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Chocolate Whoopie Pies and Salted Peanut Brittle

If you like sweet American desserts you’ll love this chocolate whoopie pie sandwiched with marshmallow cream with peanut brittle and a shot of peanut butter milkshake.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Peanut and cocoa powder match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 241 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 6
Prep30 min
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, peanut (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line two baking trays with baking paper. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and fine salt together in a bowl.

  2. Beat the butter with the 150g caster sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, then the coffee and buttermilk. Fold in the dry ingredients to make a smooth batter.

  3. Spoon 12 rounded mounds of batter onto the trays, spaced well apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until risen and springy. Cool on the trays.

  4. For the brittle, put the 200g caster sugar in a heavy pan with a splash of water over medium heat. Stir until dissolved, then boil without stirring until deep golden, about 6 to 8 minutes.

  5. Remove from the heat and stir in the salted peanuts quickly. Pour onto a lined tray and spread thin. Leave to cool and set hard, about 30 minutes, then break into pieces.

  6. For the filling, gently heat the marshmallows with the milk in a saucepan, stirring, until smooth. Cool slightly, then beat in the peanut butter.

  7. Whip the double cream with the icing sugar to soft peaks. Gently fold in the marshmallow mixture until combined.

  8. Spread the filling on the flat side of half the cooled cakes and sandwich with the rest. Chill for 30 minutes. Serve with the brittle and the vanilla ice cream.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Peanut + cocoa powdertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together241 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Cocoa powder + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together2,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Flour + buttermilktop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,667 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Flour + buttertop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together122,858 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs