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Our first Guest Test Kitchen of the New Year comes from our dear friend, Cameron. Cameron and Amir are extremely close friends who met in undergrad at the marvelous University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Go Heels!). Cameron currently lives in Raleigh, North Carolina and is on track to become an expert baker. She’s always sharing pics of her latest, magazine-ready sweet creations. She raved on how spectacular these Banana Nutella Whoopie Pies tasted, so we’re ecstatic to share this one with you. Here’s Cameron with more…
“Things I can’t get enough of right now: My new Kitchen Aid stand mixer, whoopie pies, and Nutella! Put all of those together and you get this recipe. Ever since I got my new mixer for Christmas (which by the way is a lovely shade of “Aqua Sky”), I’ve been itching to bake things that I haven’t before like whoopie pies! If you haven’t had a whoopie pie before, it is a cake-like sandwich cookie with “gobs” of delicious filling. To learn more, I bought a really fun book of mix and match recipes called Whoopie Pies (shocker) by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell. The book gives you a great base knowledge on how to make whoopies, what supplies you need, and a ton of different recipes for cakes and fillings! I really do recommend this book… it’s fun, simple, and down to earth!
For this recipe, I used the “Banana Whoopie” recipe found in Billingsley and Treadwell’s book and then adapted my own Nutella Cream Cheese filling from their variety of filling recipes.
Banana Whoopie Pies with Nutella Cream Cheese Filling – Approximately 20-24 pies (Adapted from Whoopie Pies)
Cakes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening*
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
Preheat your oven to 350˚F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift together both flours, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl or onto a piece of wax paper. In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening, sugar, and vanilla until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined.
Add the bananas and beat on medium for about 2 minutes or until until completely combined. Add the sifted dry ingredients gradually, beating on medium until well combined.
Using a spoon (or I used a small cookie scoop), drop about one tablespoon of batter onto one of the prepared baking sheets and repeat, spacing them each at least 2 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time for about 10 minutes each, or until the cakes begin to brown. Remove from oven and let the cakes cool on the sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.
Filling
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup Nutella
Beat together the cream cheese and the butter on medium until smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla for about 2 minutes. Beat in the Nutella until well combined. (You may want to start by adding 1/4 cup of nutella and then slowly add more until the flavor suits you).
Once your filling is ready and cakes are cooled, assemble the whoopie pies! Put a generous amount of filling on the flat side of one cake, and sandwich together with another cake. Serve immediately or refrigerate. It’s a good idea to keep these bad boys refrigerated since they have cream cheese in the filling. They can even be frozen!
Jazzy additions to try if you wish:
- Melt a little Nutella and drizzle on the tops of the whoopie pies
- Roll the edges of the whoopie pies in chopped hazelnuts
- Spread a thin layer of Nutella in addition to the filling on the inside of the cookie for a deeper Nutella taste
*Billingsley and Treadwell insist that shortening is “a necessary ingredient to achieve lift, lightness, and that classic rounded whoopie shape”!
I love this recipe because it’s not super sweet tasting like other whoopie pies I’ve tried, and the filling combo of Nutella and cream cheese is just heavenly! These whoopies were definitely a crowd pleaser with my co-workers and college students that I advise, so I hope you enjoy them too!”
Click HERE for the printable recipe.
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OMG.. bananas, nutella… fabulous! Can’t wait to try these
This is the type of recipe that my son would enjoy making with me. They look so scrumptious, and we both love Nutella. I look forward to getting a Kitchenaid Mixer (it’s one gift that I wouldn’t mind getting for an anniversary present).
I will never ever get enough of nutella either! Love these! The perfect treat.
I love me some super ripe bananas in baking. This looks sinister! Now pass me a few, won’t ya?
Banana, nutella, cream cheese – I can’t think of a better combination. So much so that I kinda want some for breakfast right now.
I made Whoopie Pies for the first time last year and they were a hit. These look really good too. I’ve never had nutella (I know right?), but I’ve heard nothing but great things about it.
I haven’t baked whoopie pies in a long while…the combination of banana and nutella is unbeatable!
“Whoopie” was what we were yelling last night as the Heels sent the Pack home with their tail between their legs
These sound great! I’ve only tried chocolate whoopie pies and they were ok but I think these would fall into the great category!
Oh my heavens. I love whoopie pies. Never saw banana. Great flavor combo.
You naughty baker!!!! This needs to be illegal lols. I might need to steal this recipe. My kids flip over recipes like these. That nutella-cream cheese frosting is giving me intense palpitations. #BookmarkingTheRecipe
Want want want! I have been wanting to make whoopie pies for a while now and I really want to make them with nutella filling. Never considered banana flavored cake though. I’m sold!
Wow! Can you make me some the next time we meet up? It’s healthy right? Bananas
cancel out the butter and cream cheese filling?? I think so!