Making Whoopie….PIES!

A whoopie pie is made from two small chocolate sponge cakes filled with fluffy vanilla icing.

There Rick and I stood, at the counter checkout of a country store.  A double decker wicker basket was nestled against the vintage register. The basket was loaded with baked goods like: huge snickerdoodles (a personal favorite), enormous brownies and a few whoopie pies, and the asking price was a measly $1.75!  Seriously, the pies were bigger than hamburgers!  Rick and I looked at each other, then looked at the whoopie pie, then looked at each other again…and without saying a word, that’s when we knew we had to have it. We devoured it in minutes. It was pretty good. If anything, it piqued my interest in other variations of whoopie pies around town. I will be trying them in the future!

I had no idea what a whoopie pie was up to that point.  I see them all the time in different country stores in Vermont.  They were just so huge, I knew I could never clean up one on my own.  They just looked like a huge home made Oreos or a black and white hamburger. This past Sunday I taught a lesson in church to some teenager girls about Dating.  This was a perfect object lesson, so I made some whoopie pies for the girls and upon the reveal, I said,  “If you wanna make whoopie…you’ll have to wait until your married, but you can make whoopie pies in the kitchen any time you want!”  They all laughed, and one girl asked, “What’s whoopie!?” HA HA HA. I love the innocence!

There are dozens of versions of whoopie pies on line, but this recipe turned out perfect, so why try another one, ja know?

WHOOPIE PIES

Serves 8-9 individual desserts, they will be large, so don’t say I didn’t warn ya!

For cakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (Droste brand or Hershey’s Dark Cocoa)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg

For filling

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 11/4 cups confectioners sugar
• 2 cups marshmallow cream such as Marshmallow Fluff
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Make cakes:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until combined. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a handheld, then add egg, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and alternately mix in flour mixture and buttermilk in batches, beginning and ending with flour, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, and mixing until smooth.

Spoon 1/4-cup mounds of batter about 2 inches apart onto 2 buttered large baking sheets. (I used my silpat and they were easily removed once out of the oven.) Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed and cakes spring back when touched, 11 to 13 minutes. (11 minutes was all mine needed and I didn’t rotate the sheet at all.)  Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack to cool completely.

Make filling:

Beat together butter, confectioners sugar, marshmallow, and vanilla in a bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Assemble pies:

Spread a rounded tablespoon filling on flat sides of half of cakes and top with remaining cakes.  Wrap each individually in plastic wrap.

Cooks’ notes:

Cakes can be made 3 days ahead and kept, layered between sheets of wax paper, in an airtight container at room temperature.

Or if you realize you don’t have Marshmellow fluff, try the Seven Minute Frosting:

• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 6 large egg whites, room temperature

Bring 1 1/2 cups sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Continue to cook, without stirring, but washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming, until mixture reaches 230 degrees, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Reduce speed to medium-low, and pour syrup in a slow, steady stream down side of bowl. Raise speed to high, and beat until thick, shiny, and cooled, about 7 minutes. Use immediately.

Or here is a classic, ol’ school whoopie pie filling, “Poor Man’s Frosting:” (the secret is time, don’t rush this one!)

• 1 cup milk
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Whisk milk into flour in small saucepan until smooth. Heat and stir until it boils and thickens. Cool thoroughly.

With an electric mixer beat the butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in the cooled flour paste and mix until smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Use to frost any cooled cake, like whoopie pies!

I hope you enjoy these New Enland treats!  If you have a version that is to die for, please, let me have the recipe!!!