Banana Whoopie Pies

This is a recipe from the September issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine. It is a delicious banana cookie with a cake-like texture with a sweet cream cheese filling sandwiched in between.

Banana Whoopie Pies

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large ripe banana
1/2 cup sour cream
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Filling:
16 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup confectioners sugar, plus more for dusting

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
1.Combine flour baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. In another bowl, combine banana and sour cream.
3. Beat butter with granulated and brown sugars with a mixer on medium high speed until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, beating until incorporated.
4. Combine with banana and flour mixture in a large bowl.
5. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain tip. Pipe batter into 1- 1/4-inch rounds on baking sheets, spacing about 1- 1/2 inches apart.
6. Bake until edges are golden brown, about 12 minutes. Slide parchment, with cookies, onto wire racks. Let cool. (Unfilled cookies can be stored for up to one day).
7. Beat cream cheese, vanilla, and confectioners sugar until creamy.
8. Pipe or spoon 1 tbsp cream cheese mixture onto the flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies. Dust with confectioners sugar.

Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and banana and sour cream in another:
Combine sugars, butter, and vanilla and beat until pale and creamy:


Transfer batter into a pastry bag. This gadget came from Williams Sonoma:
Pipe onto parchment covered baking sheets:

This is how they look before and after baking:

A cool Martha trick, which I will do again, is to transfer the parchment onto a cooling rack with the cookies on it:

Spoon or pipe the filling onto the flat side of the cookie and sandwich them together:

Dust with confectioners sugar either before or after the sandwiching process. It will work either way.

Mmmm.... They are yummy.