Whoopie Pies

I had some leftover orange cream cheese butter cream from when I made the carrot cake cupcakes so I decided to make whoopie pies to use it up. I had never heard of whoopie pies until one of my coworkers told me about them. Apparently they are very popular here in New England and consist a cake-like, usually chocolate flavored cookie sandwiching a white cream filling, kind of like a big Oreo, but much softer.

There was a recent article in the NYT asking if whoopie pies might be the new cupcakes, and I think it could totally be true. After all, if a French macaron and a cupcake had a baby, it would be the whoopie pie.

Whoopie Pies (based on this recipe)
makes 12

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk
Orange Cream Cheese Butter Cream (recipe here)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Sift together the 2 cups flour, baking soda,1/4 teaspoon salt, cocoa and 1 cup sugar. Set aside.

In a medium bowl stir together the egg, oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 3/4 cup of milk until well blended. Gradually stir in the sifted dry ingredients. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Pair similar shaped and sized cookies together and sandwich butter cream generously in between.

I brought these on the road trip on to Montreal, and both Annie and Dan said that they were pretty good. The addition of the orange rind was a nice surprise and I think a lot more noticeable paired with the cocoa flavoring than with the carrot cake. If you need to store these, make sure you wrap them individually, as they will stick to one another.