Football Whoopie Pies

My very dear friend K,  has a precious little boy who just turned one. She has been planning his sports themed birthday party for months now and included me on the Pinterest board for birthday ideas. I happened to run across these football shaped whoopie pies and pinned it. Then I asked if I could please make them for the party and would she let her guests be my guinea pigs. K was sweet enough to let me. Yay! My dear friend gave me a reason to try out a new recipe.

My little one enjoying a whoopie pie at his friend's 1st birthday party.

The recipe is adapted from Jenny Steffens Hobick's recipe. It is really very simple.

Ingredients for the Cake Part of the Whoopie Pies

• 1 box chocolate cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of oil

Directions for Baking the Whoopie Pies

• Combine all of the ingredients on low for about 2 minutes.
• Spoon about 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter onto a silpat liner or parchment paper. I have a 3 tablespoon ice cream scooper I use for cupcakes and cookies. I filled that up half way.
• Use the back of a spoon or knife or offset spatula to shape the batter into footballs. 

• I also made templates onto parchment paper. It was just a guide. 
• Bake for 7-9 minutes on 350. 
• Test doneness by inserting a toothpick or knife into the whoopie pie. If it comes out clean, it's done.
• Let the cake cook all the way before icing.

Buttercream Ingredients

• 2 sticks of room temperature butter
• 3 cups of powdered sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon meringue powder

Buttercream Directions

• Mix butter on low in your stand mixer for 1 minute
• Add one cup of powdered sugar at a time into the butter while the mixer is on low.
• Add the salt, vanilla, and meringue powder.
• Mix on medium for 6 minutes.
• The buttercream should be light, fluffy, and white. You'll see.

Time to Assemble the Footballs

• You don't have to pipe the buttercream onto the whoopie pies but I think it's easiest. If you don't have piping bags and tips in your kitchen, just put the buttercream in a sandwich baggie and cut a small hole in the corner of the baggie. 
• Pipe the buttercream onto the flat side of the whoopie pie and then sandwich it with another flat side. The round sides should be on the outer sides of your whoopie pie. I think these should be called whoopie cakes. Not at all pie.

The Royal Icing Laces

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon meringue powder
• 2-5 tablespoons warm water

Directions: Start with just two tablespoons of water, the powdered sugar, and meringue powder. Mix it all on low for two minutes. If it looks thick and dry, add another tablespoon of water and mix again for two minutes. Keep up this process until the royal icing appears matte and will be be easily piped.
Again, you can use a piping bag and a small tip or a sandwich baggie and a tiny hole.

The finished product.

Disney Body Pillows (Morena Blvd Costco)

I found a deal too good to pass up today while I was at Costco. These pillows are only $6.97, marked down from $14.99!!! Not too bad.

I tried to convince him to get the one with Finn McMissile. Nope. He loves his Lightning.

Winnie The Pooh is not shown but he's there too.

Weekend Brunch at The Ramos House Cafe in San Juan Capistrano

Two of my oldest and dearest friends live in Orange County. They are San Diego natives so they get points for that. We weren't able to celebrate the holidays together because of life and work schedules and miles, so we got together a week into the new year at this great little cafe in San Juan Capistrano. Sarah, who suggested we have brunch at The Ramos House Cafe, said that it was so good it would definitely make my blog. Yep, it was The Good Life worthy for sure. 

The Cafe offers a weekend brunch menu. It's $35 for a drink, a starter, and a main dish. If you're not too hungry you can opt for another drink but I wanted to taste this menu. 

I started with a glass of champagne and ended with one more. 

For my starter I ordered apple cinnamon beignets. Oooooooh, they were so good. They were warm and soft and cinnamony, delish. 

I ordered the country fried chicken scramble and waffles as my main dish. This was one of those dishes that has every flavor. There were sweet currants and crunchy tiny potatoes and savory chicken and flavorful waffles. I was so happy I ordered it.

This is one of those places that I can't wait to go back to. If you live in San Diego, it's only an hour drive or you can take a scenic train ride up the coast to San Juan Capistrano. The cafe is right next to the train station. 

The restaurant was very intimate and super cozy. All dining is on their covered patio. And since it gets a little chilly, they have warm blankets for their patrons in addition to heaters. It's really too cute. 

I think when I go pack I'm going to try their sweet corn hush puppies with sweet pepper jam as a starter and either the strawberry basil pain perdu or the flannel hash with fried poached eggs as the main dish. Yummmmm. And of course I'll have champagne. 

Jill and Sarah's meals were delicious as well.