Whoopie Pies for Valentine’s Day

FOR THE CURD:
Puree raspberries. Run through a sieve small enough to catch the seeds. Measure enough puree to equal 3/4 cup. You might get a different amount using fresh versus frozen, so be ready to puree more raspberries if needed.

Fashion a double boiler using a medium, non-reactive (stainless steel is great) bowl fitted over a small pan with an inch or so of simmering water. Or if you actually have a double boiler, great!

Pour 3/4 cups of the raspberry puree, sugar, egg yolks, and lemon juice into the double boiler. Stir well and let cook over simmering water until mixture thickens, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the chunks of butter. Mix until butter is melted.

Strain through sieve again and place into a small bowl. You should have about 1 1/2 cups of curd. Lay some plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the curd and set in fridge to cool.

FOR THE PIES:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together cocoa powder and hot water. Stir well and set aside to cool.

Cream together shortening and granulated sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and cooled cocoa mix. Blend well.

Sift together dry ingredients and add alternately to the butter/sugar mixture with the buttermilk. Make sure it’s incorporated well so you get even baking results.

Scoop onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for 10-11 minutes. I used a 3 Tablespoon-sized cookie scoop.

Let cool for a minute on pan and then transfer to a cooling rack.

FOR FILLING:

Mix the flour and salt in a small saucepan. Slowly whisk in milk. Stir and cook over medium-low heat until thickened, about 5-7 minutes. Cool in fridge.

Cream shortening and powdered sugar in a mixer. Add vanilla and chilled milk mixture. Mix well. I run the mixture through a sieve at this point just to get rid of any flour lumps. Return to mixing bowl and mix for 7 minutes. I use the wire whisks for the filling.

Fold in as much Raspberry Curd as you like according to your taste.

ASSEMBLY:

Match up the whoopie pie cookies (by size) as best as you can. Spread filling on the bottom of one pie and sandwich with matching half. I like a lot of filling, use what you want. I individually wrap whoopie pies and store in the refrigerator (or freezer).