Makin’ Whoopie!

Whoopie Pies that is (for the past several days it’s been a (cheesy) running joke in my household). Last week at the bookstore I came across Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell, and absolutely had to get it. How could I resist?

Oh Chronicle Books, with your well designed popular cookbooks and your clever ideas, and your cookbooks all chockfull of mouth-watering photos:

With 21 cake recipes and 29(!) filling recipes (and ENDLESS combonations) I could hardly decide which whoopie pie to whip up first. Now the classic is a chocolate cake filled with marshmallow fluff, better known to me in my younger years in Charleston as a “Moon Pie”, and almost always on hand at my grandparent’s house:

As you can see though, even the classics come in quite the variety. So, with a large and hastily ripening pile of bananas on my hands I set out to make the banana whoopies with a chocolate fudge frosting. The banana whoopies came out delightfully, perfectly sweet in their banana flavor and stick-to-the-plastic-wrap moist, just how god intended.

Banana Whoopie

1 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
4 Tbsp. Unsalted Room temp. Butter
4 Tbsp. Vegetable Shortening
3/4 cup Granulated Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 Large Eggs
3 Very Ripe Bananas, mashed
3/4 cup chopped toasted pecans (optional – I didn’t add these but I’m sure it’s tasty)

- Whisk together flours, soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
- Cream butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla for 3 minutes. Scrape down bowl and add eggs one at a time till combined.
- Add bananas and beat till completely combined, about 2 minutes. Add flour mixture in 2 parts, mixing just till combined.
- Drop about 1 Tablespoon of batter onto parchment lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes each, or until cakes begin to brown. Let rest about 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

I’m not sure how the whoopies in the book photos came out so perfectly round, but they were still tasty regardless of shape. I got about 19 pairs out of the batch, and then started making the chocolate fudge filling. This particular recipe was adapted from the Chocolate Buttercream recipe in the book:

Chocolate Fudge Filling

2 2/3 cups of Confectioner’s Sugar
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
6 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter at Room Temp.
1/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp. Salt

- Beat together sugar, cocoa, and butter, starting on low and increasing to medium speed, until mixture is crumbly – about 1 minute.
- Add heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Beat on high until smooth (3 minutes).
- Spread or pipe onto cakes and sandwich!

I can’t wait to try the Pumpkin with Maple Frosting Whoopie Pie next!