Pb&j Whoopie Pies (Cake Mix)

HocoRuco's Note:

I had made half a box of mini cupcakes and wanted to do something fun with the other half of the batter so I decided to make some peanut butter and jelly whoopie pies. They taste like a sweet peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I didn't see any recipes for anything like these on here so I figured I would share. I've only made these once so I'm sure there are improvements that could be made. I might use chocolate instead of white cake mix next time to make them a little more different. Caloric content is a bit high, at about 230 calories per pie (using egg beaters and reduced sugar jam) but more than worth it.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 30

Yield: 30.0 Whoopie ...

cake

• 1 (18 ounce) box white cake mix (I used Duncan Hines Classic White Cake Mix) or 1 (18 ounce) box yellow cake mix (I used Duncan Hines Classic White Cake Mix)
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs (I actually used egg beaters)

frosting

• 15 tablespoons fruit jam (I used strawberry but it's totally up to you) or 15 tablespoons jelly (I used strawberry but it's totally up to you)
• 5 tablespoons butter, softened
• 10 tablespoons peanut butter (Creamy is probably better but I used chunky)
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease them.
2. Combine cake mix, graham crackers, water, oil and eggs in a large bowl. Batter will be thicker than normal cake mix.
3. Put spoonfuls of batter on paper-lined cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. You can vary the size of them as much as you want. Make sure that you use your spoon to somewhat form them into circles because they smooth out but don't change shape than much while they're baking. Bake for about 10-15 minute or until batter is set. Try not to overbake them because they're best when they're soft and not quite golden brown yet.
4. Remove pies/cakes from oven and allow to cool completely (about 30 minutes).
5. (You can decide to stop here and wrap and freeze the pies until you are ready to fill and eat them).
6. While the pies are baking and/or cooling, make the peanut butter frosting by combining the peanut butter, butter, powdered sugar and milk in a medium bowl. You may decide to add more or less milk to the mixture depending on the consistency of your peanut butter and the desired consistency of your frosting.
7. Line whoopie pies up in two rows such that the ones of approximately equal shape and size are next to each other. Put about half a tablespoon of jam (or more if you're like me and looove jam) on the flat side of one cake and some peanut butter frosting on the flat side of the cake in the other row. Put the two side of the cake together.
8. Serve and enjoy! I typically serve and store my whoopie pies in somewhat flattened cupcake papers just to keep them from sticking to each other.