This post is sponsored by BAILEYS® Coffee Creamers, but as always, all opinions are 100% my own!
Boston is the most Irish city in America. No really, we are. Therefore, we automatically win St. Patrick’s Day.
OK, now that we’ve come to that agreement, we can carry on. Not only is Boston the most Irish city in America, but I also happen to think we have some of the best food traditions. When BAILEYS® Coffee Creamers asked me to create a St. Patrick’s Day recipe that best represented my city, I started thinking about all the food awesomeness Boston has going on. However, many of the iconic Boston foods aren't exactly a fit for BAILEYS® Coffee Creamers. I mean, I love our baked beans, clam chowder, and potatoes, but with creamer? Even I’m not that crazy with my recipe creation.
Of course, I kept coming back to one dessert: Boston cream pie. And through a little bit of city research, I also discovered that whoopie pies may or may not be from Boston. There’s actually some pretty hot debate over it. Maine and Pennsylvania have long been fighting over whoopee pie rights, but there are also claims that they were originally created in Roxbury. If I had the means to devote my life to it, I might become a whoopie pie historian and settle this dispute once and for all, but for now I only have the time to bake and eat the treats. And that’s OK with me.
So, to honor Boston and St. Patrick’s Day, I combined these two desserts for Boston Cream Whoopie Pies. Can we make this the new official dessert of Boston, please? Thank youuu.
In the meantime, you can head over to the BAILEYS® Coffee Creamers website to vote for the city you think has the best St. Patrick’s Day celebrations (Boston, duh!). You and your friends could win a trip to the winning city for next year’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations! And that means you could take part in Boston’s huge St. Patrick’s Day parade with the most true blue (or green) Irish people you’ll find anywhere in this country.
Onto the Boston Cream Whoopie Pies! I wanted a whoopie pie that was more cake-like than they typically are, since I think one of the best parts of a Boston Cream Pie is that light and fluffy cake. I also wanted the full flavor of Irish cream.
To get started, pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer), cream together butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Then, mix in egg and vanilla extract until combined.
In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add half of flour mixture into mixing bowl and blend until just combined. Mix in coffee creamer and milk.
And add the remainder of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and blend until just combined.
The creamer made the batter smell HEAVENLY. The kind of batter that you seriously just want to sit and eat with a spoon… Something you might actually consider doing if people in your house weren’t actually expecting something to come out of the oven in 30 minutes or so.
Now, lightly spray a whoopie pie pan with oil or cooking spray. I used a standard size whoopie pan and got 24 cakes for 12 total whoopie pies. You could definitely make mini pies, though. I do recommend a pan for this recipe since these whoopie pies are a lot cakier than the average.
Spoon batter into whoopie pie pan cavities, using about 1 ½ T to fill cavities ⅔ of the way full. Make sure batter is spread to edges of pan.
Bake for 7-9 minutes, until cakes are just starting to turn golden around edges and a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cakes cool in pan for at least 5 minutes.
Remove cakes from pan and cool completely on baking rack.
While the whoopie pies are baking, you should be making the pastry cream. You could even make the pastry cream ahead of time since it will need a little while to cool and can keep in the fridge.
To make, bring coffee creamer and milk to the simmer in a medium-sized saucepan.
In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together egg yolks, granulated sugar, and cornstarch.
Pour half of the creamer/milk mixture into the egg yolks, continuously whisking.
Then pour back into creamer/milk saucepan and continue to whisk for about 5 minutes while mixture thickens.
Remove from heat and stir in butter.
Pour pastry cream into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap (so plastic wrap is touching top of pastry cream) and let cool completely.
Chocolate ganache time! I seriously don’t think there is much in this world that is better than chocolate ganache. Especially when it has a touch of Irish cream! It’s SO easy to make, too.
Take some nice quality dark chocolate, roughly chop it, and place in a medium-sized bowl.
Heat coffee creamer in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
When creamer is very hot (but not boiling), pour it over chocolate. Stir gently until smooth.
Allow the chocolate ganache to cool slightly before using. Which is obviously the most difficult part.
I colored half my pastry cream green and left the rest the natural yellow. The green was a little ridiculous, but perfect for the holiday, right?
Now that your cakes are cooled, you can fit a pastry bag with a standard round pastry tip and spoon custard filling into bag. Pipe a generous amount of custard onto one whoopie pie cake round.
And then top with another cake round! The last (but very important) step is to spoon the chocolate ganache over the top of each whoopie pie and allow it to drip down the edges.
I alternated with the pastry cream colors and maybe, just maybe, went a little overboard on the chocolate ganache. Nah, I don't think so!
How can you not say Boston is the best city in the world?!?! Er, I mean that we have the best St. Patrick’s Day celebration. You don’t have to be from Boston to think that Boston cream pie is one of the all-time best desserts ever. And in whoopie pie form, you’re basically eating your own personal-sized cake.
While Boston cream pie is usually just flavored with vanilla, I love the Irish cream flavor that the BAILEYS® Coffee Creamers brought out in every single element of this dessert. It was subtle and not at all over-powering, but it made you feel a bit St. Patrick’s Day festive.
This is just my recommendation, but if you pop these in the fridge for a bit, they’re EVEN BETTER. The ganache hardens a bit and the pastry cream is nice and chilled.
These whoopie pie cakes will keep in the fridge for a couple days, but it’s going to be tough on you. Especially if you live alone. I highly recommend throwing a St. Patrick’s Day party, so you aren’t stuck in the house all by yourself with these. Or just bring a batch to the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston… I’ll meet you there!
Still don’t believe Boston should win St. Patrick’s Day because we’re the most Irish city? OK, fineee. Then how about this? We allegedly also have the most Irish pubs in the country. So there. How can we possibly not have the best St. Patrick’s Day celebration?
Don’t forget to vote for Boston in BAILEYS® Coffee Creamers’ search for America’s favorite St. Patrick’s Day celebration! And then tell me here, which city do you think has the best celebration?
📖 Recipe
Boston Cream Whoopie Pies
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter room temperature
- ½ C packed light brown sugar
- ½ C granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ t vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ C cake flour
- ½ t baking powder
- ¼ t salt
- ½ C Baileys® Coffee Creamers Original Irish Cream
- ¼ C milk
- Custard filling recipe below
- Chocolate ganache recipe below
Custard Filling:
- 1 C Baileys® Coffee Creamers Original Irish Cream
- 1 C milk
- 4 large egg yollks lightly beaten
- 3 T granulated sugar
- ¼ C cornstarch
- 2 T butter
- Green food coloring optional
Chocolate Ganache:
- ½ C Baileys® Coffee Creamers Original Irish Cream
- 6 oz. dark chocolate chopped roughly
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer), cream together butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Mix in egg and vanilla extract until combined.
- In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add half of flour mixture into mixing bowl and blend until just combined.
- Mix in coffee creamer and milk.
- Add the remainder of the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and blend until just combined.
- Lightly spray whoopie pie pan with oil or cooking spray.
- Spoon batter into whoopie pie pan cavities, using about 1 ½ T to fill cavities ⅔ of the way full. Make sure batter is spread to edges of pan.
- Bake for 7-9 minutes, until cakes are just starting to turn golden around edges and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let cakes cool in pan for at least 5 minutes. Remove cakes from pan and cool completely on baking rack.
- Once cakes are cooled, fit pastry bag with a standard round pastry tip and spoon custard filling into bag. Pipe generous amount of custard filling onto one whoopie pie cake round and sandwich with another.
- Spoon chocolate ganache over the top of each whoopie pie and allow to drip down the edges.
Custard Filling:
- In a medium-sized saucepan, bring coffee creamer and milk to the simmer.
- In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together egg yolks, granulated sugar, and cornstarch.
- Pour half of the creamer/milk mixture into the egg yolks, continuously whisking.
- Then pour back into creamer/milk saucepan and continue to whisk for about 5 minutes while mixture thickens.
- Remove from heat and stir in butter.
- Pour pastry cream into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap (so plastic wrap is touching top of pastry cream) and let cool completely.
- Mix green food coloring into pastry cream if desired.
Chocolate Ganache:
- Place dark chocolate in a medium-sized bowl.
- Heat coffee creamer in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
- When creamer is very hot (but not boiling), pour over chocolate. Stir gently until smooth.
- Allow to cool slightly before using.
Full disclosure: This post is sponsored by BAILEYS® Coffee Creamers, but as always, all opinions are 100% my own!
Phi @ The Sweetphi Blog says
These are PERFECT for St. Patricks day, and now that you said Boston is the most Irish, it makes it even MORE PERFECT! LOVE!
Jessica @ Sweet Menu says
Get out! This is such a neat idea! I LOVE them!
Ami@NaiveCookCooks says
I had no idea you live in Boston girl! Last Christmas we went to Boston! Wish I knew!! These look amazing. Sadly I have still not eaten a Boston cream pie so this recipe came at the perfect time!! I have celebrated St.Patricks day in Chicago and it was lot of fun!!
Medha @ Whisk & Shout says
These are so cute! I love the green custard filling 🙂
Tandy | Lavender and Lime says
What a great use of Bailey's. I have so many bottles so I am always looking for ideas, thank you 🙂
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
Ok, YES! to the Baileys!! So yummy...these sound unreal.
Odetta says
What a great idea combining the two desserts!! Super pretty presentation too!!!
Monica says
Yum! These little whoppie pies would be snapped up in no time! Do you have any left?! ; ) The green ones are so fun - great way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
Juliana says
These whoopie pies look so good...and love the twist on the Boston cream pie...especially with Baileys...
Hope you are having a great week 🙂
Joanne says
Boston totally does do St. Patrick's Day the best. I went to a Dropkick Murphy's concert on St. P's Day when I lived there, and it was definitely a LIFE HIGHLIGHT. Yay for celebrating with little Boston cream whoopie pies! Super tasty.
Pam says
They look fun, festive, and super delicious!
Kelsey @ Snacking Squirrel says
always great when its a time to use baileys 🙂 These look fantastic, way to go!
Bianca @ Confessions of a Chocoholic says
I love anything with Baileys 🙂 These are perfect. And hell yeah, Boston definitely knows how to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!
Rachel says
wow i love this idea! i absolutely love the flavor of irish cream!
Justine says
<3 these so much!!!