Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Ok, so today we are finished with the perfect pairs theme. As a recap we first started this month with Maple + Bacon, then we went with Lemon + Meringue, last week we went with a classic Peanut Butter + Jelly and we are finishing it up with Red Velvet + Cream Cheese. I love Red Velvet anything and normally I always make red velvet macarons but this time I went with whoopie pies. I really love whoopie pies since I had them in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I've only made whoopie pies one other time and they were yummy but I knew I could make them better and with more filling. I filled these red velvet whoopie pies with a luscious swiss meringue buttercream that I added cream cheese to.
Whoopie pies are super easy to make and the texture is somewhere between a cookie and a cake. I love them. I also dusted them with powdered sugar.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Here's what you will need

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cups of cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 stick butter (room temperature)
• 1 egg ( room temperature)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• red food coloring (drops)

Preheat oven to 350F

First sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside for later.

In a separate bowl take brown sugar and softened butter and mix together until fluffy.

add the egg and whisk until combined.

add in your food coloring

 Then add in 1/3 of your flour mixture.

 Mix well

Add in half of your buttermilk (it looks pink because I mixed the remainder food coloring from my tablespoon into the buttermilk)

You will repeat this process starting with the flour mixture, milk, flour, milk and ending with flour.

Drop about 1/3 cup of each mixture onto a parchment lined baking pan

Bake in a 350F oven for 16 minutes, turning pan halfway.

Remove and place on cooling rack for 30 minutes.

is it weird that I like how lumpy they look

I used leftover swiss meringue buttercream from my freezer. I just rewhipped it. You can use anything that you would like but here is a good recipe I used last week. Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Look at that swirl of frosting ( I bought a new french tip)

so pretty with a dusting of powdered sugar

close up of the yummy whoopie pie

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes

Time for the third bake for the month of February. The perfect pair this week was Peanut Butter & Jelly. I was thinking about baking a PB&J cheesecake but at the last minute I scrapped that idea. I decided to bake cupcakes because I normally don't bake them. This was also the perfect opportunity for me to try making some swiss meringue buttercream. I'm really glad that I did. My mom requested some chocolate coconut cupcakes so I made some of those too. I made a peanut butter swiss meringue buttercream and it is amazing. So light and peanut buttery. I think this may be my new favorite way to make buttercream because the american style is so much more heavier. I filled the peanut butter cupcakes with some classic grape jelly. I also drizzled more jelly on top and I made some roasted peanut dust and topped each cupcake with that. They came out so well.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcake

Here's what you will need

Chocolate Cupcake

• 1 1/3 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup softened butter ( 1 stick)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup hot water

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

• 3 egg whites
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cup softened butter ( 3 sticks)  each stick cut into 8 pieces

for coconut swiss meringue buttercream

• 2 tablespoons of coconut extract

for peanut butter swiss meringue buttercream

• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

First sift your flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda together and then set aside.

In a bowl cream together softened butter and sugar until nice and fluffy

add in your eggs one at a time

Add in half of your flour mixture

pour in your milk and blend

add in the second half of your flour mixture

take your hot water and pour that into your cupcake batter and mix till combined

This is hot water, I just added it to the same measuring cup that had the milk in it

Preheat oven to 350F

Scope your batter into cupcake liners being careful not to over fill (cupcakes will rise) 3/4 full is always a good fill level.

Bake in 350F oven for 15-20 minutes ( I baked mine at 17 minutes) everyone's oven is different so use a toothpick to check doneness.

After removing from oven let them sit in the pan for about 10 minutes then move them to a rack to cool.

These smelled so good after coming out of the oven

I took a measuring spoon and carefully removed some of the inside of the cupcake to stuff them.

best part about removing the center is that you get to eat cupcake scraps

I just filled these with some grape jelly I had in the fridge (you can use whatever you have)

Yummy jelly

For the coconut filled I just mixed about a 1/2 cup shredded coconut with 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk

yummy coconut filling

These are ok to leave out while you work on your frostings.

In your stand mixer bowl (or you could use a glass or metal bowl) place your egg whites and sugar and give it a quick whisk

 You are going to place this bowl over a pot of simmering water and cook until all the sugar is dissolved or a thermometer reads 160F (make sure the water in the small pot does not touch the bottom of the bowl

Once all the sugar is dissolved and you reach 160F remove the bowl and attach it to your stand mixer and begin whisking the egg whites on high until stiff peaks form and your bowl feels cool to the touch.

look at that glossy meringue

with your mixer still on high add one piece of butter in at a time.

thats a whole lot of butter

Keep whisking on high, if your buttercream looks like it will curdle keep mixing it will become silky and smooth.

nice and silky

I then separated some out to flavor the peanut butter  swiss meringue butter cream. I just added peanut butter and tasted it.

add in some peanut butter and adjust to your taste

For the coconut cupcakes I added the coconut extract and whipped it in the mixer and placed in a pipping bag. I like a lot of frosting.

I really love a lot of frosting

I topped the peanut butter and jelly cupcakes with the peanut butter swiss meringue buttercream. I microwaved a tiny bit of jelly for about 15 seconds and drizzled that over the cupcakes. I then placed some honey roasted peanuts in my coffee/spice grinder and blitzed them till I had a crumb consistency and I sprinkled that on top.

I did make a mess with the jelly, but look at these cupcakes

For the coconut I just threw a ton of shredded coconut on top and placed two almond slivers on top.

After adding the coconut 

So yummy

The PB & Jelly are my favorite

Ya'll better bake these

The cupcakes were deliciously moist and not overly sweet. Also the buttercream freezes well ( I had enough to frost another dozen cupcakes). Definitely try baking these. Hmmm I'm still trying to decide on the last bake. I'm leaning towards something with red velvet.

Lemon Meringue Eclairs

Whoa we are half way through with the February bakes. I feel like 2018 is going to be one of those years that will just fly by. Today's perfect pair is Lemon + Meringue. They work so well with each other. I love lemon but it does has the tendency to be rather tart at times. It needs it's friend Meringue to offset some of that tartness. I wanted to bake something that I hadn't in a while. I went with an eclair. I had only made them one other time last year and wanted to improve my eclair baking skills. I loved the way they turned out. I ended up changing my oven temps and I even adjusted the baking time. This led to a much crispier and more hollowed out eclair shell. Lemon anything will always be a favorite of mine, so these eclairs made me very happy. I had a much more pleasant experience because I made the lemon cream a day earlier. So remember you don't have to do everything in one day.

Lemon Meringue Eclair

I will definitely bake these again in the future.

Here's what you need

Pate a choux (eclair dough)

• 250ml of water (1 cup + 2 teaspoons)
• 70g  of butter (5 tablespoons)
• 150g of flour (1 cup)
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• pinch of salt
• egg wash (1 egg + 1 tablespoon of water)

Lemon Cream

Lemon Curd

• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons of lemon zest 
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks (save the egg whites for the meringue)
• 1 stick of butter (cut into pieces)

whipped cream

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Italian Meringue

• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/3 cup of water

First make some lemon curd or if you want to skip this step and use store bought go ahead. Here's how I make my lemon curd. How To make Lemon Curd

Once you make your Lemon Curd place it in the fridge to cool.

Whip up your whipped cream by using a stand mixer or hand mixer. Pour your heavy cream in a bowl and whip on high speed until soft peaks form and pour in your powdered sugar and whip until combine. Try not to over whip your cream.

In a large bowl take your cooled lemon curd and about 3/4 of your whipped cream and gently fold the two together. Once everything is combined place bowl in fridge until ready to fill eclairs.

Stop when your cream looks like this

chilled lemon curd

Lemon curd +Whipped cream = Lemon Cream

Now for the Eclair dough

preheat oven to 400F


Combine water, sugar, and salt in a small/medium pot and bring to a boil

the sugar and salt dissolved in the water

Add butter and bring to a boil one more time.

Butter

let all the butter melt and bring this to a boil

Add the flour and whisk vigorously until no lumps remain. (I could not take a picture and vigorously mix at the same time)

Reduce the heat to minimal and keep whisking until the mixture thickens, about 1 minute. It should look like this.

keep stirring to cook out the flour

Remove mixture off the heat and add one egg at a time, keep whisking the mixture until all eggs are incorporated and the batter is a smooth consistency. (it's easier to use a wooden spoon....you will get an arm work out)

It will look a mess but keep stirring it will all come together

keep stirring until your arm falls off

It's easier to use a wooden spoon after the eggs are incorporated to make sure your dough is smooth.
This dough will be stiff, yet pipe able.

Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe fat lengths of dough (about ¾ - 1 inch thick and 4 inches long) onto the lined baking sheet, leaving 1 inch of space between them.

Then gently brush each eclair with egg wash. I then took a fork and gently scraped the top of each eclair (this helps with an even bake and it makes them look cute)

your should get about 12  6 inch eclairs out of this but I made a couple too long and only ended up with 11 and two little cream puffs which is still cool.

ready for the oven

Place in 400F oven and bake for 15 minutes. Without opening the oven decrease temperature to 350F and bake for 25 minutes.

Remove eclairs from oven and place on cooling rack. Cool completely.

Nice and golden brown

I just took a piping tip and gently pressed  three small wholes into each eclair

starting at one end I filled each whole with the lemon cream mixture (when the mixture starts to come out of the whole stop filling it.)

all filled up

*if some cream come out just use a knife to scrap it off

place the filled eclairs back on the cooling racks

full of cream

I made a little lemon glaze and brushed on them to make them shiny and even more lemony

Time to make the Italian meringue

Place 1 cup of sugar and 1/3 cup water in a small pot on medium to high heat and cook with a candy or digital thermometer until 100C .

When sugar reaches 100 celceius begin whipping egg whites in a separate bowl.

when egg whites become frothy add in the 1/4 cup of sugar and whip until soft peaks form.

when soft peaks form sugar will reach 118 celceius remove from heat and slowly pour into egg whites.

Turn mixer on high and whip until bowl is cooled down so about 5-7 minutes.

Place cooled meringue in a piping bag with whatever pipping tip you have and pipe meringue over the top of each eclair ( I used a leaf tip)

they look so yummy

Using a kitchen torch slightly toast the meringue. If you don't have a kitchen torch you can place them back in the oven and toast them that way.

after the torch

close up of that yummy meringue

so perfect

Inside view

I also ended up making some with a blackberry glaze.

In a small pot place 1/2 cup of blackberries, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and 3 tablespoons of sugar over medium heat. Cook until blackberries become soft

remove from heat and use a sieve to smash blackberries with spoon to extract juice and remove seeds

Why do blacberries turn red when they are cooked

 Take two cups of powdered sugar and about 7 tablespoons of blackberry syrup and whisk until smooth

blackberry glaze

 Dip each eclair in glaze and sit on rack to set (about 5 minutes)

before glaze sets you can top with sprinkles or just leave them plain. I added candied lemon peel and meringue. Oh and a little gold luster dust.

look at how pretty these are

I tried to zoom in on the glitter

ready to serve

These were mega yummy and looked beautiful. Next weeks bake will definitely be Peanut Butter & Jelly inspired.