Whoopie Pie Anyone?

Last year my Dad brought me back a "Whoopie Pie" from Boston, a dedication to my beloved nickname, and I couldn't help but laugh when I came across this recipe, and am looking forward to trying it!  If it's called a Whoopie Pie, it better be yummy!

*You all need to check out the blog "Chocolate-Covered Katie", she has some incredible sweet treats that are as healthy as possible!  The following pictures and recipes are from her website*

And smothered in gooey marshmallow fluff?

S’mores Whoopie Pies!

A few weeks ago, my first attempt at s’mores whoopie pies went terribly awry. So terribly awry that I won’t even post a photo. Let’s just say they looked more like whoopie pancakes than pies. I wanted to give the experiment another go for Sunday’s Oscars party.

If it didn’t work, I had a backup: Secret Peanut Butter Cookies.

But I really wanted it to work!

The whoopie pies were perfect to represent the black-and-white theme of The Artist. Luckily, my second try was a big, fat (literally) success. And, as it turns out, I picked a great dessert for the night; The Artist won Best Picture!

The whoopie pies definitely won Best Dressed.

And best taste.

But they are chocolate, after all. So really, it was no competition.

S’mores Whoopie Pies

(makes 12 circles)

Categorized here: Cookies and Bars.

• 1/4 cup milk of choice
• scant 1 tsp vinegar
• 1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (or white flour)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• just over 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane juice (or white sugar)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons applesauce
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons oil (coconut or canola/veg)
• 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix vinegar into milk, and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix very well. Then put all the other liquid ingredients into the vinegar mixture and stir. Pour wet into dry, and stir to combine. Drop tiny circles (a little over the size of a silver dollar) onto 1 or 2 cookie trays. (Or, if you have a whoopie pie maker, you can use that! I don’t have one.) Bake around 8 minutes.

Marshmallow Cream:

If you don’t want to use this recipe, or if you can’t find marshmallow flavoring, you can use Ricemellow Cream or Smuckers marshmallow fluff instead. Both are vegan.)

• 2/3 cup Mori-Nu silken-firm tofu (140 g) (I’m sure soft-silken would work too!)
• 6 tablespoons coconut butter or raw cashew butter
• scant 1/8th tsp salt
• 8-10 drops marshmallow flavoring (like this one)
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• sweetener to taste (stevia, agave, sugar, etc.)

Blend everything in a blender, food processor, or Magic Bullet cup. This frosting is thicker when cold, so it’s a good idea to make it up ahead of time. But don’t frost the whoopie pies until just before serving (or frost them and then store in the fridge).

**For a soy-free frosting, add the vanilla and marshmallow extracts to the following recipe (and sub the pb for coconut butter or raw cashew butter): Soy-Free Option.

And, of course, the chocolate…

I used my favorite chocolate recipe: Hot Chocolate Butter.

If you prefer, feel free to use your favorite hot fudge sauce, chocolate frosting, or melted chocolate chips. Just be sure to add chocolate in some form. This recipe (well, any recipe!) is nothing without chocolate .

Campin' under the Stars

Our first Valentine's Day together had to be perfect.  I wanted to do something out of the ordinary, and have it ready to go by the time Ryan got home at 7.  But first...I started his day off with a little love...

When he got home, I had Ryan change into some campin' gear - our cozy camping shirts and sweats

I set up the tent in our living room (by myself, a V-Day miracle), with lights out, glow-in-the-dark stars, one lantern shining, the smell of our TinFoil dinners cooking in the oven...

S'mores ready to eat, card games, little conversation cards...

mmmmm.....

Starting the night off with a Love Toast

And enjoying our toasty camping goodies!

(we turned on a light and moved to the table - didn't want to start our tent on fire)

Our little gifts

*Twinkle, Twinkle*

The cozy sleeping bag bed 

The perfect evening.  

Brag Day

I came across these videos when I was cleaning out my emails and thought I would share them!  The first video is BYU's longest run of the 2010 season (by my very own Ryan Folsom - start at 4:30ish) and the second it just a little clip from this years season! (click on the link)


BYU at CSU 2010 FM from Furious Monkey on Vimeo.

Fall Camp Day 1

It was so fun watching him play this last season, but we are both happy his long, hard practice days are over. I love my new workout buddy :)

"Take me to Spain!"

About a week ago, I had a random desire to go back to my glory travel days and make a typical Spanish meal.  As it got later, I was losing my desire to cook and just wanted to heat up some soup (I was starving), but Ryan said, "Awww c'mon Lauren, take me to Spain!"  I smiled, thankful for Ryan and his endless amount of enthusiasm and energy, and with a new motivation started pulling out ingredients.

While in Spain, I had such a fun opportunity to take a cooking class as part of my studies at the Universidad de la Rioja!  Every week we would meet at a downtown hotel to be taught for 3 hours by Paco, a famous Chef in the northern area of Spain.  Paco...the name just added another element to that surreal experience.  I am in Spain, taking classes in Spanish, being taught by a Chef named Paco...really??  We made all sorts of things in class (luckily I still have all the recipes) so I decided to make a typical meal we ate weekly with my spanish family, the Marañones.  It includes:

- Tortilla de Patata (eggs, potatos and onions in a quiche/omelette)
- Pimientos rojos (roasted red peppers)
- Mediterranean Salad (served on a plate: lettuce, green olives, tomatoes and olive oil, sardines if you are brave!)
- A loaf of bread 

I am losing my Spanish, but it is entirely my fault.  It is one thing to live with a family, in spain, no english spoken, constant practice....and quite another to live in Provo, go to school with hardly any Spanish speakers and have limited opportunities to practice.  So since most of my recipes are in Spanish and I don't remember which word meant "Tablespoon" or "just a dash", I am grateful the tortilla still turned out well :)

We are hoping to continue this "International Night" with our family.  Every Wednesday or every other, we will make a typical meal from another country to hopefully 1. light a fire of curiosity in our kids, 2. encourage them to try new and different things and 3. change things up!