Whoopie Pies literally make me happy. I just recently rediscovered them after completely forgetting about them for years and I’m seriously excited about it. What got me thinking about them was this amazing recipe called Champagne Kissed Whoopie Hearts created by The Cooking Photographer (if you haven’t checked out her blog, you should!). I made that recipe (which actually won her a recipe contest last week) and that recipe for “Whoopie Hearts” turned out great. But it got me thinking about what a true Whoopie Pie is, because this wonderful treat reminded me more of Moon Pies I used to eat as a kid. They were big, individually packaged, round cookie sandwiches filled with marshmallow and dipped in chocolate. Yumaroo.
Anyway, I started to google around a bit to understand the difference between a Moon Pie and Whoopie Pie and had my little aha moment when I stumbled on the absolutely best recipe EVER for Whoopie Pies (shared below) from a very cool blog called Omnomicon . It was then that I recalled eating Whoopie Pies as a kid growing up in New England. I guess that’s the origin of these fabulous little wonders. In fact, Maine and Pennsylvania are fighting about who can claim to be “Home of the Whoopie Pie.” Unbelieveable.
Are you with me? So. Authentic Whoopie Pies consist of two chocolate cake-like mounds filled with sweet cream. They are soft, chocolatey, sweet, cakey and creamy. Happiness, right. So Aleta from Omnomicon is even more excited about Whoopie Pies than me - and more importantly - shared her mom’s amazing recipe that I will cherish forever and ever…and ever. And now, I’m sharing it with you. Let me just say that this is easy and will make the people you make them for HAPPY.
Tonight I get to make my nephew PJ happy when I take the Whoopie Pies to his Black & White Dessert Party.
Yummy!!!
Recipe a la Omnomicon (in my words, but no changes, it’s perfect)
| Whoopie Pies |
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Crisco
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon cocoa
- 1 cup sugar
- 11/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Cream Filling
- 1/2 cup margarine or butter (room temp) – I used butter
- 1/2 c up Crisco (substitution not recommended)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup warm whole milk (20 seconds in the microwave should do it)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F
- In mixing bowl, add all wet ingredient and beat until blended. Add all dry ingredients to another bowl, mix together and then add slowly to wet mixture and beat until blended, scraping down bowl.
- Drop by the small tablespoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake exactly 8 – 9 minutes at 375 until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan immediately to wire rack to cool.
- Check out how they will look like with the flat side up before filling. You can tell how great the texture is!
- For the cream, add all the ingredients to mixing bowl and beat for about five minutes until the mixture is nicely thickened and creamy. Now spoon on to flat side of one cake round and top with a cake round that is similar in size to the bottom. Press gently. Repeat until done.
- Serving Suggestion: Eat them and give them to everyone you love so they can eat them too!! These look a little fragile, but they’re not. Rumor has it that they’re better the next day.
