Oooh…whoopie pies! Have you ever had one? I had not until I made these! Whoopie pies are a special cake-like, frosting-filled sandwich cookie, that is predominant in New England.
I have seen whoopie pies all across the blogosphere and Pinterest, but some require a whoopie pie pan and I am not buying a special pan to make one type of cookie. I developed my recipe to be made on a cookie sheet so no special pan is needed.
The traditional whoopie pie is a chocolate cookie sandwiched between vanilla marshmallow frosting. So I went the total opposite here, and todays recipe is a vanilla whoopie pie filled with my Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. I had leftover frosting from when I made my Vanilla Bean Cupcakes, and of course I am never one to waste food, so that’s actually why these whoopie pies came about. Best. Idea. Ever.
One note though…this batter is super sticky! So don’t be surprised at the texture of the dough. It’s a cross between cake batter and cookie dough.
Just scoop the dough out onto parchment lined cookie sheets….and then bake!
Vanilla Whoopie Pies
Print RecipeIngredients
- 11 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cake flour
- 2/3 cup milk, room temperature (I used whole milk)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400-degrees. Line three cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer, affixed with the paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar to the butter, and beat until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the salt, baking powder, nutmeg and vanilla extract to the butter-sugar mixture. Beat until ingredients are incorporated.
Add the eggs one at a time to the mixture, beating each egg in completely before adding the next.
Add one cup of flour to the mixture and beat fully into the mixture. Add 1/3 of the milk and beat fully. Continue to add the flours and milk, alternating each, until both are added to the mixture and ingredients are incorporated and mixture is thick and fluffy.
Use a small cookie scoop to scoop cookie dough balls onto parchment lined cookie sheets. Leave a few inches between cookies to allow for spreading.
Bake in 400-degree oven for 9-11 minutes, or until the middle of the cookies is springy to the touch and set. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cookies sit on the cookie sheet and set, before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
After cookies have cooled completely, scoop a tablespoon of frosting into the middle of the bottom of one cookie and press another cookie on top. Repeat until all cookies are sandwiched with frosting. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.
Once your cookies have cooled completely, then you can add a dollop of frosting and sandwich them together. If you don’t want to make frosting, then use store-bought frosting or some marshmallow fluff! Yum.
Whoopee!!! Lets go eat some cookies!
XOXO,
Kelly
19 Comments
Lindsay
March 23, 2017 at 9:29 AMI’ve never had a whoopie pie but these look and sound delicious!! My kids would love them 🙂
Kelly
March 23, 2017 at 5:04 PMI had never had a whoopie pie either Lindsay! But these were good! I definitely think your kids would love these and they would have fun putting the frosting on them too! XOXO
Kelsie | the itsy-bitsy kitchen
March 23, 2017 at 9:50 AMI love cookies too–except the burned ones, of course. I’ve never made whoopie pies but they’re on my to-bake list. Thank you for reminding me to get to it! These look delicious 🙂
Kelly
March 23, 2017 at 5:05 PMHi Kelsie! Oooooh I can’t see what kind of whoopie pies you make and what you think of them! They are definitely a different kind of cookie! But oh-so-good! XOXO 🙂
Christy
March 23, 2017 at 11:57 AMYUM!!! Those look so good. 🙂 A year ago, we moved from coastal WA state to Maine and were introduced to Whoopie pies. They are sooo yummy. I have never thought of reversing the chocolate and vanilla. Can’t wait to try these. Thanks!
Christy
Kelly
March 23, 2017 at 5:07 PMHi Christy! Lucky you that you get the authentic whoopie pies! Hopefully someday I will make it to Maine to try them! I am heading to Boston next week and am excited to try all the food Boston is known for! Thanks for reading and commenting Christy….it makes my day!! XOXO 🙂
Kim @ The Baking ChocolaTess
March 23, 2017 at 3:13 PMI’ve been on a vanilla kick lately…perfect! I love chocolate and vanilla together, so it’s a win-win for sure. 😀 Thanks!
Kelly
March 23, 2017 at 5:10 PMHi Kim! I go on kicks like that too….all things donuts, scones, chocolate. These whoopie pies are a great marriage of vanilla and chocolate! XOXO 🙂
heather (delicious not gorgeous)
March 27, 2017 at 9:24 AMthere definitely aren’t many whoopie pies in california (well in the bay area or orange county anyways). these sound delicious anyways! and if you haven’t had real deal princess cake yet, highly recommend!! schubert’s bakery in san francisco is my favorite (:
Kelly
March 27, 2017 at 3:29 PMHi Heather!! I have not been to Schubert’s yet, but I will definitely go my next SF trip!! I’m totally planning on getting a whoopie pie while I’m in Boston this week! We should open up a bakery here in Nor Cal hahaha. Xoxo 🙂
Amy L Gillispie
February 13, 2019 at 12:47 PMHi, Kelly. These look perfect! Can you please tell me what size scoop you used?
Thank you, ~Amy
Kelly
February 13, 2019 at 2:01 PMHi Amy! I used a standard sized cookie scoop for these cookies, which is approximately 1-1/2 tablespoons of dough. Let me know if you make these 🙂 xoxo
Amy L Gillispie
February 13, 2019 at 3:17 PMRock and Roll !! Here we go! Thank you for your quick response. I’ll keep you posted.
Amy L Gillispie
February 16, 2019 at 11:02 AMWell, I made them, but they didn’t look as good as yours. The good news is that they were for 12 year old who didn’t mind their shape.
Thanks for the help, ~
Kelly
February 19, 2019 at 8:14 AMAwww bummer!! Sorry they didn’t turn out as pretty but it’s really all about how they taste, right?! Thanks so much for making these 🙂 XOXO
Stephanie
March 15, 2023 at 7:15 PMI had never eaten nor made whoopie pies before, and tried these out on my boyfriend. I added sprinkles to them, simply to make them more whimsical, and made a strawberry buttercream to fill them. I still have not eaten any, because he ate them all in one weekend! I did get the one cookie that didn’t have a mate, and I got to lick the beaters from making the buttercream. Delicious, fast, and easy recipe!
Kelly
March 16, 2023 at 7:46 PMThat’s so awesome!! So glad your boyfriend enjoyed them. Sounds like you will Need to make them again and hide a few for yourself hahaha. Thank you for the comment!!
Helen
October 10, 2024 at 3:40 AMKelly in the recipe you left how many eggs. Could you tell me how many eggs please. Thank you
Helen
Kelly
October 10, 2024 at 7:07 AMHi! It’s listed there under the vanilla. It is 2 eggs.