Walking in a ginger wonderland....

As a wanna-be ginger myself, I have always been drawn to all things spicy. Spicy attitudes, spicy hair colors, and more importantly.... spicy foods. One of my go-to ingredients, when i'm looking to add a little 'summtin summtin', is good ole, super reliable ginger. When no one is looking I find myself adding a teaspoon to baked chicken, a quarter teaspoon to steamed broccoli, a pinch to my cookies.... you know, when I'm feeling a little frisky. Its become recent secret obsession.

So my most recent venture into all things delicious is an old homey classic, turned upside down and changed forever: The woopie pie.

Now my mother has made these old school classics for me since I was a wee one, and they have been demanded by many throughout the years. Who doesn't want a chocolate pillowy cake smothered by marshmallowy goodness only to be covered by-- what is this?!-- another pillowy chocolatey cake that I can only describe as a sweet, tender piece of heaven? You just can't deny perfection such as that. But I decided to take a risk; to take a bold blind step into a world of the bitter - yet, better. I decided to not only upgrade the chocolate to gingerbread full of robust warm flavor, but to transform that marshmallow filling cloud into a slice of lemon cream cheese heaven. And lets just say, it was the best decision I've made thus far.

So let's get down to the nitty gritty.

What you'll need to experience this work of art

For the cookie:

3 3/4 cups Flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp ginger

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

3/4 cup butter (UNSALTED, ROOM TEMP)

3/4 cup tightly packed light brown sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup molasses

3/4 cup butter milk

For the Lemon cream filling:

12 ounces (or 1.5 packages of 8 oz.) cream cheese

8 tbs. of butter (UNSALTED, ROOM TEMP)

1 tsp of vanilla extract

1 tsp of lemon extract

3 3/4- 4 cups of confectioner's sugar

Now for the break down.

Preheat the oven to 350* and line your baking sheet with parchment paper.

Get a medium sized bowl out and whisk together the flour, salt, and all those glorious spices. Whisk it good, whisk it right..... it's the right thing to do.

Then in a large metal bowl, cream together your butter and brown sugar until it's beautiful and creamy. Or until you hear angels sing. Whichever comes first.

After that gets to be a nice creamy consistency, go ahead and crack that egg.... come on, you know you want to.

Now once you have that nice and combined, pour in half of the dry ingredients and mix it up real well. You may want to roll up your sleeves for this one, it's a toughy.

Once that is incorporated, pour in the molasses. Sweeeeet sasssssy molassssssy.

Now pour in the rest of the dry ingredients that have been sitting on your countertop.... just screaming your name. Give in, it's okay. It's worth it.

Once you've turned this ^ into this:

You know your poor tired arm can take a breather. But only for a second.

.............................

Break is OVER! Grab your pan covered with parchment paper and get ready to work it. Get out your high class, super fancy ice cream scooper..... or if you're like me, a big fat spoon, and put that bad boy to work.

When you have filled the pan, bake those beauties until they are golden brown. Or 9-12 minutes. Remove them from the oven, allow them to cool for 5 minutes, then move them to a cooling sheet to finish. Continue baking the rest of the dough.... avoiding the undying urge to grab one and shove it in your mouth. Trust me, you'll thank me later.

While the cookies are cooling, go ahead and grab your metal mixing bowl and prepare to make some amazing filling.

Cream together the cream cheese and butter first.

Work that whisk until you get a nice smooth consistency then add in the vanilla, lemon, and confectioner's sugar.

Keep the whisk going until you eliminate most of the lumps (If you have a hand mixer/stand mixer you won't want to chew your arms off when you're finished... and I am jealous.).

HOW TO ASSEMBLE THE WOOPIE PIE:

Match up all your cookie mates according to size and shape and prepare them for a life full of holy matrimony, happiness, love, and teeth.

Grab your bottom cookie:

Tenderly cover it with that lemony, creamy goodness:

Then grab its significant other and place it on top:

Continue matching up your cookies to perfection and place them all on wax paper. Once they're complete, sprinkle a little powdered sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg (VERY LITTLE NUTMEG, LIKE A PINCH, OR EVEN HALF A PINCH! HAVE YOU EVER BITTEN INTO SOMETHING THAT HAD AN OVERPOWERING TASTE OF NUTMEG?! TRUST ME, IT ISN'T FUN).

Now that you're done assembling pure heaven, feel free to share them with your closest friends and family, with perfect strangers, or hoard them all for yourself. I won't judge you, I promise.

-Allison Marie