Mini Moon Pies

Last Friday, my friend Monica and I hosted a Southern Dinner Party. We set up a backyard buffet of Southern dishes, with an abundance of different desserts, including the Mini Moon Pies I'm posting about today. I'll share my party photos with all of you in my next post :).

For now, let's talk Moon Pies. If you've never had one, a Moon Pie is made up of two graham cookies sandwiched around a marshmallow filling, dipped in chocolate. Sort of like a s'more, but not. I remember eating Moon Pies a few times as a child, but only once in a blue moon because they were so hard to find.

Moon Pies also come dipped in other coatings like orange and banana, so rather than just the original chocolate, I thought I'd also include a different flavor. If you've been following my blog, you probably know that I adore the combination of mint and chocolate (ex. Mint Chocolate Chip Truffles & Grasshopper Tart), so what better other flavor to include than mint? Plus, the mint color is lovely.

This is a great recipe to experiment with. Try using different extracts/liquids for the marshmallow filling and flavor/color the coating differently (maybe orange or lemon?). Definitely try this out. Not only are these Mini Moon Pies cute to look at, they're pretty darn tasty; they were the first dessert to go from our buffet.

P.S. If you choose to make mint and chocolate coated mini moon pies, don't throw away the extra coating! Use it to make homemade Andes chocolates (recipe at the very bottom of this post).

Mini Moon Pies
adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride

Graham Cookie
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat or graham flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the dry ingredients: flour, whole wheat (or graham) flour, salt, and baking powder, and set aside for now.

Cream the butter with the powdered sugar. Add the vanilla extract.

Combine the butter mixture with the dry ingredients until a dough forms. Gather the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Once chilled, roll out the dough to 1/8" thick. Cut out circles with a small round cookie cutter. Place cut-outs on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake cookies 10-12 minutes, until golden. Cool on baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Marshmallow Filling
1 tbsp unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup cold water
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup cold water

Pour 1/3 cup cold water into the bowl of a standing mixer. Sprinkle with the unflavored gelatin and set aside for now. In a medium saucepan, mix the sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/3 cup cold water. Heat over med heat, stirring constantly until the temperature reaches 234°F (it should now be a clear syrup).

Turn on the standing mixer to low and slowly pour in the hot syrup in a thin stream. Once all the syrup is poured in, turn the mixer to high and let it run 15-20 minutes, until the filling is white, thickened, and cooled to room temperature. Scrape the filling into a large ziplock bag. Cut off a corner of the bag and use it to pipe the filling onto half of the cookies.

Place the cookies in the refrigerator for 10 minutes for the filling to set. Top with the other cookies. Keep cookies chilled until ready to coat, or serve them at this point as "Naked Moon Pies".

Chocolate Coating
8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 tbsp shortening

Melt the chocolate and shortening in the microwave at 50% power for 1 minute. Stir. Continue melting at 30 second intervals at 50% power until all melted. Dip the top and sides of each moon pie in the melted chocolate. Shake off excess chocolate and place on a wire rack (with a baking sheet underneath to catch any drips).

To get the tops of each moon pie smooth, after the cookie's placed on the wire rack, place a small piece of wax or parchment paper over the top of the moon pie, smooth out the paper. After a few minutes, pull off the wax paper and the top should be smooth. Once all the moon pies are dipped, place the rack in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, or until chocolate is set.

NOTE: If it's hot out, like during the summer, keep cookies in refrigerator until ready to serve to prevent the chocolate from melting. Serve at room temperature.

Or...
Mint Coating
8 oz white chocolate, chopped
1 tbsp shortening
1 tsp mint extract, or to taste
green oil-based candy coloring

Melt the white chocolate and shortening in the microwave at 50% power for 1 minute. Stir. Continue melting at 30 second intervals at 50% power until all melted. Add the mint extract, use more or less to taste. Mix in a bit of green candy coloring until the white chocolate is mint colored. Dip the top and sides of each moon pie in the melted chocolate. Shake off excess chocolate and place on a wire rack (with a baking sheet underneath to catch any drips).

To get the tops of each moon pie smooth, after the cookie's placed on the wire rack, place a small piece of wax or parchment paper over the top of the moon pie, smooth out the paper. After a few minutes, pull off the wax paper and the top should be smooth. Once all the moon pies are dipped, place the rack in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, or until chocolate is set.

NOTE: If it's hot out, like during the summer, keep cookies in refrigerator until ready to serve to prevent the chocolate from melting. Serve at room temperature.

Makes ~30 mini moon pies.

Homemade Andes Candy
leftover chocolate coating
leftover mint coating
mint extract

Add a bit of mint extract to the leftover chocolate coating, to taste. Spread the coating over a sheet of parchment paper in a thin layer, about 1/8" thick. Place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes until set.

Cover the chocolate layer with a thin layer of the leftover mint coating. Keep at room temperature and once the mint coating is partially set, use a knife to cut up the candy into little squares. Place the candy in the refrigerator to set completely.

NOTE: If it's hot out, like during the summer, keep candy in refrigerator to prevent the chocolate from melting.