Whoopie! [Pies]

I pulled this recipe out this morning---good ol' fashioned, Amish, whoopie pies. Rumor has it that the name, whoopie pie, comes from the 'whoop' of exaltation one makes when they taste them. Whoopie!

3 of the 3+ dozen that I made....
[Large families like mine like it when the cooks make a mistake and end up having to quadruple the recipe instead of just doubling it.]

Recipe:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 shortening
1 small egg
1 cup flour
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup milk
3/4 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp.vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup hot water
shortening or no-stick cooking spray

Beat sugar and shortening with electric mixer for 1 minute.
Add egg and beat again.
Combine flour, cocoa, and salt in a separate bowl.
Combine milk and lemon juice in a separate bowl.
Alternate beating the flour and milk mixtures into the sugar-shortening-egg batter until smooth.
Mix in vanilla.
Stir in backing soda into hot water in a separate bowl.
Pour water mixture into batter. Mix until smooth.

Heat oven to 400* and drop rounded teaspoons of batter onto greased cookie sheets.
Cook for 8-10 minutes.

Filling:
1 egg white
1 Tbls. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbls. shortening

Beat egg white until fluffy.
Add milk, vanilla, and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Mix on low speed.
Add shortening and beat until fluffy.
Add the rest (1/2 cup) of the powdered sugar and mix.

Spread between cooled cookies. Top with another cookie to form the sandwich.
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As I mentioned, I actually quadrupled this recipe, made them extra big, and ended up with 3 dozen complete pies. This recipe here is supposed to make 1 dozen.

Emily, admiring the pies

-Katie Marie

Corny Days

Our friends, the Snyders, grow the best sweet corn! Mark and the kids have spent 5 early mornings at the Snyder's farm this past week helping them harvest their acres of corn. (I have spent each afternoon washing muddy and rain-soaked clothes!) The fresh corn has been delicious, and we ate some almost every meal last week. I don't get tired of corn on the cob!

Yesterday we spent the morning putting up approximately 4 and 1/2 bushels of corn for the freezer, and I thought I'd share some pictures. It's a good feeling to know the freezer is stocked with corn and that we will be able to enjoy it all winter long. I am grateful that the Snyders are so generous and allow us to help with the harvest.

The picture of Mark was taken in front of his corn, not the Snyder's corn. I thought about sending a camera on the corn-picking mornings, but with as much rain as we've been getting, the camera would probably have been ruined. Mark's garden has done very well this year. I think all the rain has helped! We've already been blessed with a wide variety of fresh produce this summer.

If you have a garden, I hope that it has also been producing well. If you need any cucumbers, come and get them! We have an abundance of cucumbers---I guess I could make pickles! Oh, and if you want to hear lots of corny jokes, just ask one of the kids!
Ruth