On the cooling rack: Soft chocolate raspberry sandwich cookies

You might look at these and think, "Soft chocolate sandwich cookies?? Ha! Moron. Those are most definitely Whoopie Pies." But I disagree. They've got more chocolate flavor, they're a little more dense than the cakey whoopie pies I've had, and the filling isn't marshmallow. It's waaaaay better. AND they're so easy I'm embarrassed to be posting it.

These came about today because in making this cake, I made the mistake of trying to bring all the frosting makings to the hostess's house and use all her equipment. Don't get me wrong, she was fully equipped, but it wasn't MY kitchen, and I showed up with a baby after getting lost, so my state of mind wasn't what it should have been. I did the math wrong in trying to do 1 1/2 recipes of the buttercream, and ended up adding WAY too much milk. And that's not something you can just "thicken up" with more powdered sugar. So I "ruined" a whole batch before realizing it, but didn't have any more room temp butter to try to "doctor it up", so I ended up taking the whole show back home, tried to fix it, but had to start over anyway. By then, I had three full bowls of frosting, and only needed one for the cake. I got the bright idea to bring one of the bowls to the shower (the runniest/milkiest) for an impromptu fruit dip, which worked out great, but what to do with this thicker-but-not-thick-enough-for-frosting batch that already has raspberry in it?

And then I remembered the homemade Oreos someone taught me a decade or so ago. And I remember how much I love them, even though they're pedestrian because you use a cake mix. I don't care though. They're lip-smackin', gotta-have-another good. And with the raspberry frosting??? To die for!

I feel wrong taking the trademarked Oreo name (those blessed things), and besides, these really aren't that similar because they're soft and the flavor is totally different. They just look somewhat like the famous cookie, but other than that, they're nothing like 'em. But you just might like 'em better. I'M JUST SAYIN'!

Soft Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

1 devil's food cake mix

2 eggs, room temp*

scant 1/2 c. vegetable or canola oil

Mix together in a bowl. Use small cookie scoop (about 1" diameter) to scoop onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 6-8 min, or until tops are puffed up. Remove from oven, and this is the fun part, let the cookie sheet slam onto the counter or stove top. It flattens them slightly and makes the bottoms perfect for the frosting. Leave them on the sheet to cool for a few minutes. Remove to cooling rack. Cookies will be soft and flexible, but should firm up enough to frost once completely cool. Makes about 40 halves, so appx 20 cookies once sandwiched (unless you're like me and you "taste test" a couple before you can slap anything on 'em).

*I left the eggs out overnight (well, because my original plan was to make and eat them last night, but if you read the previous post, you'll know why that didn't happen), and it made all the difference in how these things puffed up. You don't have to leave them out overnight, but you want your eggs room temp!

You can use whatever frosting you want for the middles - buttercream, white, vanilla, [choke] store-bought, but I'll leave you with my go-to cream cheese frosting. It makes enough to frost a whole cake, so....you might want to half it for this.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese, room temp

1 stick butter, room temp (please, for the love, don't use margarine)

dash salt

1 tsp vanilla*

3-4 c. powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter together until nice and creamy. Add salt and vanilla - mix. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time, tasting for sweetness and checking for spreadability.

*If you want the raspberry flavor, add 1/4 tsp raspberry extract at this point. Also, if you're feelin' it, a drop or two of red food coloring. Note: you want the raspberry. OM NOM NOM