Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

I've forgotten about seventeen times this week that tonight is my book club meeting (we're discussing "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls). I hate showing up to a get-together empty handed, so I had to scrounge around the cabinets today to come up with something to bake with what I had on hand. Good thing I had a box of red velvet cake mix - that made this whole recipe possible.

I've seen this recipe in a number of places, though I can't remember where I originally found it. I know Paula Deen has a homemade version, but I must say, mine's a little easier to put together. Not only are they easy to put together, but boy do they taste good! Especially with a nice, frosty glass of milk.


Red Velvet Whoopie Pie
Printer-friendly recipe

1 box red velvet cake mix (you really could use any kind of cake mix, really)
2 eggs
1/2 cup of softened butter (but NOT melted)

Cream Cheese Filling

1 pkg cream cheese
1 cup (one stick) of softened butter (but NOT melted)
2 cups of confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine all of the "cookie" ingredients in a big bowl and start mixing. This will take a while. Try to smush all of the cake mix globs that appear. This will take some elbow grease. Be patient. And be careful - red velvet cake doesn't wash off easily.
3. Either roll dough into small balls, or use small cookie scoop to scoop evenly sized balls onto parchment-covered cookie sheet. Bake for 11 minutes and cool completely before removing from cookie sheet. This is very important - it's a delicate cookie, so you don't want to remove them too quickly.
4. While the cookies are baking and cooling, beat together the filling ingredients with an electric mixer (or paddle attachment of a stand mixer) until creamy. Feel free to add more powdered sugar as desired.
5. Once all cookies are fully baked and cooled, you can "frost" them. If you're as hardcore as I am, feel free to sort your cookies first to make your sandwich pairs (you know, match like sized/shaped cookies to each other). And feel free to eat one if you wound up with an odd number. Just make sure to dip it in the filling first.
6. Drop a dollop of your filling onto a cookie. Spread it around a little bit, and place your paired cookie on top. Smush the cookies together a little bit to make the filling spread around nicely.
7. Once you've "frosted" them all, store them in an airtight container and refrigerate them. This will help the filling "set" so that it doesn't just smush out of the cookie when you take a bite. Make sure to keep them refrigerated.

Enjoy!