I have a Halloween tradition. Yes, I know Halloween has come and gone but trust me, you’ll want to hear what I’ve got to say. Every year for Halloween, I make treats to share with my neighbors as we sit on our porches and dispense tooth rotting candy to witches, zombies, and all manner of costumed (and uncostumed) trick or treaters. One year there were marshmallows. Another year the neighbors got caramel matzoh crack. This year? This year I made whoopie pies. Oh yes, my neighbors and I whooped it up.
Now, as much as I’d like to say I do this because of my generous, giving nature, my motivations are really more selfish. You see, The Mistah’s birthday falls right around Halloween. And since it’s just The Mistah and I in the house, if we were to eat the entire batch of birthday treat, we’d be as big as our house. My solution is to divide and conquer.
I set aside a portion of treats for our enjoyment (divide) and then once the ghouls and goblins start knocking on our doors, I pay a visit to the neighbors with my plate of treats (conquer) for some reverse trick or treating. It works brilliantly. By the end of the evening the candy bowl is empty and the homemade treats have been distributed. It’s a total win/win situation.
You don’t need any special reason to whoop it up, so what are you waiting for? Go make some whoopie! (Really, did you think I wouldn’t go there?)
Whoopie Pies
Adapted from Bakerella as seen on Pretty.Good.Food.
BAH Note: My cakes baked up craggy, puffed and rounded, without a lot of spread. They reminded me of the Weebles I had as a kid. They would weeble and wobble but wouldn’t fall down. I would have preferred a thinner, wider cake so that I got a better frosting to cake ratio. My yield, using a small ice cream disher to portion out the dough, was 40 cakes or 20 sandwiches.
- 1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
- 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons butter at room temperature
- 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup milk
Heat your oven to 375 degrees and line sheet pans with parchment paper.
Whisk together the four, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
In the workbowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening, and sugar on low until just combined. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for two minutes more, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add the flour mixture and milk, in two additions, and mix until combined.
Using a small ice cream disher, portion the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cake. Bake for 10 minutes or until the top of the cakes spring back when gently pressed.
Cool on the baking sheet for five minutes then transfer them to a rack to cool completely before filling.
Whoopie Pie Peanut Butter Filling
Adapted from Pretty.Good.Food.
BAH Note: I used Abby Dodge’s method of adding marshmallow fluff to buttercream frosting for the filling. If you don’t have any marshmallow fluff, increase the amount of peanut butter by 1/4 cup.
- 1/4 cup marshmallow fluff
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
In the workbowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the marshmallow, peanut butter, and butter until creamy. Reduce the speed to low, add the powdered sugar and salt, and mix until combined. Increase the speed to medium and mix until the filling is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
Spread the filling on the flat side of a cooled cake. Top with a second cake and enjoy. Should you have any leftovers, store them in an airtight container.
Bon Appetit Hon 
I’ve actually never had a whoopie pie.. Definitely need to try it 🙂
Courtney, I’ve got one or two more whoopie pie recipes still to try. These were good but I don’t think they would ultimately end up as my favorite. Like I said, the frosting to cake ratio wasn’t balanced.
Lots of filling is KEY. Those look delicious–can you move to my neighborhood?
Kitch, I think the universe would implode if you and I were neighbors. Together, I think we’d do a whole lotta hell raising…which maybe isn’t the example you want for your girls at this impressionable age ; )
If you would like to divide and send one of these to my house, I would happily conquer it for you 🙂
Theresa, mark your calendar so you know to be at my house next Halloween to help me conquer the treats.
Very clever distribution method! I have two young adult stepchildren so distribution tends to take care of itself in my house. I’ve been thinking of cheating at some point and making whoopie pies with the Naturally Nora mixes we got in our goodie bags at the Big Summer Potluck. Now that thought is back at the top of my list!
Ohhh, I forgot that the Naturally Nora came with a whoopie pie recipe. Very interesting. Maybe you can send your kids down to my house? Because I’m running out of creative solutions to distribute all these calories.
these are adorable, what a great treat to dig into while you’re dishing out manufactured treats to the kiddies! your neighbors are so lucky.
so i’ve never had whoopie pie before, am i right in thinking they taste like CAKE as opposed to like COOKIES?
Lan, these are cakey little sandwiches. And next Halloween you need to get to my house for some of the grown up treats before the neighbors gobble them all up.
Yeah! Marshmallow Fluff in the frosting! 🙂
I like the look of poofy Whoopie pies. I saw some flatter ones elsewhere on the ‘net recently and they looked more like sandwich cookies. Couldn’t you just put more frosting on…vertically? Or is it too soft for that?
Minx, my fear with putting more frosting in these was that as you bite into them the frosting would ooze out the sides. With a wider, flatter cookie, I could have added more frosting and still have left space around the edge of the cookies to account for the spread factor. And the poofy made the pies a little awkward to eat.
And yes, you can put marshmallow fluff in just about any frosting. My friend asked me why I had so many jars of fluff in my pantry. Clearly, she does not know our little secret.
divide and conquer – that’s DEFINITELY the ticket with these babies! YUM!
Debra, feel free to adopt my divide and conquer strategy. It has worked well for me.
I’ve been seeing these everywhere, and up until a couple months ago, never even heard of them.
They look delicious!
Biz, the Universe is trying to tell you something…you need to acquaint yourself with whoopie pies!
Okay good. I’m not the only person whose whoopie pies baked up and not out. Although judging from that picture, yours easily trumped mine. I’d eat those chocolate-peanut butter weebles until I fell down from a sugar-induced coma.
I like your spunk Ali. It was a challenge to limit ourselves to just the four that we kept. I could polish off an entire batch all by myself…should I admit that?
I’ve never actually made whoopie pies myself, but these look delicious!
Tracy, I think Whoopie Pies would please Santa on Christmas Eve.
You’re such a nice neighbor! I don’t even know all of the people who live in my building. I’ve never had a whoopie pie. But that peanut butter and marshmallow fluff filling sounds like a great all-around frosting.
I’ll be honest Jen, the neighborly interactions are limited to about four houses. Back when I was growing up, I knew who lived in each and every house on my street. Not so much now.
And yes, that frosting is a great one to have in your recipe files.
Wendi–these look just about perfect…but maybe you do need a whoopie pie pan 😉
Oh Beth, I don’t think there’s a whoopie pie pan in my future…did you hear that Santa? No. Whoopie. Pie. Pan.
Hello friend. I want to eat you.
Brooke, these have been taunting you from my flickr for weeks. Glad I could finally introduce the two of you.
whoopie and whoopie pies?? yes please. 🙂
Elizabeth, they are as much fun to gobble down as they are to say. Whoopie!
I haven’t ever made whoopie pies either, but yours looks like little circles of perfection.
Jenna, they are circle of perfection filled with peanut butter happiness.
Why the hell did I leave Maryland? I am coming back as your neighbor.
I’m sure there’s all kinds of southern hospitality down in the NC. I just try and spread a little of that Charm City magic in my ‘hood.
See what The Jolie has to look forward to?
I love whoopie pies! I have made a few different kinds and I just can’t get enough of these little guys! Yummy…yours looks amazing! 🙂
Christina @ Sweet Pea’s Kitchen
Christina, they are delightful little treats. Your ginger sandwich cookies look incredible.
I’ve never tried whoopie pies..But, I will now!!