Whoopie Pies

I think whoopie pies are rather whimsical. There's something about the fluffy marshmallow filling and bendy, cakelike cookies that makes me wish I liked eating them more than I do. Generally, I make whoopie pies because they elicit ecstatic reactions from other people. Especially if you coat them in sprinkles.

This recipe isn't difficult, but you can get wildly different results if you're not careful with ingredient temperatures. The cookie dough and filling are easiest to make when the butter is quite soft. I think room temperature buttermilk would be optimal as well. Cold butter will make the filling lumpy and the cookies less uniformly shaped.

Three-bite Whoopie Pies
adapted from Abigail Johnson Dodge's The Weekend Baker

For the chocolate wafers:
2 cups (255g) all purpose flour
2/3 cup (57g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp table salt
12 tbsp (170g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (340g) granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

For the vanilla filling:
12 tbsp (170g) unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups (177g) marshmallow fluff (not creme)
3/4 cup (85g) confectioners' sugar
2 oz (57g) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla etract
1/4 tsp table salt

1. To make the chocolate wafers, position an oven rack on the middle rung. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C. Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Whisk until well blended. In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on medium high speed until well blended. Pour in about 2/3 of the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until blended. The mixture will look sandy, with small pebbles of dough. Add the buttermilk and continue mixing just until blended. Pour in the remaining flour mixture and mix just until blended.

3. Using a small scoop or 2 tbsp, drop 2 tbsp mounds of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake one sheet at a time until the mounds are puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 11 minutes. Transfer the cookie sheet to a rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Using a spatula, lift the cookies from the sheet onto a rack and let cool completely.

4. Prepare the filling while the chocolate wafers are baking. Combine the butter, marshmallow, confectioners' sugar, cream cheese, vanilla, and salt in a medium bowl. Beat with an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on medium speed until well blended and smooth.

5. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set the filling aside until the chocolate wafers are ready to be assembled. If the filling is very soft, refrigerate it, stirring frequently, until it's firm enough to hold its shape.

6. To assemble the pies, arrange half of the cooled wafers, flat side up, on a work surface. Mound about 1.5 tbsp of the filling in the center of each. Top with the remaining wafers and press gently on top until the filling spreads just to the edges. Refrigerate until the filling is firm, about 1 hour, or until ready to serve. The assembled pies will keep in the fridge for a week, or in the freezer for 3 months.