Chocolate Stout and Irish Cream Whoopie Pies

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Baileys, baking, beer, booze, chocolate, cookies, frosting, Guinness, Irish cream, recipes, sandwich cookies, soft cookies, spring, St. Patrick's Day, stout, whoopie pies

I think this marks my first time posting a festive recipe several days before the actual holiday.  Shocking, right?  Unsurprisingly, this was kind of an experiment that I thought about doing awhile ago.  I didn’t come up with the recipe, but did try a different execution of it.

Did you know that I made a wedding cake almost a year ago?  It was this already huge chocolate stout cake recipe tripled and it was ridiculously delicious.  If you’ve never had chocolate stout cake, I think you should change that very soon.  It doesn’t taste beer-y, but has an even deeper chocolate flavor.  And just so you know, even beer haters like it. :)  By the way, all three winners of that Scharffen-Berger Chocolate Adventure Contest (remember?) incorporated stout into their cupcakes.  That’s saying something.

Anyway, I think Deb basically halved that cake recipe (she’d made it into a bundt before), so I knew what I was getting myself into taste and texture-wise.  I didn’t know if one could make whoopie pies simply by scooping cake batter without any alterations onto a cookie sheet, but luckily for me, it pretty much worked with this recipe!

Chocolate Stout and Irish Cream Whoopie Pies
(AKA Chocolate Guinness and Baileys Whoopie Pies or Irish Car Bomb Whoopie Pies)
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

This recipe is originally for cupcakes, but I didn’t change a single thing about the batter.  As a result, they are quite flat like Oreos, but with the cakey texture that whoopie pies are known for (and a lot more manageable to eat than the typically puffy ones).  I didn’t incorporate the chocolate whiskey ganache that Deb put in her cupcakes, though you could certainly spread some on one cookie and the frosting on the other.  I doubled the frosting recipe, but didn’t need to double the sugar as 3 cups was plenty sweetness and texture-wise!

Cookies:
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Filling:
3 to 6 cups powdered sugar (I used 3 – see notes above)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 to 8 tablespoons Irish cream (like Baileys)

Make the cookies: Preheat oven to 350F and line a cookie sheet with parchment or a baking mat.  Put the stout and butter into a large saucepan and heat over low until butter is melted.  Increase the heat to medium and bring to a simmer.  Whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile in a separate large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.  In the bowl of your stand mixer (or in another big bowl if using a hand mixer), beat together the sour cream and eggs until combined.  Slowly pour in the stout mixture and beat until just combined.  Add the flour mixture and mix just enough to get the flour moistened, then fold together completely using a spatula.  At this point, I found it less messy to put the batter in the freezer for a few minutes to firm up a little bit for scooping, but I didn’t do that at first and it was fine.

Using a small cookie dough scoop or tablespoon, scoop and drop the batter balls onto your lined cookie sheet.  These spread a lot, so leave a generous amount of space between each (~2-3 inches).  Bake for 11-13 minutes or until set.  A tester should come out clean.  Let cool on the sheet for a couple minutes, then gently transfer the cookies to a wire rack with a spatula.

Make the filling: Beat the butter with a mixer on high speed for several minutes, or until light and fluffy.  If your butter is a little too warm like mine was, you can stick the bowl in the fridge for a couple minutes to firm it up a little.  Slowly add the sugar 3-4 tablespoons at a time until desired sweetness and texture is achieved.  Pour in the Irish cream a couple tablespoons at a time, tasting until you like the flavor.  If the frosting gets too runny, add a little more powdered sugar.

Assemble the pies:  I used the same small tablespoon-sized cookie scoop to dollop the batter onto the cookie halves.  If you want to use more or less, go for it!  You could also use a piping bag or ziploc bag with the corner snipped off to do this, but I couldn’t be bothered with that. :)  Store these in the refrigerator in an airtight container.  I’m planning to freeze a bunch because it’s cake and frosting which freeze well!

Added bonus, if you like Guinness: since the recipe only calls for 1 cup of stout, that leaves a lil’ something for the baker!  Or you could just use it for more recipes…

These are super moist, soft, and not too sweet.  Perfect for a St. Paddy’s Day party if you ask me…just sayin’.

No go make them!

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