Health(ier) Whoopie pies/ Ice cream sandwiches

A few weeks ago I posted the following as my facebook status:

lesson learned: Someone (who shall remain nameless) was kind and bought my kids a "treat" today of some whoopie pies from Steves Snacks. I made the mistake of not checking the package before they were purchased and on the way home the kids asked if they could have them. They each split one said treat..I get home to find out that each "treat" has 800 calories (400 from fat) and they contain propylene glycol & hydrachloric acid !?!?!?!? Thankfully they each only had half, the rest went into the trash. I tried e-mailing the laboratory AKA bakery but surprise surprise their link doesn't work.

After being rather frustrated/disappointed by this I decided to set out to make a healthier version of whoopie pies.  These are by no means low fat or low calorie (they each have 350 calories) but they are much better than the 800 calories in store bought pies and also contain only real ingredients.  No hydrogenated oils, corn syrup, artificial flavors/colors or other weird ingredients/chemicals.

The filling for these was quite soft so I decided to freeze them into "ice cream" sandwiches.  I'm going to work on the filling some in the future to see if I can get one that's a bit thicker.  

Whoopie Pies/Ice cream sandwiches:
4 C all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 C cocoa powder
1 C butter, softened
2 eggs
2 C brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 C thick sour milk
1 C cold water 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Sift together flour, baking soda and cocoa; set aside.  Mix sour milk and water; set aside.  Cream together butter, eggs, brown sugar, salt and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients & milk alternating until both are used up.  Chill dough for 15 minutes. Drop by 2TB onto greased cookie sheets (I used the medium Pampered chef cookie scoop which worked well).   Bake for 8-10 minutes rotating pans half way thru cooking time.  Carefully remove to cooling rack (they will be delicate) and cool completely. **It is important to keep the batter very cold between batches so it doesn't spread too much when cooking.  

After cookies are cooled make filling:
1/2 C plain greek yogurt
1 C powdered sugar
2 tsp unflavored gelatin
8 tsp cold water
2 C heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla

Chill bowl and whisk attachment.  Mix together yogurt and sugar; set aside.  Dissolve gelatin in cold water and set aside to thicken.  In cold mixer mix cream and vanilla until slightly thickened.  Heat gelatin and water over low heat until liquid.  With mixer running slowly drizzle pectin into cream.  Turn mixer to high and whip  until stiff.  Fold in yogurt mixture.  

Place one cookie, bottom side up, on piece of plastic wrap top with ~ 1/4 C filling and gently top with another cookie.  Wrap in plastic and place in freezer.  Continue until all filling & cookies have been used.  I got 22 sandwiches with a couple extra cookies that broke. Enjoy!