Nutella Orange Whoopie Pies and a review

Nutella is one of my favourite snacks so I was really excited when I was asked if I wanted to review a book of Nutella recipes. The book is by Jacqui Small and is called Nutella : The 30 Best recipes. It's in the form of a 3D nutella jar and is filled with a delicious collection of Nutella recipes. The recipes range from simple no bake recipes to more complicated desserts. There are 62 pages in total with a helpful conversion chart at the back.

The book is divided into the following chapters. I've included a selection of recipes from each section but there are a lot more in the book.

• Little Nutella Treats - nutella financiers, nutella souffles, mini nutella croissants
• Melt in the Mouth Nutella - nutella mousse, nutella creme brulee, nutella panna cotta
• Nutella for Sharing - nutella mini swiss rolls, nutella and chocolate terrine, nutella charlotte
• Amazing Nutella - nutella clusters, nutella macarons, nutella cigars

Each recipe is clearly laid out on one page and has an accompanying photo. There is a 1 line introduction to the recipe followed by information such as serving size and preparation time. The ingredients are listed in metric and cup measurements. The instructions are clear and easy to follow. 

It was difficult to choose to recipe to make as I wanted to make all of them but in the end decided on the Nutella and Orange whoopie pies. The whoopies pies were great - moist and crumbly with the chocolate hazelnut taste of nutella. The filling that I made was a little watery but it tasted good. The orange flavour was definitely there and it went well with the chocolate. 

My verdict - a cute little book perfect as a gift particularly for nutella lovers like me. The main plus points for me are the presentation (3D nutella jar) and that there is a photo for each recipe. 

The publishers have kindly offered my readers a special price for this book. Details are listed below. 

To order Nutella: The 30 Best Recipes at the discounted price of £7.00 including p&p*, telephone 01903 828503 and quote offer code JS229. Or send a cheque made payable to: Littlehampton Book Services Mail Order Department, Littlehampton Book Services, PO Box 4264, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 3TG. Please quote the offer code JS229 and include your name and address details.

*UK ONLY - Please add £2.50 if ordering from overseas.

If you fancy your chances and want to win a copy then complete the rafflecopter form below. Entries open to UK residents only. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 sample page

 main ingredients 

 adding the nutella 

 time to use my whoopie pie pan! 

 yum! 

Recipe from Nutella: The 30 Best Recipes published by Jacqui Small - reproduced with publishers permission

Makes 15 Whoopie pies (I made 12 large ones) 

 • preparation time : 30 min • cooking time : 10–15 min • chilling time : 1 hr

For the cream filling 

1 orange

75 g (5 tbsp) unsalted butter 

50 g (¼ cup) caster/superfine sugar 

1 egg 

75 g (¹/3 cup) philadelphia-style cheese

For the whoopie pies 

125 g (1¼ cups) plain/all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

40 g (3 tbsp) unsalted butter 

40 g (scant ¼ cup) caster/superfine sugar • 1 egg 

100 g (scant ½ cup) nUTELLA® 

20 g (2 tbsp) cocoa powder 

100 ml (scant ½ cup) semi-skimmed milk 

 a pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/Gas 4).

2. Make the cream filling. Finely grate the orange zest and squeeze the juice. 

Melt the butter in a bain-marie or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Add 

the sugar, egg and the juice and zest of the orange. Beat continuously until the 

mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Beat in the cheese 

then chill for 1 hour. 

3. Make the whoopie pies. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. In 

a separate bowl, beat together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, NUTELLA®, 

cocoa powder and milk. Mix well then add the flour and baking powder mixture.

4. Place 30 small spoonfuls of the mixture on a baking sheet covered with baking 

parchment. Bake for 10–15 minutes. Remove from the oven, leave to cool on a 

cooling rack, then sandwich together with the cream filling. 

Disclaimer:  I received a free review copy from the publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Happy 4th July to all those who are celebrating! My google reader is groaning with all sorts of red, white and blue delights so this is something different but still very American. One of my good friends was recently successful at a job interview - CONGRATULATIONS!  It's a job she has wanted for a long time and I'm so, so pleased for her. We went for a lovely celebratory dinner at Bistrot Bruno Loubet which I would recommend if you are in the area. I had the Beetroot ravioli which is in the Time Out Top 100 best dishes in London!

Doesn't it look amazing?

I wanted to bake something special for her to celebrate her success.  I remember her telling me that my Lemon Whoopie Pies were the best thing I've ever baked and she has tried a LOT of my baking! I decided to try the chocolate whoopie pies this time and use my jar of Marshmallow Fluff which I found in Asda. I used Dan Lepard's recipe again for the whoopie pies which turned out beautifully. I made a marshmallow fluff buttercream as fluff on its own is really, really sticky! 

The letter for this month's AlphaBakes is W which is perfect for Whoopie Pies!  AlphaBakes is a monthly baking/blogging challenge which is hosted this month by Caroline from Caroline Makes and on alternate months by myself.

As this is an American bake and it uses an American ingredient (Marhsmallow Fluff) I'm also entering this to United Bakes of America hosted by Gem from Cupcake Crazy Gem. 

I'm also entering them to Tea Time Treats which is hosted by the fabulous Karen from Lavender and Lovage and co-hosted by the fantastic Kate from What Kate Baked.  Karen chose the theme of cake stall cakes & bakes. I think these would be perfect for a cake stall and I'm sure they would be very popular. PS Karen I hope you will enjoy these even though they are very American! ;)

 I finally got a chance to use my Whoopie Pie Pan from America. 

 Melt the butter...

 Add in chocolate and continue melting. Then add in eggs, flour, sour cream and milk

  Ready to go in the oven

 Freshly baked 

My first time using Marshmallow fluff - It was too sticky to use on its own so I mixed it with a little butter and icing sugar which gives it a better spreadable consistency and still tasted fabulous.

  Spread a generous portion of marshmallow fluff buttercream on one whoopie pie

 Sandwich them together

 And roll in pretty sprinkles

This is what it looks like using pure marshmallow fluff as the filling

  Boxed and ready to be gifted

Recipe for chocolate whoopie pie was from Dan Lepard's short and sweet
Recipe for marshmallow fluff buttercream was based loosely on this recipe from BBC Good Food
 - I didn't actually weigh the ingredients but just mixed about 3/4 jar of marshmallow fluff with a small amount of butter and icing sugar until I got the consistency I wanted. 

Citruslove - Lemon Whoopie pies

January is #citruslove month! I'm excited to be co-hosting this fabulous event and I hope you will join in too. I couldn't decide what to make as I love citrus fruits and flavours. I thought about tackling macarons but I've just signed up for a macaron class so I think I'll wait till after.  It was therefore a choice between cakes, cupcakes or cookies.  I was looking through my brand new copy of Dan Lepard's Short and Sweet and when I saw the whoopie pies, the choice was made.  


I know everyone has been raving about this book.  It's the first recipe I'm trying and I have to say I'm impressed. I made whoopie pies once before and thought they were a little too 'cakey' and dense but these are really something else. It's quite light and spongy and even though I'm not a huge fan of marshmallow, I love the marshmallow filling here. I've added in quite a bit of zest and juice as I love the lemon zing. Definitely making this recipe again (Dan has provided recipes for different flavour variations) and trying other recipes from his book. The previous whoopie pie recipes I've seen use shortening but this has sour cream which I'm sure makes the sponge lighter. 

Please join in on the #citruslove fun by linking up *any citrus recipe *from the *month of January 2012*. Don't forget to link back to this post, so  that your readers know to come stop by the #citruslove event! The twitter hashtag is #citruslove. 

Here's a list of all the co-hosts for this event, please visit them if you have time and check out what they've made. 

A little bit of everything - http://www.roxanagreengirl.com/
Astig Vegan - http://astigvegan.com/
Baker Street - http://bakerstreet.tv/
Big Fat Bake - http://bigfatbaker.com/blog/

Cafe Terra Blog - http://www.cafeterrablog.com/

Cake Duchess - http://www.cakeduchess.com/

Cakeballs, cookies and more - http://cakeballscookiesandmore.blogspot.com/

Easily Good Eats - http://easilygoodeats.blogspot.com/

Elephant Eats - http://elephanteats.com/

Georgieacakes - http://georgiecakes.com/

Hobby and More - http://hobbyandmore.blogspot.com/

Mike's Baking - http://www.mikesbaking.co.uk/

Mis Pensamientos - http://juniakk.blogspot.com/

No One Likes Crumbley Cookies - http://tcrumbley.blogspot.com/

Oh Cake - http://cake-o-cake.blogspot.com/

Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives - http://lisamichele.wordpress.com/

Peaches and Donuts - http://peachesanddonuts.blogspot.com/

Savoring Every Bite - http://savoringeverybite.wordpress.com/

Simply Reem - http://www.simplyreem.com/

Smart Food and Fit - http://smartfoodandfit.com/

Soni's Food For Thought - http://sonisfoodforthought.blogspot.com/

That Skinny Chick Can Bake - http://thatskinnychickcanbake.blogspot.com/

The Art of Cooking Real Food - http://theartofcookingrealfood.blogspot.com/

The Spicy RD - http://www.eastewart.com/blog/

The Wimpy Vegetarian - http://thewimpyvegetarian.com/

Vegan Yack Attack - http://veganyackattack.com/

Vegetarian Mamma - http://vegetarianmamma.blogspot.com/

You Made that? - http://www.you-made-that.com/

 adding lots of lemon zest to the batter :) 

 terrible piping! 

 making the marshmallow filling 

 oops... giant whoopie pies! 

Recipe is from Dan Lepard Short and Sweet page 201-203 

Chocolate Whoopie Pie

I was really excited to try out recipes from my whoopie pie book that I won at cupcake camp London. I've never made them before and was curious to see how they would turn out. I made these for Gerard's leaving do alongside the giant chocolate and caramel cupcake. They are quite soft and cakey and were quite 'more-ish' to eat. I think everyone enjoyed them as they were all gone by the end of the party! They are quick and easy to make and I'm sure I'll be making more of these in the future! What is a whoopie pie I hear some of you ask? Well here's a brief history lesson....

Whoopie pies are considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition. Whoopie Pies have also been known as a "gobs." in Western Pennsylvania.  A whoopie pie is like a sandwich, but made with two soft cookies with a fluffy white filling. They have been described as a cross between a cake and a cookie.  Traditional whoopies pies are made with vegetable shortening, not butter. The original and most commonly made whoopie pie is chocolate with a marshmallow filling. They are hailed as the new cupcakes. Have you tried them before? What do you think? 

 beat butter, shortening and sugar 

 whoopie pie dough

 I used more than 1 tablespoon resulting in giant sized whoopie pies! I am using my ice cream scoop next time. 

 place whoopie pie flat side up

add buttercream filling (i piped mine using a star tip) 

 assembled whoopie pie from the top 

 side view 

Classic Chocolate Whoopie Pie
(Makes 48 two-inch cakes)
200g flour
80g unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
57g unsalted butter, at room temperature
57g vegetable shortening
180g dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250mls milk

• Preheat oven to 190C.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.
• In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachement, beat together the butter, shortening, and brown sugar on low speed until just combined.
• Increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes.
• Add the egg and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes.
• Add half of the flour mixture and half of the milk to the batter and beat on low until just incorporated.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
• Add the remaining flour mixture and 1/2 cup milk and beat until completely combined.
• Using a spoon, drop about 1 tablespoon of batter onto the prepared baking sheets and repeat, spacing them at least 2 inches apart.
• Bake one sheet at a time for about 10 minutes each, or until the pies spring back when pressed gently.
• Remove from the oven and let the cakes cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Classic Buttercream Filling
470g icing sugar
113g butter
3-4 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

• In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat together the icing sugar with the butter, starting on low and increasing to medium speed, until the mixture is crumbly,about 1 minute.
• Add the heavy cream, vanilla and salt and beat on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

To asemble whoopie pie: 

• Spread filling on flat side of one cake using a knife or spoon.
• Top with another cake, flat side down.
• Repeat with the rest of the cakes and filling.
• Alternatively you can use a pastry bag with a round tip to pipe the filling onto the cakes.