Whoopie Pies, a pie, a cake, a cookie

Southern born and raised, I am quite familiar with moon pies…but whoopie pies, not so much. My Rhode Island friend, Meredith, recently introduced me to this delightful thing. What exactly is this thing?

 A whoopie pie isn’t really a pie at all, it really isn’t a cookie and I don’t think you can classify it as a cake. Maybe it is a little of all of those things. The whoopie pie is a sandwich type dessert consisting of two chocolate mound shaped chocolate cakes filled with a shortening based creamy frosting in the center…think Oreo cookies on steroids. Whoopie pies are sometimes made with pumpkin cakes cookies, but I am not the pumpkin examiner so we are not going to focus on that!

Originally said to be from the Pennsylvania Amish country, historians believe the Amish wives made these for their farmer husbands and placed them in their lunch boxes. If an Amish husband found one of the treats in his lunch box he would exclaim “Whoopie!”.

Lancaster County even has a Whoopie Pie Festival in September each year featuring activities such as the "Whoopie Pie Long Launch" where participates strive to launch their pies closest to the target and "Whoopie Pie Checkers" where the checkers disappear into the mouths of the participants as they are captured!

Although the whoopie pie is said to have originated in the Amish country of Pennsylvania, these treats have been made and enjoyed in Maine for over eight decades. Today, the popularity of this simple dessert is sweeping the nation with whoopie pies available at locations nationwide.

Want to make your own? Try the recipe below from Epicurious.com:

For cakes
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 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
• 1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
• 2 cups marshmallow cream such as Marshmallow Fluff
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
 

Preparation
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. 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. 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.

WHOOPIE!!