown spots already.  But seeing as 98% of the population likes them green/yellow, they are hard to come by at the store.  So I buy my green bananas and take them home, and this is how we eat them-green/yellow.  However, once a certain amount time has elapsed, there is a window when the bananas are no longer available for eating.

Thus, my kids are required to ask for a banana, so I may inspect the color and make my decision.  If they've reached my optimum brown color for baking or they are on the cusp, well then, sorry about your luck kiddos, go eat an apple!

One time, I caught my youngest eating a brown banana, and I was mortified for a couple of reasons.  Mainly because now there wasn't enough to bake with, and secondly, that banana was brown. Like, really brown.  Ick!  Which is another weird thing, right?  I'll bake with brown bananas and eat that baked good, but I wouldn't dare eat a brown banana by itself.

My poor children.  I'm probably scarring them for life!  At least in the meantime I can comfort them with some baked goods.

These super moist Chocolate Covered Banana Whoopie Pies are just the thing to bribe their affections.  Oh man!  Let your bananas brown and make some of these!

Chocolate Covered Banana Whoopie Pies
Whoopies adapted from My Baking Addiction

- 2 c. all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp.  baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 c. granulated sugar
- 1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed (approx 1 c.)
- 1/4 c. sour cream
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together dry ingredients- flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl, mash bananas until you don't have any large chunks.  Should end up looking like the consistency of baby food-with some smaller pieces of banana.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars on medium speed, until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.  Scrape down sides of the bowl, add egg and continue beating on medium/high speed for additional 3 minutes.   Add mashed banana, sour cream, and vanilla, and continue to beat until combined. Scrape down bowl.  With mixer on low, slowly add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Using an ice cream scoop, whoopie pan, or piping bag, scoop/pipe rounds of batter onto prepared cookie sheets, approx. a couple inches in diameter.  Bake for 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool completely on wire racks (not cookie sheet).

Filling
adapted from King Arthur Flour

- 1 c. vegetable shortening
- 1 c. powdered sugar
- 1 1/3 c. marshmallow cream/fluff- (5 7/8 oz.- so I use a 7 oz. jar and leave some at the bottom)
- 1/4 tsp. salt dissolved in 1 Tbsp. warm water
- 1 1/2 tsp. clear vanilla extract or regular if you don't have it

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together shortening, sugar, and marshmallow fluff until it appears combined.  Add salt water and vanilla and beat until filling is fluffy.

Spread or pipe onto half of cooled banana whoopies.  *I pipe because I find it easier to do it that way.

Top with remaining whoopies.

Get a good amount of filling in there!

Topping

- 1/2 c. chocolate candy coating, chopped or in disks
- Toffee bits (optional)

Place candy coating in a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water.  Stir until candy coating is melted.  Remove immediately.  Spoon a couple teaspoons of chocolate candy coating over the whoopie pie, and smooth around with an offset spatula or back of spoon.

Top with toffee bits if desired.  If you don't have a nut allergy, I highly recommend this because it adds more texture, and a hint of toffee saltiness to the whoopie pie.  Serious YUM!

Yeilds approx. 12 small whoopies

I love when the filling smooshes out the sides when you take a bite!

Frosted Soft Lemon Cookies

Oh my.  I'm starting a citrus trend, and I blame the warm/hot weather.  Orange Brownies.  Key Lime Pie.  And now these, Frosted Soft Lemon Cookies.  I'm just here to make sure y'all are getting your daily dose of Vitamin C.  Oh, and sugar.  Always sugar.

After this week I may take a little break from all this fruit, but besides these cookies I have one more fruit dessert to share with you.  A girl can only live on fruit for so long until she breaks down and goes for the chocolate.  And by "girl" I mean "me", and I need chocolate!  I'm daydreaming of Oreos.

Anyway, I had these lemons hanging around, and when I received a last minute request for a dessert I knew exactly where to go.  However there are so many delicious lemony desserts, where to begin?  I shall turn to the mighty Pinterest for inspiration!

And here's what I came up with:

Frosted Soft Lemon Cookies

adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

- 2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

- 1/2 tsp. baking powder

- 1/2 tsp. salt

- 3/4 c. granulated sugar

- 2 Tbsp. lemon zest (zest of 2 sm. lemons)

- 1 c. unsalted butter, softened

- 1 egg

- 1tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt-set aside.  In another bowl, add sugar and lemon zest.  Using your fingers, rub the zest into the sugar.  The idea is to infuse the sugar with the lemon flavor.  Lemon-sugar.  Good stuff.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy- a few minutes.  Scrape down sides of the bowl, add egg and vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed for several minutes.  Turn mixer on low, and slowly add flour mixture.  Stir until batter is just combined.  Batter will be thick.

Using a small cookie scoop, scoop dough (about golf ball size) onto prepared baking sheets.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Cool cookies on sheet for a couple minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Lemon Frosting

* you could probably halve this recipe but I'd rather have enough goodness to spread around, and save the extra for something else like frosting cupcakes or filling whoopie pies-YUM!  :)

- 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened

- 1/2 c. vegetable shortening

- 5-6 c. powdered sugar (depending on thick/sweet you want)

- pinch of salt

- 4 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (use your 2 lemons that you zested)

- 1-2 drops yellow food coloring (optional)

- yellow sanding sugar (optional)

In a bowl of stand mixer, beat together butter and shortening.  With mixer on low, add powdered sugar and pinch of salt.  Beat until powdered sugar is incorporated and mixture is thick.  On low, slowly add your lemon juice and food coloring.  Turn mixer on high and beat until whipped and fluffy!

Scoop a heaping mound of frosting onto each cooled cookie and and spread around.  Sprinkle with sanding sugar if desired.  Enjoy!

Key Lime Pie

"Summer time and the livin's easy"!  (Ahh, Sublime)

I should change that to, "...and the pie is easy".  Not only is this pie ridiculously easy, but just the kind of dessert you want on a hot day.  Light.  Citrusy and Tart.  Cool and Creamy.  Mmm, get me a slice now.

I know there are a variety of ways to make Key Lime Pie, and some of those ways may include green food coloring.  But just because this isn't green, doesn't mean this isn't filled with Key Lime goodness.

I made this pie to accompany the Honey Lime Enchiladas I made from The Girl Who Ate Everything.  I zested my limes first to use for the pie, and then used the juice for the enchiladas-no waste!  I love it!

Key Lime Pie
I have no idea where this recipe comes from.  I've been making it for so long and adapted it from different sources.  I only had this recipe hand written on a piece of paper with random changes and notes.  So if you notice the same recipe somewhere else, please let me know!

- 1 pre-made graham cracker crust
- 1 (14 oz.) can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 1/2 c. key lime juice- I use Nellie & Joe's 100% Key Lime Juice which I find at local grocers
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tsp. lime zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake graham cracker pie shell for 5 minutes.  Remove from oven.

In a bowl, whisk together my hand or hand mixer, sweetened condensed milk, key lime juice, egg yolks, and lime zest.  Pour creamy mixture into partially baked graham cracker shell.  Return to oven and bake 12-15 minutes.  Center should be firm, and only give a very slight jiggle.  Cool on wire rack.

Topping
- 1 c. sour cream-yes, sour cream not heavy
- 1/4 c. powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp. vanilla powder* or extract
* my vanilla powder looks like vanilla beans, and that is the flecks you see in my topping

Whisk ingredients together in a small bowl.  Spread over cooled pie.  Refrigerate and chill completely before cutting and serving.

Wham, Bam, and Thank You, Ma'am!  Easy as...PIE! Enjoy!

Orange Brownies

You read that correctly, Orange Brownies.  Not Chocolate Orange Brownies- which is the perfect combination in my opinion.  But trust me, these brownies are one of the very best things I make.  And how do I know this?  Because people ask me to make them... a lot.

The thing about these brownies is that they're kinda like an old friend to me.  We hung out a lot in the beginning of my baking ventures, and as time passed and I grew more in my baking experiences, we only saw one another here and there.  But I still keep coming back to this recipe because it never fails me.

I don't know if I've ever shared this here, but my baking "re-inspiration" came from watching Paula Deen when she first got started on Food Network.  Her food wasn't complicated, she was relatable, and her dishes always look delicious, and not to mention, comforting.  Her recipes never steered me wrong, and these Orange Brownies were proof.  Everyone adored them, and me for making them, which gave me confidence to keep on baking.  And, here I am today, with many more recipes and techniques under my belt.

Orange Brownies
adapted from Paula Deen

- 1 1/2 c. flour
- 2 c. sugar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 c. unsalted butter, softened
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp. orange extract
- 1 tsp. orange zest (zest of small orange)

Glaze:

- 2 c. confectioners sugar

- 1/4 c. orange juice (you can use the oranges you zest, but zest first, than squeeze)

- zest of small orange

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line and 9x13 pan with parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and salt.  Add butter, eggs, orange extract and zest.  With a hand mixer, combine until all the ingredients are incorporated together and you have a nice thick batter.

Pour or scoop batter into prepared pan and evenly distribute into the pan using your spatula.  Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and using a fork, poke holes on top of the entire pan of brownies.

Make glaze by whisking all glaze ingredients in a small bowl.  Pour glaze evenly over the top, using a spatula as need to distribute glaze evenly.  Place pan on wire rack and let cool before cutting and serving.

This recipe is truly the best to take to a summer gathering.  These brownies are moist and citrusy, lighter than "normal" brownies, which makes them perfect on a hot summer's day!

Butterfinger Cake

You're going to love me for this one!

I love cake, but I hate taking the time to cut layers, do a crumb coat, and then frost and decorate the whole thing.  Too much work, I say!  I want cake now, and want to slap the layers between some fluffy filling and call it a day.

So that's exactly what I did!  I took the very best, very easy Chocolate Cake recipe from My Baking Addiction and layered it with my Butterfinger Pie filling.  Which by the way, is another very easy dessert, so you may want to check that out too.

No fancy ingredients (I swear), and you can do this and be is CAKE HEAVEN (It exists, I'm sure)!

Butterfinger Cake
adapted from My Baking Addiction

- 2 c. granulated sugar
- 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
- 3/4 c. + 2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 c. buttermilk
- 1 c. strong black coffee
- 1/2 c. vegetable oil
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 2, 9 inch round cake pans, line the bottom with wax paper-grease top of paper. ( With a piece of wax paper beneath the pan, with a knife I trace the bottom of the pan and then cut out the wax paper-it fits perfectly)

In a bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  On low speed, mix until all ingredients are combined.  You may have to help the ingredients in that are around the sides of the bowl.

In a separate bowl, give a light which to eggs, buttermilk, coffee (I let it cool to at least lukewarm), vegetable oil, and vanilla.  Add wet mix to the dry ingredients.  Combine on medium speed for about two minutes, and stop as needed to help fold dry ingredients in that may cling to sides of pan.  Batter will be thin.

Divide evenly between your prepared pans.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean, maybe with a couple cake crumbs.  Cool on wire racks for 10 minutes and then move a knife around sides and turn out on to wire racks and let them cool completely.

Filling:
- 8 Butterfingers divided, regular size (2.1 oz), chopped
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 12 oz. Cool Whip

In a large bowl, use a hand mixer to combine 6 chopped Butterfingers and cream cheese until you don't see cream cheese pieces.  Fold in 12 oz. container of Cool Whip.  Place plastic wrap over top and refrigerate until your cakes are cooled.

Place one cake layer on cake stand, scoop out and spread half of your Butterfinger filling on top.  Top with remaining cake.  Scoop out and spread remaining filling over the top.

Optional Glaze:
adapted from Annie's Eats

-4 oz. semi sweet chocolate, chopped
-1/2 c. heavy cream
-1/4 c. light corn syrup
-1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, heat heavy cream till simmering.  Pour heated cream over chocolate, let it stand for a couple minutes.  Whisk until all chocolate is melted.  Add in corn syrup and vanilla, whisk.  Cool slightly and then pour over the top of your cake.

Top with remaining 2 chopped Butterfingers.  Enjoy!

Store in the fridge.  And it's Friday morning, but I say this applies ANY morning!

Photo image courtesy That Girl