Making Whoopie!

Any self-respecting baker and lover of chocolate understands the righteous place that Whoopie Pies have in this Universe. Mr. Happy Vegan calls them Moon Pies. Matters not which you choose to call them, its important to worship at the feet of the Whoopie Pie Gods (hereinafter referred to as WPG's).

For Valentines' Day, I made whoopie. Of the pie variety, thank you very much. Here they are, shaped like little hearts. Sweet perfection, wouldn't you say? Remember those dastardly little beets that gave me so much trouble in my quest to make the perfect red velvet brownie (which never happened by the way), well the organic beets that dared remain in my fridge gave way to organic beet juice, which was summarily dispatched into my Whoopie Pie filling. Ah, chocolate cakey cookie goodness, filled with fluffy pink frosting, all piped into heart shapes.

I was never a big fan of Valentines Day. Spent my fair share of them alone, or with the wrong person. Then other issues in life gave way to the holiday being for others, not for me. Kind of like running this place. I think one of the busiest, and most important, days for a bed and breakfast is Valentine's Day. I swear, if someone cares enough to make plans to be on an island in the middle of February on a day reserved for lovers, what can I say, I'm gonna roll with it, and make it a day those lovers will never forget. We kicked the morning off for our guests with a champagne breakfast, and lots of special touches for all. To help things further along, I made said Whoopie of the pie variety, of which I am quite proud.

I practiced these pies. Its been a while since I made this type of Whoopie (eek?) and memory served me that last time I made WP's, the cake recipe was "off." The tops cracked, and I thought the cake too dry. So, I tweaked a few things, and the WPG's bestowed me with Whoopie of my childhood dreams, without the bad ingredients like eggs or whatever. I perfected the frosting, and let my beautiful pink Kitchen-Aid whip that badass filling about 7 minutes to get it absolutely perfectly fluffy. I tasted batch after batch, ending up with a sugar headache, which could only be healed with a huge green salad, some miso dressing, and a carrot juice (thank you Champion!) But, Valentine's Day is not about miso, carrots or greens. No, its really chocolate, romance, love & SUGAR! Ahhh. Great combination.

So, our guests got sweets & treats boxes filled with homemade cruelty-free goodness, including red velvet cake balls (yes, more of those organic beets were juiced for the cake, after the compost incident), and well what can I say, I liked the end result. The Whoopie Pies were just as a proper Whoopie Pie should be. The cake is not crispy, not too soft either. And, when you bite into it, the filling squishes out, so you have to lick it off the sides. By the way, can you imagine the horror; I've heard there are people in the world who think WP's are supposed to be eaten with a knife & fork! The WPG's do NOT approve of such behavior.

Our own Valentine's Day included a mini-road trip into Key West to make a cookie delivery, and we ended up again at the farmer's market at Help Yourself. This time I scored organic fresh ginger root and organic parsley. I'm going to make a nice big batch of homemade seitan (Praise Seitan!) with the ginger, but I'm not quite sure what to make with the parsley. I will decide by tomorrow, as the parsley is telling me its do or die time, literally. Also, for the first time in longer than I can remember, flowers were delivered to me, which made me smile.

I had to bag the run yesterday due to lack of time, but it was a judgment call. I decided it would be better in my life to have a nice meal at "The Cafe, A Mostly Vegetarian Restaurant" as part of our road trip than it would be to spend the time letting my feet hit the pavement. All things considered, I think I made the right choice.

Whether you consider Valentine's Day romantic, or not; whether you observe it, or not, I would certainly hope you made the most of the day you were given. At the very least if you happened upon a Whoopie Pie, I sure hope you seized the moment to worship the WPG's for the chocolatey cake & fluffy whipped frosting goodness they bestowed upon you. Whoop-de-doo!