Vanilla and Matcha Whoopie Pies

Do you think you're ready for this light and delicious combination? I know that the time now is for pumpkin whoopie pies, but I just bought green tea powder and really wanted to use it.

Plus, I recently bought the whoopie pie pan and book - I had promised to let you know how the pan fared. So please read on:

Vanilla Whoopie Pies
Adapted from Whoopie Pies
(In my case, makes about 10 small and 5 medium whoopie pies)

2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
4 tablespoons of unsalted butter (1/2 of a stick)
4 tablespoons of vegetable shortening
1 cup of brown sugar (the original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of brown sugar)
2 large egg
1/2 cup of buttermilk (I used 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 tablespoon of vinegar to substitute buttermilk)
2 tablespoon of milk
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of vinegar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F) and have all ingredients at room temperature. Lay out your parchment paper on your baking trays. I needed two trays for this batch.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
3. Using your mixer, beat the butter, shortening, and brown sugar together.
4. Add in the eggs and buttermilk (or buttermilk substitute), beat until combined
   
5. In a measuring cup, combine the milk, baking soda, and vinegar. Add the mix mixture to the batter, add in the flour mixture. Beat on low until combined.
6. Add in the vanilla extract and mix until completely combined.
   
7. Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, drop 1 (small) or 2 (medium) tablespoons of the batter onto your parchment paper. Remember to evenly space the batter - at least 2 inches apart is ideal.
   
8. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cakes spring back when lightly tapped. Remove from the oven and let it cool on the tray for at least 5 minutes.
9. Gently remove the cakes from the parchment paper and allow it to cool.
10. Make your favourite frosting to fill the whoopie pies!

Do you have any recommendations for ice cream/cookie scoops? I have a really good metal one that fills about 2 tablespoons. I recently found a small plastic one that fills about 1 tablespoon. I thought this would be good for making smaller whoopie pies, but found that it doesn't ease the batter out as nicely as the metal scoop. Is it just the material the scoop is made of or is there another factor?

So, from of the sloppy plastic cookie scoop, you can see that the batters are all in the pan with different styles.

As a result, the whoopie pies were not as smooth as I wanted them. But at least the circumference of all the whoopie pies were the same, thanks to the pan!

These whoopie pies were very light and fluffy, not too sweet - ready for some sweet filling. I think I would add a little more pure vanilla extract next time. It wasn't vanilla enough for me.

And as you can see, the whoopie pie pan worked out very well. I didn't flour the pans before the batter and still found it nice to work with and non-stick.

Matcha Buttercream
(Makes enough for the whoopie pies above)

1/2 stick of butter
1/2 stick of vegetable shortening
2 1/2 cups of confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons of warm water
1 tablespoon of matcha powder

1. Using your mixer, beat the butter and confectioners' sugar until it is combined.
2. Add in 1 tablespoon of water, mix until smooth.
3. Add in the matcha powder and mix until combined.
4. If you find the buttercream too stiff, add the rest of the water and mix until smooth.
   

I'm pretty psyched to have finally found matcha/green tea powder! I have been searching in various supermarkets for weeks thinking that they would carry it in their tea section. Nope! I finally went to the mall and checked with one of our favourite bubble tea shops. They had it, whoopie!

The buttercream was really delicious, the green tea wasn't over powering, so if you want more of the taste, I would recommend adding more of the powder.