Making Whoopies: The Official Whoopie Pie Book

By Nancy Griffin

Whoopie pies could be declared the official Maine dessert, and many assert that the rotund chocolate confection originated there, although Pennsylvania actually has a an equally strong claim to that honor. No matter-aficionados in both locales never tire of the giant sandwich cookies, and the comfort-food treats are enjoying a renaissance as bakeries offer gourmet versions on the Internet. This little book is a wide-ranging, lighthearted look at whoopie pies and the folks who love them. This book contains 16 recipes including healthy, gluten-free, and zucchini whoopie pies!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Down East Books
• Release date: Jun 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9780892729845

Book preview

Introduction

A book about whoopie pies? I hear you ask. "Is there really that much to say about whoopie pies? The answer is a whopping yes!

The moment of the whoopie pie is now. These sweet treats are the ultimate comfort food. They’re unpretentious and home-grown, nothing like highbrow crêpes and soufflés. Even the name is cheerful and uplifting. The definitions for whoopie (or whoopee) include an exclamation of joy or excitement. Making whoopie means to engage in a noisy, boisterous celebration. These definitions all aptly describe the human interaction with the whoopie pie: eating a fistful of whoopie pie in all its squishy, creamy sweetness is certainly joyful, can be exciting, and is absolutely celebratory.

Of course, the phrase making whoopie is also a euphemism used by the entertainment industry in the early days to suggest amorous activity while circumventing the censors. Some whoopie pie aficionados may in fact equate eating whoopies with its more salacious connotation.

This book will tell you everything you want to know about the wonderful whoopie, from its debated origins to its modern-day adaptations. And the more than a dozen recipes will have you making some whoopies (the edible kind) of your own. Happy reading, baking, and, most important, eating!

A whoopie pie's a wondrous thing, Like newborn pups or early spring. It fills the mouth with rapture sweet, This yummy chocolate sandwich treat. -Anonymous HERSHEY FARMS RESTAURANT AND INN

A whoopie pie’s a wondrous thing,

Like newborn pups or early spring.

It fi lls the mouth with rapture sweet,

This yummy chocolate sandwich treat.

—Anonymous

What’s a Whoopie Pie?

The whoopie pie is a nearly perfect food, if you ignore pesky little details such as calories or cholesterol. For those who love sweets, especially dark, devil’s food chocolate cake and lush, creamy vanilla filling, the whoopie pie is the ultimate dessert.

It’s certainly not a pie, by any stretch of the imagination. But then, neither is a Boston cream pie.

A traditional whoopie pie consists of two soft, mounded, dark chocolate cakes, each resembling the top of a well-rounded chocolate hamburger bun, generously filled with creamy white filling. Sometimes the filling layer is nearly as thick as the cake around it, making for a gooey eating experience that leaves fingers, faces, and everything within reach streaked or coated with white stuff. And that’s half the fun.

There ends any agreement about what constitutes a real whoopie pie. Aficionados, however, argue over which ingredients were found in the original filling. Believe it or not, these treats have incited lots of discussion and passion in recent years as whoopie pie fame spreads across the country.

Even the name is not consistent, although it is not cause for dispute. In parts of Pennsylvania—residents say primarily in the central part of the state—whoopie pies are called gobs. (It’s clear why whoopie pie, and not that other name, is sweeping the country.)

WHOOPIE WISDOM

There are those who say the whoopie pie is the same as a moon pie, a popular snack from the southern United States, but the two are distinctly different. Moon pies are flat, hard cookies filled with marshmallow, then the entire thing’s dipped in chocolate. They, too, have a long history and a few fanciful tales about their origins, but we’re not going to tell them.

JEFF SCHER

JEFF SCHER

Once upon a time, hardly anyone outside New England, parts of Pennsylvania, and relocated Amish communities in other states had ever heard of a whoopie pie, but now these delectables can be found as far away as California, Texas, and Michigan. Upscale Manhattan bakeries make them. A recipe even turned up on a food blog originating in Newfoundland, Canada. Celebrity chefs sing their praises. They have been featured in national publications, high-profile TV shows, and they’re on food sites all over the Web.

They’ve arrived.

What Really Makes It a Whoopie? . The Way It Is Eaten: By hand, so enjoy the confection while walking, driving, golfing, or mowing the lawn. . When It Is Eaten: Usually quite fast, but you can pop it in the freezer. The average whoopie will survive freezing unharmed. . How Much Is Eaten: Whoopies come in all sizes, but the hand-held, one-serving whoopie is usually ar ound four inches in diameter. . What Frosting Is Eaten: One school of traditionalists insists that the original filling contains vegetable shortening. Another argues that the original filling includes marshm allow creme or Fluff. . What Flavor Is Eaten: Purists refuse to recognize many of the non-chocolate variants as whoopie pies at all. (We're not that strict!)

WHOOPIE WISDOM

A WHOOPIE

IS NOT

A COOKIE

The cake parts of the whoopie pie are sometimes called soft cookies, but they’re usually really soft and not really very cookielike at all.

HERSHEY FARMS RESTAURANT AND INN

HERSHEY FARMS RESTAURANT AND INN

Whoopie Wrap-Up

There used to be a traditional whoopie pie, which is not a pie at all,