Banana whoopie pies with vanilla bean frosting

I know I just did a dessert/sweet post but I had to make cookies for a dear friend, so I'm killing two birds with one stone! She loves anything banana so I'm whipping up some banana whoopie pies with vanilla bean frosting.

Banana whoopie pies with vanilla bean frosting

Recipe from cookingclassy

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Yield: 2 dozen

Ingredients

2 cup ap flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup mashed overripe banana (about 2 large)

1/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 large egg

Frosting:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

seeds from two small vanilla beans

4 cups powdered sugar

2 1/2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Whisk together the dry ingredients including the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the mashed banana and sour cream. Set aside.
3. In your mixing bowl, add the softened butter with both sugars. Beat the butter and sugar, creaming the mixture for 3-4 minutes or until the butter is pale and fluffy. Add the egg and mix. Add the banana mixture and mix to combine. Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. 
4. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop 1 tbsp of the cookie batter onto the baking sheet, spacing each about 1 1/2 inches apart. Slightly flatten the tops and smooth the edges of the cookies. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until the edges are golden. Cool on the sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting. Add the softened butter and vanilla beans in a large mixing bowl. Whip the butter for about 4 minutes or until pale and fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and whip for another 2 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy.
6. Spread the frosting on the bottom of one of the cookies. Top with another and sandwich together, making whoopie pies. Serve.

Nutritional Analysis:

per serving: 269 calories, 12.4g fat (7.7g saturated, 0.5g polyunsaturated, 3.2g monounsaturated), 38.9g carbohydrates, 0.5g fiber, 1.7g protein

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

These cookies itself are easy to prepare, it's just the extra step of making the frosting that adds to the cooking time. 

I initially portioned each whoopie pie into 1 1/2 tbsp scoops but found them to be rather large. When scooping them onto your baking sheet, you can also choose to pipe them instead.

I found the easiest way to smooth the edges and flatten the top is to use the back of a spoon. Dip the spoon in water than flatten and smooth the cookies, preventing the dough from sticking to the spoon itself. 

I found a lot of icing and frosting recipes that were inaccurate with the proportions but this frosting was perfect. I personally like my desserts on the less sweet side so I did have a lot extra for the amount of cookies.

Now comes the fun part of sandwiching the cookies together! Be careful since the cookies are very soft.

These whoopie pies are great! I can actually eat the whoopies without the frosting (although they wouldn't be whoopie pies anymore). The cookies have great banana flavor while the frosting is a perfect level of sweet with the right amount of vanilla. Combine two great flavors together and you have perfection. Now I only hope my friend likes it as much as I did!