snow day sweets

 Above: About an hour an a half into the storm; Top: Our front door the morning after; Bottom: The afternoon after, view from our 2nd story window

So you might have heard of a small blizzard that recently hit the Midwest...namely, Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Living and working in said 'burbs often prompts the occasional 'snow day' during the winter months. Even the Chicago Public Schools got a snow day...and that never happens.

Naturally, on said snow days, people look to activities that can be enjoyed indoors (or activities that require freshly fallen snow -- however, even the ski hills were closed!). For the hubs, the best activity would be playing video games. For me, that would be baking. So I awoke that blissful morning and examined my pantry.

I was thinking brownies, but then I was craving cookies, and then I thought, I swear I've seen these together before, like a "brownkie" if you will. So I did some googling, and found a few recipes. Finally I decided a brownie base with some cookie dough was what I wanted.
As the snow began to slow, my oven was preheating, and I prepared the following:

Brownkie Dough
adapted from several sources

Ingredients

For Brownie Base:
1 cup butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Cover baking pan with foil. [I used a 12x17 inch jelly roll pan as I wanted to make thinner brownies and have more pieces.] Spray with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350F.

Melt 2 sticks of butter in a medium saucepan; add cocoa, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool. Transfer to mixing bowl. Add sugar, salt, eggs, and vanilla. Beat slowly until combined. Add flour and baking powder. Mix well. Spread batter into pan. Bake for 25 minutes. Allow brownies to cool completely before layering the cookie dough.

For Cookie Dough:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup malted milk powder or crushed Whoppers
1 cup milk chocolate chips

In a mixing bowl, combine butter, sugars, milk and vanilla. Beat until combined. Add flour and malted milk powder until incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips. Spread evenly over cooled brownie layer.

For Hard Chocolate Topping:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon shortening

Melt together and stir until smooth. Spread evenly over cookie dough layer.

I wanted to cut these into cute little shapes, but the brownies were a little deeper than my cookie cutters. I let the brownies harden in my outdoor fridge/freezer, a.k.a. my garage in the winter; this way they're a little easier to cut. I packaged these babies up and brought them in as a treat for my students when we came back after the blizzard.

Although they were bummed that we didn't get a five-day weekend, like other schools in the area, they were very happy to get the sweets. These had a perfect balance of brownie and cookie dough. I must admit I kept the edges for myself, and then packaged some up for my family too. Goodies for all! Gotta love snow days ;)

whoop whoop whoop!

[throws right arm in the air and proceeds to move it in a circular motion, arsenio hall style]

To say that I was 'making whoopie' is just too expected. Love the pun, though.

I've had this whoopie pie recipe bookmarked for a while now. A couple years ago, they were quite popular on the blogs that I frequented, so after seeing it again, finally I was like, "Hey, I should try those one day!" I might add that I never had a whoopie pie either. They just looked yummy. I mean, I love my cupcakes, so why wouldn't I love a whoopie pie? Two cake-like cookies with fluffy filling in-between -- yes, please! hehehe

So I'm not teaching this year. I suppose that's fine...at least I'm working, right? I do, however, work directly with a handful of teachers. I could count them on one hand. It's not what I'm used to, but again, that's fine. The kids are great, and that's important. :) 

One of the teachers that I work with especially loves the peanut butter and chocolate combination. Being the baker that I am, I want to make things that people will love. So for her birthday a couple months ago, I made some peanut butter delights. She loved them. I mean, who in their right mind wouldn't? And then, a few weeks ago, she tells me that her student made something and that it rivals my peanut butter delights. Wow. Those are some choice words, lady. So in the quick glance of what she showed me, I realized it was this. I mean, how can I compete with creamy, chocolatey, peanut buttery goodness?

Enter: the whoopie pie. I don't take her to be a cupcake girl, such as myself, but I thought the whoopie pie would suffice. Now, she didn't mean to prompt a competition, but really? I don't need to win, but I figured, who wouldn't want some whoopie?  

left: peanut butter whoopie pie with peanut butter chips; right: nutella whoopie pie

Classic Chocolate Whoopie
from Whoopie Pies (I think I may have to purchase this book now!)

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, sift together, flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat butter, shortening and sugar with a mixer on low until combined. Increase the speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat for two more minutes. Add half of the flour mixture and half of the milk and beat on low until incorporated. Repeat with remaining flour and milk and beat until combined. Using a tablespoon (I used a 1-inch cookie scoop, but then decided piping it was easier), drop batter on baking sheet two inches apart. Bake for about 10 minutes each or until pies spring back when pressed gently. Remove from oven and cool for about five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

1 Tbsp of batter should make about 48 two-inch cakes or 24 pies.

2 Tbsp of batter should make about 30 four-inch cakes or 15 pies.
(I probably used 1-1/2 tbsp since I made about 20 pies)

Salty Peanut Butter Filling

adapted from Whoopie Pies

(I ran out of pb)
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter (or crunchy) [ I used 1/2 cup]

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened [I used 1/2 cup]

3/4 cup confectioners sugar [I used 1/2 cup]

1/2 teaspoon salt [I used slightly rounded 1/4 teaspoon]

In a mixing bowl, beat peanut butter and butter together on low until creamy. Add sugar and salt and beat on low until incorporated. Increase speed to medium and beat for about four minutes until the filling is light and fluffy. Spoon or pipe filling on flat side of one cooled cake. Top it with a second cake and press gently. *Use peanut butter chips on the sides of the filling -- adds a great texture and more peanut buttery flavor*

Based on the filling recipe above, I also made a Nutella filling (which could very well be in the book and I just don't know yet!)

1/2 cup Nutella, rounded

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup confectioners suger

1/4 teaspoon salt

Store whoopie pies in an airtight container.

***

I loved these!! I packaged some up for the aforementioned teacher, as well as another teacher that I work with. Such a nice treat during finals (so sue me, I'm about a month behind on my blogging).

They're a great alternative to cupcakes, especially when packing them for lunch ;) Then you don't have to worry about the frosting getting messed up, since it's sandwiched between the cakes. Yah, I definitely think I'm gonna order this book. Update: I just received the book from Amazon -- more whoopie is in my future.