Whoopie!!!

For some time now I've been wanting to write a post about the hits and misses at Williams-Sonoma. I've also wanted to write about the greatness that was Sister Clark's kitchen. My first experience in her kitchen was 9th or 10th grade. My young women's class was meeting there during Christmas break to make cookie plates for a rest home or something like that. As was usually the case, I was kind of confused. How in the world do you make a 'variety of cookies and candies' to put all over plates, how are 8 girls all going to fit in the kitchen to do this? You know, I just go with the flow and try to figure out what everyone was talking about. Being a convert and raised in a smaller kitchen, I was at a disadvantage.

Sister Clark's kitchen was magical. It was H.U.G.E. She had tons of pans. Back at my house, two thin cookie sheets. Here, they just kept coming out of the cupboard. A never ending baking supply! This was not all, it was loud, and confusing, and her other kids walking through, her older son teasing the girls that were there, it was just chaos. I had never experienced anything like this in a kitchen before. Through the whole baking process, I just remember Sister Clark laughing and enjoying it all.

This simple little activity probably is not remembered by any of the other girls that were there. It was really an insignificant Christmas break day. But to me, it was life changing. I wanted to be like that. I wanted my cupboards full of whatever I needed to get the job done. Most of all, I wanted the noise, I wanted my house to feel like it was alive with life. And I wanted to laugh and enjoy all the chaos with my kids. So thank you, Sister Clark, all those years ago for opening up your kitchen to a mia maid class and being such a great example to me. I can't tell you how many times as I reach for a cookie sheet or start up my mixer I think of that day.

A couple of weeks ago I stopped in to Williams-Sonoma. I needed a new cork-stopper-pouring-thingy for my oil cruet. They didn't sell the one I wanted any more :(. I broused around. I was just in the mood to buy something. You know how every now and then you just want to shop? There hasn't been any extraneous shopping for a long while. I had a little extra money and just looked around.

I bought this Whoopie Pie pan. I thought it was ridiculously priced, but I was in a mood for chocolate and the picture looked so good. I saw it and knew it would be something fun to make for Drew. He walks through the door every Sunday asking if I made dessert. I thought he'd love these.

I used the internet to get a recipe to make them from scratch. None of the recipes said anything about a whoopie pie pan. They said to drop a spoonful on a cookie sheet and flatten out into a circle. So I used both methods.

I needed my trusty 'ole Betty Crocker cookbook to tell me how to make buttermilk (substitution section on the back cover).

I cursed the single oven in the rental house and made a mental note to make sure and put a double oven in the new house remodel.

The last two cookie sheets waiting to go into the oven. I have to say for two weeks I've been telling myself how stupid it was to get the pan, and once i saw online how you were supposed to shape the cookies, I was really mad I had bought the pan.

But this is what they looked like coming out of the oven. The regular cookie sheet cookies thinned and spread out and didn't retain the original shape. Score a point for the pan.

The recipes all included the filling, so next time I'll try to do that from scratch, but the night before I had picked up this 'creme filling' to whip up instead. It's not natural, but definately the twinkie/ding dong filling taste.

Finished product from the Williams-Sonoma Whoopie Pie pan.

Whoopie Pie pan on the left, regular cookie sheet versions on the left. If you're going for looks, the ridiculously priced pan was winning so far.

Wouldn't you know it, I'm all excited to show Drew this dessert, and if his parents didn't show up this week! That's totally ok, they've come the last 100 weeks or so straight, so one missed week is understandable. (way to accomodate the home teachers....)

Bekah and David enjoyed the dinner. Bekah loved the dessert. Her review: definately better with the Williams-Sonoma Whoopie Pie pan. The cookie portion was thicker and moister and just over all tasted better.

Which leaves me needing two more pans to accomodate the recipe/size of the family. Hopefully I can find them on the internet sold by somebody else for a fraction of the cost. And did you notice how many cookie sheets I had out there? That didn't include the other two on another counter that had breadsticks rising on them. Thank you, Sister Clark. I learned so much about how to run a kitchen and a family all those years ago from you.

To recap: The Whoopie Pie Pan was a hit, but the price is really too much. I'll have to do another post on WS with some of the other hits & misses, while you wait, here's a miss.

Just pick up 3 pies at Marie Calendars when they're on sale for $5.99. Eat and enjoy the pies, wash out the tins, and there you have breading pans for years to come.