Whoopie Pies



A serious debate is underway among the citizens and elected representatives of this great state.  Factions have been formed; opinions are firmly entrenched; the rhetoric is heated and, at times, ugly.

It’s not the budget shortfall; it’s not MaineCare or the chronically high unemployment rate or the devastation of the Mars Hill ridgeline or the collapse of groundfish populations or school consolidation or the fact that our new governor is shaping up to be the worst natural disaster this state has faced since Hurricane Edna.

No.  It’s blueberry pie vs. whoopie pie for the coveted title of Maine’s Official Dessert. 

Personally, I don’t care.  Both have their merits.  (I’m a Libra; it’s how I roll.)  For what it’s worth, the wild blueberry is exclusive to Maine, while lots of other regions and cultures claim the whoopie pie as their own.  (The Pennsylvania legislature, in fact, is currently engaged in a mad scramble to designate the whoopie pie as the official Commonwealth Snack before Maine stakes its claim.)

Nevertheless, Mainer Amy Bouchard and Isamax have packaged and mass-marketed it the whoopie pie, thus institutionalizing Maine’s claim to provenance.

My version is based on Amy’s recipe, though I use buttermilk in place of clabbered, and I find Dutch process cocoa gives the shells a distinctive deep-dark color.  Parchment paper helps the shells hold their shape during baking.  

Whoopie Pies

For the shells:

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening

2 cups sugar

2 eggs                       

1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup Dutch-process cocoa (from King Arthur Flour)

1 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350. 

Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.  In mixer bowl, cream shortening and butter.  Blend in sugar, eggs and vanilla, then add milk, cocoa and hot water.  Slowly stir in the dry ingredients.  

Scoop batter, a scant ¼ cup for each shell, into rounded mounds at least 2" apart onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake 10 minutes.  Cool on wire racks.

For the filling:

6 tablespoons marshmallow fluff

4 tablespoons (yes, tablespoons) real vanilla extract

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons milk

4 cups confectioners sugar

1 1/2 cups shortening

Beat all ingredients until smooth.

To assemble:  Place a scoop of filling between two shells.  (I lay out half the shells, divide the filling among them, and top with the remaining shells.  It’s an OCD thing.) 

Yield:  about 20 pies