Ginger Molasses Whoopie Pies

Confession: I cheat once and a while. Don't worry, honey, not in that way. I mean in the kitchen. Sure, baking from scratch produces amazing, high-quality, natural results. But it's also very time consuming and can often lead to unpredictable disasters if experimenting with a new recipe. I eliminate this probability by leaving most of the work to a nice lady named Betty Crocker. And in this recipe you'll see her pop in for a visit, just to reassure me that everything will go as planned. It's okay if you don't believe in pre-measured mixes, just please don't judge me because I do.

Ingredients:
Cookies

• 1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist Cake Mix Spice
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/4 cup white sanding sugar

Filling

• 1 stick cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup marshmallow fluff
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp ginger (the spice)
• 3 cups sifted powdered sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper. 

In a bowl of an electric mixer, combine eggs, molasses and butter. Mix until combined. Slowly add cake mix until just combined being careful not to overmix. Scrapping down sides if necessary. Using a 1 1/4" ice cream scoop drop batter onto cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool completely. 

To make filling, in a bowl of electric mixer cream together the cream cheese, butter, and marshmallow. Add almond extract and ginger. One cup at a time, add the powdered sugar. Mix for 1 minute or so, or until fluffy and lump free. Transfer to piping bag or gallon size freezer bag with corner cut off. 

Pipe small mound of filling onto half of cookies, topping with other half of cookies. Makes about 25 whoopie pies (50 halves).