Whoopsies Cooksies

Recipes, their history and provenance and how they are adapted and modified, are immensely intriguing to me. Growing up, I was fortunate enough to have a June Cleaver type mother. She was (and still is) a wizard in the kitchen. She helped establish and foster my love for vintage recipes and experimenting with variations of them. Have you heard of whoopie pies? If you haven't, mmmm...you're missing out! They're not really pies any more than Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies are. You've basically got a delicious devil's food cake split in half like a macaron with a dreamy, creamy filling. This recipe is one of my riffs on the original. I came up with it as a faster and easier alternative to the old version. It's convenient and easy to whip up. No oven required and unlike the original, it can be scaled down to 2 servings. The following will make 2 Whoopsie Cooksies. Sweet, huh? Let's do it!

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FILLING: 

• 2 ounces Oreos or other sandwich cookies, crushed 
• 2 ounces mixed berry cream cheese spread, softened 
• gold sugar

INGREDIENTS FOR THE COOKIES:

• 1 package brownie mug cake mix
• water
• silicone mold for cookies (see photo)
• maraschino cherries (optional)

Combine crushed cookies and cream cheese. Drop by tablespoonful onto parchment paper and

shape into a ball before rolling it in gold sugar to coat. Place in the freezer briefly to firm up.

Brownie Mix? Mug Cake? 

Yeah, yeah, I know I said we are making cookies. And we are!

While your balls are chillin, combine 1 package of microwave mug

brownie mix in a bowl with 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon water.

Divide cookie batter equally among 4 silicone cookie

molds. Bake in the microwave per package instructions.

After the cookies are cool, remove balls from the freezer and sandwich between 2 cookies.

Press down gently. Sprinkle with gold sugar and top with a maraschino cherry. Enjoy!