Mother's Day Treats

Grandmother, Mother of my niece, and my Mother

For mother's day, I decided to bake. I am not a good baker, we have covered this, but I thought it'd be fun to give it another shot. I noticed while at the beach last weekend that my  mom had torn from a magazine a recipe for "Whoopie Pie".  I'm guessing this is a childhood favorite of hers, not really sure. But I stole the recipe and decided to make them as a surprise! I also made some Pecan-Toffie bites adapted from various online recipes.  Both of these baked goods are sinful- terrible to your health but delightful to your taste-buds. Hopefully they'll make a nice little mother's day present anyway for my mom, grandmother, and sister-in-law who just became a mother! 

Whoopie Pies (recipe from Joanne Weir)

Ingredients:
Cookies:
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup cocoa, sifted
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups all-purpous flour
- 1 cup milk (recipes call for buttermilk but I used regular) 
Filling:
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
- 1 1/2 cups prepared marshmallow creme
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp salt 

Preheat your oven to 375.   With an electric mixer, beat the eggs, sugar, butter, and vanilla. Mix until it looks "light and creamy".   In a separate bowl mix the cocoa, baking soda, salt, and flour.  Add mixture with milk to creamy mixture and blend- it will look like a mousse. Using a spoon place tablespoon size drops onto a greased baking sheet.  they drops will expand so leave room if you want them to be perfect circles (mine were not).  This recipe should make about 15 pies (30 mini-cakes).  Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes.  

For the filling, combine all ingredients- blend well. Let the cake halves cool before filling with the marshmallow goodness!!! 

Toffee-Pecan Bites 

Ingredients:

• - 1 (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie crusts 
• - 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
• - 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• - 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• - 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• - 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• - 1 cup finely chopped pecans
• - 1 (10-ounce) package toffee chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Roll out the pie crusts to a flat dough. Create small bite size circles with the pie crusts.   I used a shot glass to make the circles but use whatever size you want!  Place the slices on a baking sheet. I did not grease the pan but i think you should because it was hard to get some of them off after baking.  

Next make your pecan-toffee mixture by combining the above ingredients. Mix them into one cohesive bowl of yumminess. Top each circle of pie crust with the mixture.  I saved my toffee-pecan leftovers in a freezer because i think it would make an amazing sundae topper for a future time! Bake for 25 minutes or until pie crusts are lightly browned. Do not let the pecan-toffee on top to turn too dark or they will taste burnt! Let cool before eating.   - 

The Toffee-Pecan Bites are just okay, in my opinion. They are very very sugary so I think you can only have one or two at a time.  I like the Whoopie Pies much better.  They are not as overwhelming (although also packed with sugar).  I think, in general, I'm just having a bit of a sugar overload  from all the sampling I did during and after the baking.. I have now learned not to bake before a meal because you will inevitably load up on the bad stuff (sugar and butter) and lose your appetite for a proper meal.  All in all, I had a great time baking and shall keep working on it! 

These are the ingredients we're dealing with... hello sugar!