Creamy vanilla buttercream sandwiched between two soft cake-like cookies! The perfect treat to celebrate Independence Day!
The Fourth of July is just a week away, and I’m sure most of you have been scouring the Googlesphere for fun patriotic food ideas to enjoy on America’s birthday.
Although you can never go wrong with your typical 4th of July fare of hamburgers, hot dogs, BBQ ribs and endless assortment of side dishes, for me, the celebration isn’t complete without dessert. That’s why I HIGHLY suggest you make these for your upcoming 4th of July shindig!
As festive as they are delicious, these Red, White and Blue Whoopie Pies are bound to be a showstopper wherever you serve them. With pillowy soft vanilla cake cookies and absolutely no shortage of fluffy vanilla buttercream, you can pretty much guarantee these whoopie pies will be gone in seconds.
What I love about whoopie pies is that they’re kind of the perfect dessert. Unlike cupcakes, which have all of the frosting piled on top of a thick mound of cake, whoopie pies deliver a more balanced ratio of cake to frosting. By sandwiching a thick layer of frosting between two equally thick pieces of cake, you get a perfect bite from start to finish. Don’t get me wrong, I still love me some cupcakes, but whoever invented whoopie pies definitely had the right idea.
Another thing to love about whoopie pies is how quickly they come together. For these patriotic babes, you’ll start by creaming some butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Then you’ll mix in an egg and an egg white. The extra white ensures that the cake cookies bake up light and airy.
Next, you’ll whisk the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Whisking the dry ingredients not only combines the ingredients more evenly, but it also eliminates the need to sift the flour, which means one less thing to clean–score!
After you combine the milk and vanilla, it’s time to bring all of these lovely ingredients together. Start by pouring about a third of the flour mixture into the butter mixture, beating until just combined. Pour in about half of the milk, mixing until combined. Repeat these steps, alternating between the flour mixture and milk, until all of the ingredients have been added.
Now that you’ve got your batter, it’s time to add some color! Try your very best to divide the batter in half as evenly as you can. (A food scale is perfect for this!) To one half of the batter, stir in some red food coloring. To the other half, stir in some blue food coloring. To achieve the bold vibrant results as seen in these photos, I highly recommend gel dyes. I used Wilton’s gel food coloring in the colors “Red” and “Sky Blue”.
When it comes to placing the batter onto the baking sheet, you have a couple of options. You can either take a small cookie scoop or two spoons and scoop the batter right onto the baking sheet. OR, you transfer each batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip (or gallon ziplock bag with the corner cut off), and pipe the batter onto the baking sheet. This is the technique I used. Not only did it give me much more control, but it also produced perfectly round cakes.
Since these cakes are thinner, they don’t take much time to bake in the oven–about 7-10 minutes. I would test them after 7 minutes by lightly pressing the top of one. If it springs back quickly, it’s done. Along with taking very little time to bake, these cakes also take very little time to cool. So once they’re out of the oven, you can get started on your vanilla buttercream.
The buttercream is pretty much your standard American buttercream. You’ll cream some butter, vanilla and salt together until light and creamy. Then you’ll mix in the powdered sugar, a cup at a time, until everything is completely combined. To lighten the frosting up, a few tablespoons of milk or heavy cream is whipped in at the very end. I prefer to use heavy cream because it makes the frosting fluffier. However, if milk is all you have on hand, that’s just fine!
As for assembling these whoopie pies, you can either spread the frosting onto the cake cookies or you can use a piping bag. And if you don’t have a piping bag, you can use a handy dandy gallon ziplock bag with the corner cut off. I find that the piping method is much quicker and provides a prettier finish.
One thing’s for sure, you’re definitely not going to find a more patriotic whoopie pie than these bad boys right here!
Red, White, and Blue Whoopie Pies
Ingredients
Vanilla Cake Cookies:
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 whole egg
- 1 egg white
- 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Food Coloring: Red and Blue
Vanilla Buttercream:
- 12 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- Pinch of salt
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2-3 Tablespoons milk or cream
Instructions
Make the Cake Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 375ºF and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat in the egg and egg white, mixing until combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together. In a glass measuring cup, combine the milk and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add a third of the flour mixture, followed by half of the milk mixture. Repeat these steps until you've used up all of the dry and wet ingredients. Mix until just combined.
- Divide batter in half. Dye one half red and the other half blue.
- Using a small cookie scoop or two spoons*, drop the red batter onto one of the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between each mound. Drop the blue batter onto the other baking sheet in the same manner.
- Bake cake cookies until the tops are springy and just barely dry, about 7-10 minutes. Allow them to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the Buttercream:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat in the vanilla and salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the powdered sugar, a cup at a time, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl frequently. Once incorporated, add the milk/cream and beat on high for at least 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Transfer frosting to a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip.
To Assemble:
- Match each red cookie with a blue cookie similar in size. Pipe a dollop of buttercream onto the bottom side of one cookie, then top with another cookie, pushing the two cookies together gently. Serve and enjoy!