Reese's® Peanut Butter Chocolate Whoopie Pies

By now we all know that “whoopie pies” are a bit of misnomer. They’re not pies at all. They’re luscious, soft little sandwich cakes filled with frosting. I love to eat them (and can eat quite a few by myself!) but I’ll admit, I find the scratch-made versions very labor intensive to make. It’s easily an all-day endeavor. Many of the scratch recipes I’ve made call for resting the batter, then chilling the batter, and that’s before you pipe and bake the batter! And even after that you have to fill the cakes. That seems like a little too much time between me and heavenly whoopie pies.

This shortcut version goes from zero to whoopie in a little over an hour. Using Betty Crocker’s Reese’s Cupcake Mix is so convenient. You’re even provided a piping bag with which to pipe the batter! The baked chocolate pie shells (ahem, cakes) are so moist and fluffy, but sturdy enough to hold a generous amount of peanut butter-cream cheese filling.

To get started, place the contents of the chocolate cake mix packet in a large bowl.

Add the oil, water and eggs and mix on medium speed with an electric hand mixer.

To pipe the batter, you’ll need a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or two if you have them) and the disposable piping bag provided in the cupcake mix box.

Line a tall tumbler with the piping bag. This makes for a very easy transfer of the batter from the bowl to the piping bag.

Snip the end of the piping bag with clean or kitchen-dedicated scissors. The opening should be approximately 11/2 inches in diameter. Pipe the batter in rounds, about two tablespoons per mound of batter.

Bake the pies for 8-9 minutes at 350°F. Let them cool on the pans for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

While the cakes cool, mix up the peanut butter filling. You’ll need the peanut butter filling packet from the cake mix box, 1/2 stick of softened butter and 8oz. softened cream cheese.

Mix all the ingredients together with an electric mixer on medium-high speed.

You should end up with a thick, creamy peanut butter filling.

I re-used the disposable piping bag to pipe the peanut butter filling. If you’d like to do the same, be sure to wash the piping bag in soapy water and rinse well. Towel dry or air-dry the piping bag completely and then fill with the peanut butter filling as before with the chocolate batter, except this time crimp the snipped end with a rubber band or binder clip. Pipe about two tablespoons of filling per cake before topping with a same-size cake.

Roll the edges of the filled pies in chocolate sprinkles, if desired.

Keep the cakes refrigerated, but let them stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving. The flavors will be more developed when they lose their chill. Refrigerate leftovers (if you have any!).