Appeale

Last night I had the pleasure of volunteering/photographing a Canvas Underground event, held at a beautiful loft in Emeryville. The night featured delicious food, music by Vagabondage, savory goodness from the Cultured Pickle Shop, a sneak preview of Ana Joanes documentary Fresh and many sweets from WingWalker Bakery. The menu for the night was just as exciting: grilled local asparagus with agrumato and shaved Bellwether Farm pepato cheese, County Line Farm chicory salad with crispy homemade pancetta, fava beans and aged balsamic, organic chicken with saffron and olives, and my very own red velvet whoopie pies with cream cheese creme filling.

50+ guests crowded the dimly lit apartment, and sat on the floor sharing the dishes family style. The party lasted well into the evening, and wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of Vera and the Canvas Underground crew. For my part I’m posting photos of the evening on Flickr, and of course proving the whoopie pie recipe below. Enjoy!

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies


Makes about 20 pies

Ingredients
1/4 pound butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
red food dye
2 1/3 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 F, and cover two baking sheets in parchment paper. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa together.

With a mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until they are combined and fluffy. Next scrape the bowl and add vanilla. While mixing add the egg and red food dye (add until the batter is bright red – amounts will vary depending on the strength of your red food dye). Scrape the bowl to make sure the dye is thoroughly incorporated. Next add 1/2 of the flour mixture and stir on low speed. Stream in half of the buttermilk. Repeat again so that all of the buttermilk and flour mixture is combined.

Drop the batter by 1-2 tablespoons onto baking sheets (I use a small ice cream scoop), allowing 1 inch between drops (the cookies spread). Bake for 10 minutes, rotating half way through. To check if the cakes are fully cooked, lightly touch the tops and if they spring back they’re done. Cool completely before frosting.

Place about a tablespoon of the filling in between the whoopie pieces to form the sandwiches.

Cream Cheese Creme Filling

Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1.5 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions
Begin by beating the heavy whipping cream in a chilled bowl at high speed for 3-5 minutes, or until stiff peaks have formed. In a separate bowl beat together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract. After the cream cheese mixture isthoroughly combined carefully fold in the whipped cream.

I’ve been pretty absent from the blogging world of late, but this time it’s for a really good cause! I just started a new job at an Indian food company – Sukhi’s Gourmet Indian Foods. So far I’ve eaten way too much delicious food, and been able to help with some really fun projects.

One project in particular is a promotion that happens once a month – Free Sample Friday. The premise is simple: visit the Sukhi’s Facebook Fan Page (It’s about three posts down from the top), vote on one of two products, register your address, and receive a free sample! Couldn’t be easier. This week’s two choices are the Gobi Aloo Spice Mix and the Kashmir Curry Paste. Both worthy opponents for sure! (And they’re vegan/veggie friendly)  The voting ends Friday, April 9th at 2pm PST.

If you miss out on this week’s Free Sample Friday don’t worry – there will be more free sample giveaways in the near future!

Growing up I was a huge fan of Little Debbie snacks. You know, the super sugary, always chewy, filled with some sort of sugary creme/frosting treats? My favorite back then were the Star Crunch snacks, but today I was craving another classic treat: Oatmeal Creme Pies.

All-in-all these were easy to make, and what isn’t fun about assembling a bunch of little cookie sandwiches? For your first round be sure to watch the timing – so that you can adjust for your oven’s temperature.

Homemade Oatmeal Creme Pies

Makes about 20-25 pies

Cookie Ingredients
1 cup margarine
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups quick oats

Creme Filling Ingredients
2 teaspoons very hot water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow fluff
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. In large bowl cream the margarine, sugars, molasses, and vanilla. After it’s combined, add the egg and scrape in-between. In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt, baking soda, oats and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the margarine mixture. Drop dough by TBS on a parchment lined baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will look moist/maybe a little undercooked in the middle, but take them out when the edges are brown (They’ll firm up a bit after cooling).

Creme Directions
In small bowl, dissolve the salt in the hot water. In a mixer, combine the marshmallow fluff and shortening until well combined. Next add the powdered sugar, and vanilla until light a fluffy. Finally add in the water/salt mixture (after it has cooled) and combine thoroughly.

Assemble the cookies by spreading creme filling on the flat side of one cookie, and pressing a second, similar sized, cookie on top.

Photo by Neil Conway