Makin' whoopie (pies)

So here’s the scene:
First: One hot, cramped, humid kitchen (apparently not good for angel food cake, as EmB will soon tell you all about)

Second: EmB and I are hosting our first special Wednesday event. Will it be a bust? Will EmB and I have spent all day baking for nothing? Will we be done in time? Oh the stress, the stress!

Third: We have EmB suffering through banana cream pie. As EmB mentioned, custard making…not so easy. It seems simple, but nope, it’s sneaky and hard to make. Not to mention, I was zero help. My advice regarding custard is apparently very bad advice. Seriously though, Dorie Greenspan’s directions for custard making: NOT clear. Dorie, we love you and the drool inducing photos of desserts in your cookbooks, but really, you need to help us out a little bit more.

Fourth: We have whoopie pies. According to Wikipedia, a whoopie pie could also be a macaron. FALSE. A whoopie pie is a whoopie pie and it ain’t nothin’ but a whoopie pie. I am really super into making and eating them, and much to my horror I have come to realize that much of the world does not know what a whoopie pie is. Apparently, these most delicious of cookies are a New England phenom, but my goooooooooodness they should not be.

Never seen one? Okay, imagine this: a thick layer of beautiful, fluffy, vanilla, marshmallowy frosting nestled between two perfect, round, cakey, chocolately cookies which are then sprinkled with powdered sugar to amp up the adorableness of these cute little cookies (and by little I mean huge, because these cookies are large and in charge). They are soft little pillows of amazing and I would sleep on a bed of them if I could. And if you still can’t picture it, just think of an Oreo but about a hundred times more decadent, delicious, and mouth watering.

Are you drooling yet? Because I am.

Anyway, want to know how many whoopie pies I made? About a million. Yup, that many. I channeled my inner Keebler Elf and busted out batch after batch of these babies. And now you should too.

-EmW

Whoopie Pies
(Adapted from Martha Stewart)

For the cookies:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups buttermilk (don't want to buy buttermilk? make it yourself: add one tablespoon white vinegar per one cup milk, allow to sit for 10 minutes, stir it and voila, buttermilk!)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

For the frosting:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 jar (7 1/2 ounces) marshmallow Fluff
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift together flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. With a mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat until well combined. Slowly add dry ingredients. Mix until combined.
2. Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake for 12 minutes. Move cookies to cooling rack. Repeat with remaining batter until all cookies are baked.
3. Make the frosting: with an electric mixer, cream together butter and confectioners’ sugar until pale and fluffy. Add Fluff and vanilla and continue mixing until well combined
4. Spread frosting onto flat side of one cookie and sandwich together with another.