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Whoopie Pies are a classic New England dessert. Fudgy chocolate cake sandwiching a creamy and sweet marshmallow filling. So good!
Whenever my side of the family gets together for a visit, I always look forward to the delicious Whoopie Pies that my sister-in-law Pam brings along for dessert. This is one of Pam’s signature recipes (as well as this and this) – and when she sent me the recipe to share here on A Family Feast, she described these as the best whoopie pies ever! (She’s tried a number of different recipes over the years – so she knows!)
I have to agree! Soft, rich, dark chocolate mounds of cake sandwich a light and creamy marshmallow fluff filling. (I personally think this particular recipe for whoopie pies is the best because it isn’t too sweet. )
The history of whoopie pies (sometimes also called ‘gobs’) is interesting to read – and according to What’s Cooking America they are “…considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition… According to Amish legend, when children would find these treats in their lunch bags, they would shout “Whoopie!” (You can read more of the history here.)
And – before I share Pam’s delicious Whoopie Pie recipe, I wanted to take a quick moment to thank all of you. Today, A Family Feast officially turns two years old. Back then, Jack and I never dreamed that this little spot of ours on the web would grow into what it is today and we couldn’t have done it without you – our loyal and appreciative readers! We’re so excited to be starting another year of sharing great recipes and stories with all of you.
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Whoopie Pies
Whoopie Pies are a classic New England dessert. Fudgy chocolate cake sandwiching a creamy and sweet marshmallow filling. So good!
Ingredients
For the Batter
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (we used Nestle’s Special Dark)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (we used Crisco)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the Filling
- 8 ounces marshmallow fluff (half of a 16-ounce container)
- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (we used Crisco)
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Approximately 1 tablespoon milk (to get filling to good consistency)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, combine cocoa, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir to mix. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream together the shortening and sugar. Add egg, milk, and vanilla extract and mix well.
- Slowly add dry mixture to the mixing bowl with the wet mixture and mix well.
- Using a medium (1½ ounce) scoop, place scoops of the batter onto the prepared cookie sheets (about 12 per sheet).
- Bake one cookie sheet at a time for 6-7 minutes (they may look a little bit wet on top but that is OK). With a spatula, remove immediately to cool on a wire cooling rack.
- Once the cake mounds have cooled completely, prepare the filling by combining the marshmallow fluff, confectioners’ sugar, shortening and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix until completely combined. Add milk as necessary to get to a soft (but not too soft consistency.)
- Using a scoop, place a dollop of the filling in the center of the flat side of one cake. Place a matching piece of cake against the filling and push to spread the filling evenly between the two halves. Repeat until all of the pies have been filled.
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6-7 mins at 450 needs in longer I had it under confection bake at that.
Thanks for the feedback Dawn – every oven is different (we’ve had other readers complain that theirs burned!). Also we don’t write our recipes for convection ovens since most readers don’t have one at home. Our timing listed is for your standard oven baking.
Cake is light, moist and delicious! Filling is perfect.
Thank you Ann – so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
The best ever
Thanks Tammy!
The cake recipe is so delicious and easy! I swapped the crisco for butter because I just don’t have crisco in the house ever and the cakes turned out wonderfully still! I felt like I went wrong somewhere with the filling, it was far too runny and I couldn’t get it to whip into the consistency shown. I ended up folding about 8 oz of cool whip into my filling to get it to hold its shape in the middle of the cakes. They were still delicious for my baby shower!
Hi Annie – If you used butter in the filling instead of Crisco – that might have been the culprit. Butter contains water and milk fat, while Crisco is all vegetable fats. Entirely possible that as you mixed the filling, the water in the butter changed the consistency. Glad you were able to salvage the filling!
Great recipe! Cookies came out nice and fluffy and were very tastey. The filling was just right. It was very fluffy and not too sweet!
Thanks Rebekah – glad you enjoyed the whoopie pies!
So good and cookies are so soft and filling is perfect and not so sweet 😊
Thanks Traci!
Love this easy recipe but being in the UK I’m used to weighing the ingredients in grams and find it messy getting half a cup of shortening. Can you tell me how much that would be in grams?
Hi Sandra – at the top of every recipe card is a conversion tool that says US and M – if you click on M the ingredients change to metric measurements. Hope that helps!
I didn’t use dark cocoa. I used regular and they were great.
Thanks Kathy! (The color would just be darker with the dark cocoa.)
I also live in Maine and this is the way a whoopie pie should be made. Its the only recipe I will use because it is the best one thank you!
Thank you Renee!
Mine turned out perfectly and everyone loved them!
So glad to hear this Sarah!