Magazines and Whoopie Pies

Have you read a magazine recently? Even just flicked through one in a shop?

It may sound strange to those living in the 'West' but reading a magazine is considered a real luxury here in this part of the world, where they are either completely unavailable or wildly expensive! So much so, that they get passed from person to person to person in the ex-pat community and you often find yourself reading magazines that are a year or two old!

If some of my friends walk into my house and spy a magazine, their eyes light up and they always have a quick flick through, ask if I have read it yet ... and of course, if they can borrow it! So as an aside, if you have friends who are missionaries in more remote locations and you have an old magazine sat around, you may just think of sticking it into an envelope and sending it to them. It may be expensive to post but I can guarantee you it will be read by a whole community!

One that we had passed onto us a couple of weeks ago, had a recipe page that immediately caught the eyes of both my girls, Whoopie Pies! Being the lovely mummy that I am, I promised that during the Christmas break we would try to make them and on the very last Sunday of the holidays I kept my promise!

They were even more of a treat because one of the ingredients, marshmallows, is difficult to get here, usually you have to wait until a trip to Dar Es Salaam to stock up! Admittedly the whoopie pies were a bit more of a faff than I'm used to when it comes to baking, but the girls loved them and from the photo below, you can see they didn't turn out too bad at all! (The recipe is below too!)

• 250g unsalted butter, chopped, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 150g vanilla and strawberry flavoured marshmallows
• 80g white chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup hundreds and thousands

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Line 2 oven trays with baking paper.
2. Put 200g of the butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 5 minutes or until light and creamy. Add eggs and egg yolks, then beat until combined.
3. Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and ginger over butter mixture then fold until a stiff dough forms
4. Divide into 24 pieces and roll each into a ball with your hands. Arrange balls 7 cm apart on trays, bake for 20 minutes or until firm, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
5. Put marshmallows and remaining butter in a small saucepan over a low heat and cook, stirring until melted.
6. Remove pan from heat, add white chocolate and beat until smooth. Set aside for 5 minutes or until cool.
7. Spread 1 heaped Tbsp of marshmallow mixture onto a flat side of 1 biscuit, then sandwich with a second biscuit. Repeat.
8. Spread hundreds and thousands on a plate, then roll edges of each whoopie pie to coat.