Spiced Whoopie Pies

It is with absolute pleasure that I write this post. I am hosting the Feb '14 episode of the Home Bakers Challenge, another brain child of the ever so creative Priya Suresh.
In keeping with the occurence of Valentine's day I presented a variety of "to-bake" items to all those who were willing to participate. The underlying theme was to bake stuff which were different from the regular V-day fare including
1) French Macaroons
2)  Whoopie Pies
3) Neapolitan Cakes
4) Cheesecake Cupcakes
The main reason for choosing the list above were because I wanted to try out eggless versions of all of these. For various reasons my baking has become few and far between, therefore I managed to concoct only one bake. I had to choose the easiest recipe, for reasons strong, and since I cannot eat cheese at the moment I chose Whoopie Pies!

Before I ventured out to make a red velvet whoopie pie or any other sweet whoopie pie, I took a vote and my family unanimously chose a spicy fare. So I twisted the ingredients around to get a spicy cookie halves and even used onion-chive cream cheese filling for one. It turned out delicious. This was really a rare case of having only a few minutes before all the cookies and whoopie pies were cleaned off the plate! My joy knew no bounds! The aroma of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg is exactly what you need in your house on a cold winter's day and mine was snowing to boot.

Spiced Whoopie Pies

Servings: 20 cookies or 10 Whoopie pies
Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 12 mins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
3/4 cup Cane Sugar  (Or 1/2 cup Cane Sugar and 1/2 cup dark molasses)
3 tsp grated fresh Ginger (or 2 tsp Ground ginger)
1 tsp ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Salt
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
1/4 cup Yogurt
1/3 cup Boiling water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
3. Combine flour, sugar, (molasses if used), ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, baking soda in a bowl
4. Mix in oil, yogurt until well combined
5. Pour in boiling water and mix until smooth
6. Drop dough in balls on prepared cookie sheet with 1 inch space between each
7. Bake in oven for about 12 mins untill slightly puffy and golden
8. The cookies will be soft when removed from the oven and will continue to harden a bit. 
9. Cool on the cookie sheet for 5-7 mins before cooling completely on a rack
10. Once the cookies have cooled completely apply filling on the bottom of a cookie and place another similar sized cookie on top of the filling. 
11. Chill it for 10 mins in the fridge if its gets a little runny or is a warm day
12. I used store bought cream cheese and Nutella for the filling. The sweet of the chocolate and then tang of the cream cheese blended perfectly with the spiced cookies!

CWS Event - Cooking with Seeds - Avarekaalu/Hyacinth Bean

I am excited to announce my first event as a guest host! I am hosting the CWS (Cooking with Seeds) event for the month of March '14. This event, or should I call it tradition, was started by Priya Suresh of Priya's Versatile Recipes and anyone who looks for recipes online knows this website only too well. As the name suggests she has the most versatile spread of delectables on her blog!

The seed I choose for the event is the "Avarekalu". Also known as the Hyacinth Bean, it is one of the tastiest seeds and can be incorporated into a variety of everyday recipes. The seeds can be used as is or the skin can be removed to use the soft flesh parts inside. The most common recipes include Sambhar, Upma, Pongal, Curry, Masala. All we need to do is cook using the seed and our imagination and link your entry to this post.

                                                    (Thanks to Priya Suresh for the logo)

The event rules are as follows…

• The event runs from 1 to 31 March 2014. 

• You can cook anything from. It can be a starter, main dish, side dish, dessert or any other recipes.

• Bloggers, please link your recipes using the linky tool below.

• Recipe must be linked to this page and CWS event announcement which is mandatory.

• Usage of logo is appreciated for all entries as it would help spread the word. 

• I would request linking Vegetarian recipes only since my blog is strictly vegetarian.

• You can submit as many recipes as you wish.

• Archived recipes can also be submitted when updated with the event details.

• Not mandatory, but will be highly appreciated if you can like us on Facebook for updates and recipes.

• Non bloggers can send in their recipes to my email siriroop@gmail.com with following details: your name, recipe name and details.                       

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