Oatmeal Walnut Raisin Whoopie Pies

Tomorrow is Father's Day and I'm having my parents over for a brunch celebration. My Dad is a very simple man, he doesn't like things and he doesn't want you to buy him anything... EVER! There is one thing my dad loves and that's Whoopie Pies. Last Thanksgiving I made pumpkin whoopie pies with a maple cream cheese filling and they were a huge hit! My Dad has been talking about them ever since. Yes, they were reduced fat and high fiber, I'm a dietitian, it's what I do! Anyways, so today I created a new recipe for my Dad. My oven is FINALLY working and this was the first thing I threw in there. Could you make these rich and decadent? Sure! But why do that when you could make them healthier and still taste great? That's what this blog is all about anyways, right?

Stay tuned, I'm sure I'll be posting about the actual brunch I make sometime this week but for now here's the whoopie pie recipe.

Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Whoopie Pie
-1/2 cup rolled oats
-3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/8 tsp ginger
-1/8 tsp nutmeg
-1/3 tsp baking powder
-1/3 tsp baking soda
-1/3 cup light brown sugar
-2 tbsp white sugar
-2 tbs fat free greek yogurt
-1/3 cup vegetable oil
-1/3 tsp vanilla extract
-1 egg
-1/4 cup chopped walnuts
-1/4 cup raisins

-Preheat your oven to 350F

-Mix all the dry ingredients (oats-baking soda) in a bowl, set aside. Mix all wet ingredients (brown sugar-egg) in another smaller bowl). Mix the wet until well combined (should look like the picture below). Add the raisins and walnuts to the dry ingredients and toss them so they are lightly coated in flour. Then mix the wet and dry. I didn't use a mixer for this but you could!

before mixing together

all combined

-Spray a whoopie pie dish or regular cookie try and dollop a tbs worth of batter down (I used a heaping tbs and these got a little bigger than I would have liked). Then place in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on your oven).

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Filling
-1/2 package of low fat cream cheese (softened)
-1/4 cup powdered sugar
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

-Use an electric mixer or stand mixer to combine all these ingredients into a creamy frosting, like below.

When you're whoopie pies have sufficiently cooled down frost the whoopie pie and try not to eat them all! :)

ALL DONE!