Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Happy Blog-a-versary to me! Happy Blog-a-versary to me! Happy Blog-a-versary to the Newtonienne! Happy Blog-a-versary to me!

One year ago this week I decided to dedicate my blog to my culinary adventures. A few (27) recipes later and I have officially been food blogging for one year. No, I'm not on any of the cool food blog aggregators like foodgawker or foodblogs.com nor am I unaware that I need a new camera to improve my photos nor am I in denial that this constant cooking thing is taking a chunk out of my 'grocery store food' line item in my budget . . . But I am enjoying it and judging by the hits on my site, a few others are too for which I am sincerely grateful. In order to celebrate the milestone as well as the recent Valentine's holiday, I made these Whoopie Pies. I may have set the fire alarm off twice (still don't know how that happened - I blame the suspect apartment appliances) and I may have doubled the size of my whoopie pies so that instead of making 15 like the recipe says, I made only 7 -- but these slight hiccups did not diminish the deliciousness of this dessert (or snack if you are that hardcore).

Now, not to brag or anything, but I make a stellar Red Velvet Cake for Christmas (future post, I'm sure) and I will admit these weren't as good but they were fun and cute and festive. Sort of like myself . . .

So here's to another year of food blogging. Here's to hoping I do more than 27 posts in 2011 as I continue to improve. Here's to hoping my blog is finally approved by foodblogs.com (they have like 5 billion blogs on there, how come I can't be one?) and my photos are accepted at foodgawker.com (ok, I respect the stellar quality of the photographs on it so I get that one). And here's to hopefully stumbling upon a Canon Rebel XTi with a 50mm f/1.8 lense laying on the side of the road . . .

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
From Sweetcakes Bakeshop

Makes 10-15 sandwiches. (Or 7 if you measure like I do.)

1/4 c butter
1 c sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp red food coloring
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add in eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in buttermilk, vanilla and red food coloring. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet.

Scoop dough onto a lined cookie sheet using a generous medium scoop (2-3 tablespoons). Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes until centers appear set. Allow to cool slightly. Then pull the liner onto the wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Filling

8 ounces cream cheese
4 tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar

Cream together cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl. Beat in milk and vanilla. Sift powdered sugar over the wet ingredients and beat in until smooth. Spread in between two cooled red velvet cookies.

Texas Caviar

My dad has taught me a lot in the 27 years I have been on this earth. As a “Daddy’s Girl,” I spent the bulk of my childhood following him around the farm where I grew up mimicking his love for the outdoors, being exposed to The Who, The Stones and the Moody Blues and serving as his partner in crime. Due to our near-identical personalities, we have sometimes clashed but I know that our love for each other is one of understanding and acceptance that we are the same person – just in different bodies. It gives me comfort to know that wherever I go, I have a little (ahem, a lot) of my dad in me.

Through the years he has given me many words of wisdom. From the instruction to “Just follow the sun” if I were ever to get lost in the woods and needed to get home (which I only had to use once when I lost the trail and found myself in the middle of nowhere and, sure enough, I followed the sun and came out a mile down the road from where my house was) to “never forget from where you came” (which, just looking at this blog title, would suggest I won’t do that).

One other tidbit he taught me was to “Never pull for orange.” He said this in half-jest but it does prove to be a pretty wise mantra when it comes to deciding which team to pull for in a sporting event. This means I refrain from pulling for any teams sporting jerseys in burnt orange (Texas), neon orange (Tennessee), or just plain orangey-orange (Syracuse, Miami, and Florida). As with most guiding principles, there are times when one may have to abandon her directions. I added an addendum to the “Never pull for orange” rule so that it is “Never pull for orange. Unless they are playing baby blue.” Therefore, this afternoon, I spent two hours pulling for Clemson (they are of the orangey-orange variety) and was as frustrated as any Tiger fan when they lost to the Tar Heels.

Oh well, at least I had good dip while I watched it.

Texas Caviar
From Spark Recipes
(Luckily the University of Texas and its burnt orange color are not related to this dip. I can enjoy it with a clear conscience.)

1 can Black beans, drained
1 can Black eyed peas, drained
1 can shoepeg corn, drained
2 green peppers, chopped
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
2 bunches green onion, chopped
jalepeno peppers to taste
1/2 cup fat free Italian dressing

Mix all ingredients and let sit for an hour or two in the refrigerator. Serve with Baked Scoops. Makes a giant bowl, about 20 1/2 cup servings.