Missed Opportunities

I've only resided in my current city--Somerville, Massachusetts, for around three months. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that one of our claims to fame is the invention of Marshmallow Fluff!

My experience with this confection is limited to several consecutive Christmases of making fudge for all of my friends in high school. This practice became cumbersome in terms of packaging and delivery, and caused a distressing amount of contention, especially among the non-recipients.

This was over five years ago and am I still dwelling on it? AFFIRMATIVE.

There is a Marshmallow Fluff festival here in Somerville! Actually, the proper title is the "What the Fluff" festival. I learned that the festivities included a cooking contest, and I immediately began to devise a recipe to enter. I had a leftover sweet potato in the refrigerator, and I decided to combine these ingredients with another New England favorite: whoopie pies.

Unfortunately, the day of the festival, it rained. And on the rain date (the following day), it also rained. They still held it (you "can't stop the fluff!") but I could not muster up the strength to drag myself out of bed. It may have had something to do with the fact that I was engrossed in a new book, or that I would have been forced to ride my bike three miles in the downpour to actually attend the contest.

What the fluff! I brought these to work, instead. After eating half of them myself.

Chocolate Covered Sweet Potato Whoopie Pies with Marshmallow Fluff Filling

Sweet Potato Cookie
Adapted from a pumpkin cookie recipe in Martha Stewart's Cookies

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
6 Tbsp. butter (3/4 stick)
1 1/8 c. brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 c. cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (NO sugar or milk--just mashed potatoes)
1/2 c. evaporated milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Whisk dry ingredients together.
3. Combine butter and sugar. Beat until fluffy.
4. Add egg, sweet potato, milk, and vanilla one at a time,
5. Add dry ingredients, gradually.
6. Spoon batter onto lightly greased cookie sheet. It will be very wet; this is okay!
7. Bake for 8-12 minutes, depending on size of cookie. (TIP: When making sandwich cookies such as these, it's vital to make them all the same size! You want them to match up. I learned this the hard way...)
8. Allow to cool as you mix filling!


Marshmallow Filling

1 7-oz. jar of Marshmallow Fluff
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2-3 cups powdered sugar

1. Whip fluff and butter together until creamy. (TIP: I greased my fingers and the spoon before I attempted to extract the fluff from the jar. This made it about 5 times easier.)
2. Add vanilla, and sugar 1/2 cup at a time until desired consistency is achieved. Frosting should be very stiff.
3. Spread on the bottom of one cookie. Sandwich another cookie on top.
4. Place sandwiched cookies in the refrigerator on a cookie sheet to set.

Chocolate Coating
This recipe made enough to coat about 2/3 of the whoopie pies. I liked the taste of the plain ones, too, but if you want to cover them all, you can multiply the recipe by 1.5.

1 12-oz. bag of chocolate chips
1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1. Heat the vegetable oil in the bottom of a medium pot.
2. Add the chips and stir over medium heat, until smooth.
3. Remove your whoopie pies from the fridge, dip in chocolate, and place on cookie sheet. (TIP: you may want to use your finger to smooth the chocolate coating on top, once you've placed the pie on the cookie sheet.)
4. Place in refrigerator to set. I found it easier to keep these refrigerated the whole time, actually.

Here is an example without chocolate coating (equally delicious!):

Nutty and Natural

I tend to prefer more "natural" ingredients, although if I need to bake, I will use whatever's on hand. I most often have Earth Balance (a vegan butter substitute) in my fridge for other uses, so that goes into a lot of the baked goods that I make. Likewise, I love to use turbinado or other natural or organic sugars, because they have an interesting crunch and a deeper flavor. These cookies have extra sugar sprinkled on top.

Natural Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate-Chunk Cookies

1 c. Earth Balance (or just butter, margarine, or crisco)
1 c. turbinado sugar (these would work with brown sugar, as well)
1/2 c. white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs, 1 egg yolk

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. whole oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 semi-sweet chocolate bars, chopped. (I used Scharffen Berger because there was a sign at Trader Joe's that said "chop up for chocolate chunk cookies!" which sounded good to me. It is my favorite brand of chocolate to bake with but fairly expensive.)
1/2 cup pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Cream butter ("buttery spread") and sugar, add eggs and vanilla.
3. Mix dry ingredients separately, then incorporate.
4. Stir in chopped chocolate and pecans.
5. Scoop dough onto cookie sheet. TIP: I use two regular spoons, sprayed with Pam if the dough is extra sticky, to scoop. This keeps my hands clean (because you know I will eat anything left on my fingers).
6. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over each cookie.
7. Bake @ 375 for 13 minutes.

Makes 2-3 dozen cookies.