As popular as Whoopie Pies seem to be on the Internet, I hardly ever see them at school events or bake sales. We get a lot of cupcakes, brownies and chocolate chip cookies, but Whoopie Pies? Nope.
I guess people perceive them as too much work or forget about them altogether. I usually fall into the latter category, but last week was an exception. I’d been testing a few different Whoopie Pie recipes and Fuzz needed to take goodies to a Beauty and the Beast cast party.
I’ll never know if the kids liked them because about 10 minutes after Fuzz set down the bag, the whole thing disappeared (bag and all). But I I liked them! This recipe will give you a very puffy Whoopie Pie with a high ratio of cake to filling. Also, this particular filling is 100% butter. Some recipes use shortening in the filling or a mix of butter and shortening. I actually like the fillings with a little bit of both, but since shelf-life and stability wasn’t an issue here and I wasn’t worried about the filling melting, I went with the butter recipe. That being said, if you ever decided to make a version of Whoopie Pies that calls for shortening, go to a cake decorating store or order yourself some high ratio shortening. It’s the type a lot of professional cake decorators and bakers use, and the flavor and texture might remind you of the old school fluffy grocery store cupcake icing. But this version just uses butter and has a little regular shortening in the cake (As far as I can tell, hi ratio doesn’t make much of a difference when baked into things).
Update: I’ve added some additional photos along with an Irish Cream variation. Adding Irish Cream doesn’t do much for the cake part of the cookie, but it tastes pretty good in the filling.
I also recommend adding some shortening to the filling — not too much, but just enough to help give the filling some stability.
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (7.9 oz) -- or weigh out equivalent White Lily all-purpose
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 4 tablespoons shortening (or use butter)
- 1 cup light brown sugar (7 oz)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
- 2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened**
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1 (7 oz) container marshmallow cream
- 2 teaspoons good quality vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Don’t use cooking spray or anything very slippery because it might cause the cookies to spread.
- Thoroughly mix together flour through cocoa and set aside
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and shortening until creamy, then add the sugar and beat until well mixed. Beat in the vanilla, then add the egg and beat until fluffy, scraping sides of bowl often.
- Add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk alternately, stirring with a heavy duty scraper, until batter is smooth and thick.
- Drop batter by generously heaping tablespoons onto baking sheets spacing about 2 inches apart (I usually can fit 12 per sheet on a 13x18 inch tray). Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 15 minutes or until cookies are puffed, slightly cracked and set. Let cool on baking sheets for about five minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack.
- FILLING: Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy. Beat in vanilla and confectioners' sugar. Stir in marshmallow cream and beat until fully mixed in. Spoon between cookies. Better yet, put in a piping bag and pipe onto the cookies (much neater results). A heavy duty zipper bag with the bottom corner snipped off will also work.
- Wrap the cookies in plastic wrap.
For the Irish Cream variation, use the shortening version (3/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup shortening) and add about 2-3 tablespoons of Irish Cream to the filling.
If you use a convection oven you can make cookies on more than ray rack. Do you prefer one shelf baking over convection?
High ratio shortening! Thank you!
Hmm, maybe I’ll make some Whoopie Pies. Sam’s birthday (7!) is this weekend and he told me he wants “the usual”, pies, cookies and cupcakes. I guess I usually go all-out for birthdays. Don’t know if pie is going to happen, but I was planning to make cookies and cupcakes. I think Whoopie Pies would be a big hit.
I’m sure I’ve had one at some point in my life but don’t really remember. Are they messy to eat? When I see photos of them I always think of those Hostess treats called Suzy Q’s.
I grew up eating whoopie pies baked by my mom who was born and raised in Maine. You still see them everywhere there. But I never see them here in Phoenix. I think it’s a regional thing.
Now that you’ve planted the seed, I’ll need to be baking a batch soon. These look delicious.
My son loves whoopie pies but I make them very rarely. He will be a happy boy when I make these. I like the cake to filling ratio here too.