And here we go....Pi Day 2012

As I said, I am a teacher. I teach high school English at a rather large public school south of the city of St. Louis. Many of my really close friends are math teachers and we are a collective group of uber nerds. 


Trust me when I say this; we may come across as the "cool" kids, but fear not we are nerdy.


We celebrate quite strange holidays, one of those being Pi Day. 
Pi Day occurs every March 14; 3.14 and math teachers (and wanna be math teachers--because I am by no means a math teacher; ask my students, I can barely add) take this as a day to eat a lot of circular items and celebrate the magical number of 3.1415926...

This year one of my teacher friends, who teaches at a charter school in the city, told me that her school was having a contest amongst the teachers of who could make the best pie. The students would then vote and the best pie would win first place. Obviously, I asked her what type of pie she was going to make and she simply said, "Oh, I'm buying mine." I'm not going to lie when I say I made a disgusted face and told her that I would make a pie for her. 


So I decided to make Red Velvet Whoopie Pies. I found this great recipe probably about two months ago and was just waiting for a time to make them. I was pretty excited to finally have the occasion. 


Plus, I'm really competitive so any opportunity to win something, I jump at.



(I had hoped they'd turn out as pretty as this.)

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
           
Ingredients:
Whoopie Pies
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1-oz. bottle red food coloring (2 Tbsp.)



Cream Cheese Filling (you could use the typical Marshmallow filling, but I liked the way the cream cheese filling tasted)
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, softened
2 cups (8 ounces) powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
splash of milk if needed



Follow these easy steps...


1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment; set aside. 


2. In medium bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

3. In large mixing bowl beat butter on medium to high 30 seconds. Beat in brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk, beating after each addition just until combined. Stir in food coloring.

3. Spoon batter in 1- or 2-inch diameter rounds, about 1/2-inch high on prepared baking sheets, allowing 1 inch between each round. I used a cookie scoop so the tops and bottoms were the same size.

4. Bake 7 to 9 minutes for 1-inch cookies or 9 to 11 minutes for 2-inch cookies, or until tops are set. Cool completely on baking sheets on rack. Remove cooled cookies from baking sheets.

5. To fill, dollop  Cream cheese frosting on flat sides of half the cookies. Top with remaining cookies, flat sides down. It was supposed to make 60 one-inch cookies, but I was only able to make 20 one-inch cookies; I probably could have made them smaller, but I liked the size they ended up being. 

6. To store: Refrigerate in airtight container up to 4 days. Let stand at room temperature 15 minutes before serving.

My finished product...

I have to say, they turned out pretty yummy. 


My husband wanted to eat them all, but I only allowed him two and kept a close watch on him every time he went into the kitchen the remainder of the night.  


Unfortunately, I lost to an ice cream cake/pie. 
I think it was rigged.