Whoopie!!

When I was young...(oh, who am I kidding...even now) Whoopie Pies were my gold standard when it came to Gramma's yearly baking list. Every holiday season, she'd pull a container of these from the freezer and send me on my merry way -- this past season was no exception! I loved these simple little cakey sandwiches, especially when they were partially frozen, and decided it was high time I tried to make them myself.

This is not Gramma's recipe, but the final result is pretty darned close. While researching these treats, I discovered that they seem to have origins in Maine and in Dutch heritage having once been a solution to extra batter and frosting left over when the cake baking was done. Either way, they are good and I hope you enjoy my little slice of childhood goodness.

So first things first, and we get our ingredients together:

To make your life easier later on, start by sifting all the dry ingredients into a bowl.

Cream together the shortening and sugar. 

Once it's kinda fluffy, throw in the beaten egg yolks.

Using the alternating method, add the dry ingredients and milk/vanilla in three parts, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. 

The mixture is very, very thick when you're finished. I suspect with just a little more flour, it could be a chocolately dough! But that wouldn't get us the wonderful Whoopie Pies, would it? :)

Using a small ice cream scoop or two teaspoons, drop the dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake!

 (n.b. My small cookie scoop broke, so I used my regular ice cream scoop. This is why my final product is HUGE. I can't say don't do it, but it you want more than 8 final sandwiches, make them smaller than I did!)

It was right around this time that I realized I had enough batter to make 4 more cookies, so I went searching for my other cookie sheet. 3 cupboards and I then remembered where it was.

So I used a pizza pan instead!

The final product smelled and looked so good!

So while these were cooling on the racks -- you can take them immediately from the cookie sheet to the rack once they're out of the oven -- I got together my filling ingredients:

All of this went into the mixer bowl and made a beautifully delicious filling!

I spread (ok, I piped) the flat side of half the cookies with the filling and sandwiched them together for a really awesome treat!

The rest, of course went straight to the freezer. 

Happy Baking!!

Crystal 

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Whoopie Pies

For the cake:

5 tablespoons of cocoa

2 cups of flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup of Crisco shortening

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

1. Sift together the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In a mixer bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar. 

2. In alternating additions, beginning and ending with the dry mixture, add the milk & vanilla and dry ingredients to the shortening and sugar. 

3. Using either a small cookie scoop or two teaspoons, drop the batter in equal amounts 1 inch apart on the parchment-lined pan. 

4. Bake for 7-10 minutes (13 if you use a full sized scoop) or until the cookies are set. 

5. Remove the cookies to a wire rack (flat side down) to cool. 

For the Filling: 

1/2 cup of Crisco shortening

2 cups of confectioners (icing) sugar

2 egg whites (since these are not being cooked, I used pasteurized egg whites from a carton, but it's up to you!)

A dash of salt

2 tablespoons of marshmallow creme or fluff

Combine all the ingredients in a mixer bowl and beat until smooth. 

Spread the filling mixture on the flat side of half of the cookies and sandwich together. Store in a container with a tight lid or in the fridge/freezer. 

Enjoy!