Coconut Whoopie Pies

My husband and I are coming up on our 10 year anniversary, which is kind of mind blowing on several different levels. In some ways, of course it feels like we have always been together and yet I feel way too young to have been an old married lady for almost a decade.

Needless to say we have been through many Valentine's Day together, some a bigger deal than others. This year, he was working late and we don't have a ton of extra money to be doing special things anyway. However, I wanted to do something to make the day not just like any other day.

We all know how my husband will eat just about anything, but he does have his favorite things. Coconut is definitely one of those things. So when I saw these on Paula Deen a few weeks ago, I thought that Valentine's Day would be the perfect time to try these. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, well a day late anyway.

Coconut Whoopie Pies

by Paula Deen

Batter:

2 1/4 c all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4c (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened

3 tbsp vegetable shortening

3/4 c sugar

1 large egg, plus 1 large egg white

3/4 c light coconut milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 c sweetened flaked coconut

Coconut Fluff Filling:

3/4 c (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 c marshmallow creme

1 c sifted confectioners sugar

1/2 c sweetened flaked coconut

2 tbsp light coconut milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp coconut extract

Cooking Directions:

Preheat oven to 375, with rack positioned in the center of oven.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper (I just used another sheet of parchment since I am out of wax).

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, shortening, and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Add the egg and egg white and beat until incorporated. Add half the flour mixture and half the coconut milk and beat until just blended. Then add the remaining flour, coconut milk, and the vanilla extract and beat until blended.

Using a 1/4 c ice cream scoop (or whatever you have), drop the batter into 12 mounds on the lined baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. If you want to make smaller pies, just use well rounded tablespoons and you can make 24. Sprinkle half of the mounds with coconut, or all of them if you choose. I, of course, chose to put as much coconut as possible on these bad boys!

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until they begin to crack and are firm to the touch, about 12 min for large cookies and 10 min for smaller ones. Slide the parchment paper with the cookies onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the coconut fluff filling, beat the butter and marshmallow creme in a large bowl with a mixer at medium-high speed until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the powdered sugar, coconut, coconut milk, vanilla, and coconut extract until smooth.

Gently lift the cookies off of the parchment paper and spread the flat side of the plain cookies (or either one depending if you put coconut on all of them) generously with coconut fluff filling. Top with the coconut topped cookies, pressing lightly to seal them together. Store in a air tight container in refrigerator.