Whoopie!

I made my first whoopie pies today.  I have a recipe from my mother, that I copied onto a 3x5 card.  I didn't keep the original.  I should have....just in case.

At any rate, I made them. I had bought a whoopie pie baking pan and I thought, even if I don't make whoopie pies, I've wanted a pan that makes muffin tops.  Do you know what muffin tops are?  When you bake (or buy) a muffin, I always think that the best part is the somewhat crunchy top. I've been looking for a muffin top pan forever.  When I saw the whoopie pie pan, I had to have it (from Bed, Bath and Beyond, and I had a coupon).

Well, I filled the pie pan too full - they all have big tops on them, and these little funny bottoms (which end up being the center of the pie when you put the filling in, and then squish two together to make the pie).  I had leftover batter, so I made the rest on a cookie sheet.  They at least came out flat.  The ones in the baking pan wouldn't come out - so all the bottoms stuck!  It's a non- stick pan.  The recipe doesn't call for greasing the pan....but I think I might next time.
Along with the pan came a recipe for Whoopie pies.  I didn't look at that recipe or compare with the original.  I must do that.
I don't think the pies came out quite right.
And the filling - while it's good and what I remember, it really isn't healthy at all............3/4 cup of shortening and 2.5 cups of sugar, and you add flour to milk and cook it till thick - picture paste....yeah.  But it tastes good - must be the vanilla and pinch of salt I added. LOL

At any rate, I think the newer recipes call for marshmallow fluff filling...might just try that next time.
The cakes came out.........ok.  So next time I will try the newer recipe and see if it comes out better.  I think I over-baked them too......that could be part of the problems I had.

I don't know why I make these things.  They'll go bad before hubby and I can eat them.  Sigh.  But I love to bake.  Not so much in my tiny kitchen, but I make do....

I got a bunch of yarn from a friend who was cleaning out her stash.  I had to bring it home and put it on the porch.  She likes to put smelly soap in with the yarns when she stores them, and the smell is making me cough up a lung.  Ever since the heart attack in 2007, I am VERY sensitive to scents and I will hack and cough forever.  I hope the airing out works.....I can't leave it on the porch for long - bugs, weather, etc. It's not a screened porch (and don't EVEN get me started on that!). 

Anyway, I'm grateful for the yarns, and I could just picture myself making all kinds of cute scarves to sell with it.  Nice................

Today it was 74 degrees.  Good Lord, it's Nov 14th!  It's not going to last tho.  We really need to get the leaves up.  The riding lawn mower is on it's last leg.  The sweeper isn't doing much better and you do one pass and you have to go empty it.  The walk behind blower won't start this year....dunno what's wrong with it and hubby is not a small engine repair guy.  The leaf blowers are just not good enough....and take forever.  And one is electric so you can't get far with it anyway!  I keep trying to get hubby to buy (yeah, spend $$$) for a larger, better mower, and one that has the box on the back so it can mulch and dump and then we can dump the box in the corners.  Yep, it would take a ton of dumping but hey, it can't be worse than what we are doing now.............did I mention we have 5.5 acres with over 100 oak trees?  Yeah, and if we leave the leaves on the ground, it kills what little grass is out in the pastures (with all the trees)......

Anywho, that's about it for me.  I'm off to make dinner...........chicken tonight.  Just not sure what to have with it.  Maybe baked potatoes...white and sweet and we'll share half of each...yep, I think that will work. 

Martha