Torviewtoronto: Almond cardamom whoopie pies

Almond cardamom whoopies

This Whoopie pie book is cute and written in a friendly manner. I like that the authors have placed the page numbers beside the recipes, which make it easy to access the recipes. The first whoopie pie I made are pumpkin whoopie pies, which is one of my favourite; I mostly make it during fall.
The introduction in this book is a must read as it will be useful to make whoopies.

Whoopies are soft, round shape cake/cookies that have a creamy filling. It is not quite a cake or a sandwich cookie. For me, it has a childhood taste of something that tastes similar to these yummy whoopies without the cream; I actually prefer without the cream :)
The book makes us go down our own childhood memory lane. It is definite that once you make or taste a whoopie pie it is very likely that you will enjoy it.

The cake or soft cookie part of the whoopie can be made a head of time and it can be frozen up to a month. Defrost 2 hours at room temperature before filling.
Most fillings such as buttercream stay in the fridge for up to a week. Bring to room temperature about an hour before filling. The marshmallow or whipped cream filling doesn't store well so use these right away. Assembled pies store in airtight container for up to 3 days. It can be individually wrapped and frozen up to one month.

There are lots of combinations that have been suggested and experimented in the book for us to try and get started. The book also has places where we can find hard to find ingredients, sources, places in USA where whoopies are sold and about the annual whoopie festival that is held in Pennsylvania.
This book is available online, amazon and at bookstores i.e. Chapters.

First, I tried the Classic chocolate whoopie recipe from the book, however I didn't like the strong baking soda taste in it. I am not sure if there is an error in the amount of baking soda. Although it looks good I prefer not to share the recipe as it wasn't tasty.

Then, I tried this pistachio cardamom whoopies by replacing the pistachio with almonds and it tasted fabulous. I didn't put any filling because we enjoyed the cake like cookies on its own. It had a beautiful aroma.

3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla (I replaced with rose water)
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 cup ground pistachio (or almonds, hazelnuts or macadamia nuts)

*can be replaced with a favourite spice i.e. cinnamon, ginger, ground spices
Sift flour, baking powder, cardamom, salt and leave it a side. Beat butter with the sugars until it is fluffy and smooth. Add the egg and beat well. Add vanilla or rose water and beat.
Add half of the flour mixture then buttermilk beat till incorporated. Add the rest of the flour and buttermilk beat till combined. Add the ground nuts and mix till combined.
Using an ice cream scoop (2 tbsp) drop the batter onto the baking sheet or wax paper 2" apart. Bake for 10 minutes at 350F until it is brown, I inserted a skewer to check. Leave the whoopies in the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring on to a rack to cool completely.

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