Soft, cake-like cookies are sandwiched together with a cooked frosting in these red velvet whoopie pies that everyone will love.
It all started at Costco a few weeks ago. You all know that when it comes to Costco, I’m a sucker for picking up a cheap cookbook. I wrote all about it in my Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies post. But I’ve been trying to be better and use what I have at home instead of spending more money. A few weeks ago, I decided just to walk by and just glance at what they had. I ended up picking up a copy of The Deen Family Cookbook and started looking through it’s pages.
There, towards the back, was a picture of the most beautiful cupcakes. Now, I love red velvet>, and I love a good whoopie pie, so when I saw this picture of red velvet whoopie pies, I was in love.
But I was a good girl and put the book back down. I don’t need another cookbook, I thought to myself. And I definitely don’t need to be eating more cookies – especially after all the treats from last month. I put the book down and walked away.
Then last week, I was watching an episode of the Rachael Ray Show. Paula Deen was a guest that day, and guess what she made?? These Red Velvet Whoopie Pies. I knew right then that it was destiny that I made these cookies. And I needed a new cookbook for the May Cookbook of the Month, so it couldn’t have been better timing!!
I did have a few issues with these cookies – mainly from the instructions. The original recipe says to “drop by teaspoonful”. And that’s what I did for the first batch. I ended up with these cookies that were so cute and little – but it would have taken me all day to make them, and I would have ended up with about a million cookies!! For the rest of the batter, I made them into regular sized cookies – 12 cookies to a cookie sheet. I don’t know how many cookies I actually ended up with because my husband kept eating the unfilled cookies!
We really enjoyed these cookies. But I have to admit – and all you true Southerners out there please don’t boycott me – but I love cream cheese icing with red velvet. This filling was good, but I missed the tang of the cream cheese. But even without the cream cheese icing, these cookies got high marks from us!
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Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 24 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 24 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
Soft, cake-like cookies are sandwiched together with a cooked frosting in these red velvet whoopie pies that everyone will love.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 cups canola oil
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar
- one 1-ounce bottle red food coloring
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
Filling
- 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, softened
- 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (such as Crisco)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease two cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa. In another bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, food coloring and vanilla.
- In the bowl of a mixer, beat the sugar and eggs together until light and fluffy and pale. Add the oil mixture to the bowl and beat to combine. Add one-third of the flour and beat until combined, followed by half of the buttermilk. Repeat, adding another one-third of the flour, the remaining buttermilk, then the remaining flour.
- Drop or pipe half of the batter onto the prepared baking sheets, making 12 cookies per baking sheet with 1 inch between the cookies. Bake until the cookies are slightly firm and bounce back when you lightly touch the middle, about 12 minutes. Transfer immediately to racks to cool. Let the baking sheets cool completely, then repeat with the remaining dough.
- To make the filling, place the flour in a medium saucepan and slowly add in the milk, whisking until smooth. Set the pan over medium heat and cook until very thick, stirring constantly with a whisk, about 3 minutes. Let the mixture cool completely.
- In the bowl of a mixer, cream the sugar, butter, shortening and vanilla together. Add in the cooled flour mixture and continue to whip until light and fluffy.
- Spread some of the filling on the flat side of one cookie and then top with another cookie. Repeat to fill all the cookies.
- Store the cookies covered in the refrigerator.
Recipe Notes:
I find that it’s easier (and I end up with more uniform circles) to pipe the batter instead of dropping it. I also pipe the frosting into the centers which makes them a lot easier to make!!
slightly adapted from The Deen Family Cookbook
Keywords: red velvet whoopie pies
Leslie says
I made these tonight and they turned out beautifully and are delicious. Instead of using a teaspoon, I used a small cookie scoop. I liked the filling but like you prefer cream cheese icing. I think I'll try it with the icing next time I make these. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Deborah says
Hi Vixanne – I wish you would have left a blog or email so I could contact you so that we could figure out what went wrong! I went back and re-checked the recipe – everything is correct. I followed the same recipe and got a great result, so I'm not quite sure what happened for you! Please feel free to email me if you want my help to figure out what went wrong.
vixanne says
Taste and tell….well, I'll tell alright! May this be a warning: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO BAKE THESE. There is a mistake in here. The cookie did NOT rise and the frosting was nothing short of horrendous. I followed this EXACT recipe. I've baked many difficult things in my time and almost all of them have been edible. This, however, was a disaster. A plague on both your houses!!! Please check this recipe before you prepare to bake!
Jean Bugs says
Good Lord I love a good Whoopie pie! And good Lord I love Red Velvet! I think I’ve died and gone to heaven with the two together!!!! And when you put the true filling in them like this recipe has, well I just can’t even describe my level of euphoria!!!!
Kim says
Your whoopie pies are too cute! Haven’t had red velvet cake in ages.
Clements Family says
Looks delish!!
The Queen of Quite a Lot says
They look fabulous! I don’t know if I’ve ever had Red Velvet Cake, but these make me want to try it!
Chocolate Shavings says
Those look delicious Deborah, and I love your photo!
Katie says
These whoopie pies look wonderful and I love the sound of the new foodie blog
Grace says
yes…a teaspoon of dough would never satisfy my cookie appetite and would result in way too much tedious labor–good call making ’em bigger. 🙂
Elyse says
These whoopie pies look fantastic!! I’m with you, though, I love a good cream cheese frosting. I’m heading over to Foodie Giveaway right now!!
Maria says
Love the red whoopie pies! So fun!
Michelle says
okay, as soon as I can eat sugar again, I’m totally going to make these and take them to some sort of party! They look so delicious, and pretty! you’re amazing Deb. love you!
kayce. says
you should submit these to foodea.com’s whoopie pie bake off! :)) there are some great prizes.
Emily says
Wow! These are awesome! A red velvet whoopie pie is such a good idea.
I think this icing would be good, but I think cream cheese would be good as well.
RecipeGirl says
Well first of all, those RED whoopie pies would have caught my eye too. Fantastic. And I’m with you on the cream cheese filling too!!
2ND- love that you’re doing a giveaway blog. I don’t really care for the blogs that do numerous giveaways that take away from their food posts, so a blog devoted to just that is perfect! I already have the Hershey cookbook, so I’ll check out the next one.
Dragon says
What a gorgeous colour!
The Fab Miss B says
Can’t wait to try em. Prettiest cream pies I’ve ever seen!
Paula says
I’ve never had a whoopie pie, but it sure is fun to say! They look darling. Am I reading correcting that you are starting a 2nd blog? Best wishes to you!
Kristen says
These are brilliant!
And yes, those recipes that say to drop by the teaspoonful drive me nuts. Who needs itty bitty cookies like that? I’d just use that as an excuse to eat a million of them!
Nama says
Oh man, I love a good red velvet cake recipe. And these look delicious. Thanks for sharing!
Tea says
I love the way they look.
Yummm!!!!
kristina says
What a gorgeous red! And you can’t go wrong with whoopie pies–mmm! K x
Maria♥ says
Wow these are amazing!!!
Maria
x
Abby says
They are gorgeous!
But this Southerner doesn’t do red velvet – I always find the vinegar too strong.
I wonder if you can leave that part out….
April says
I love cream cheese with my red velvet cake too. These little babies look fantastic!
kat says
They turned out super cute! I’m with you though I love cream cheese with my red velvet cake
Lisa says
Love the way they look. Looking forward to your new giveaway blog.
Rosa's Yummy Yums says
Oh, they look sooooo pretty! What gorgeous Whoopie Pies!
Cheers,
Rosa