Sweet, screaming with chocolate, crowd-pleasing treats! This whoopie pie recipe is not for old-school lightweight cake-style pies, but for rich, dense and fudge-like desserts. And forget a flavorless, full of corn syrup marshmallow fluff filling. Read on for three easy fillings: pumpkin, cream cheese or homemade marshmallow buttercream.
Chef meets whoopie pie
My childhood did not include whoopie pies. But during my first foray into the food world at SusieCakes Bakery, I met the treat I will still drive out of my way to procure. The chocolate halves are dense with a wonderful crackle, and the vanilla buttercream filling is smooth and not too sweet.
The making of this original chocolate whoopie pies recipe
As I moved on from SusieCake’s and out of California, I decided to experiment at home for this to-die-for treat I could no longer outsource with a quick trip to the bakery. I’m not a fan of fancy and expensive specialty kitchen tools, so these can be made with just a cookie sheet (no need for a whoopie pan pan).
In an effort to replicate the rich, brownie-like halves of my professional past, this whoopie pie recipe calls for real chocolate, brown sugar and a lower ratio of flour than a typical cake-style pie.
The method for chocolate whoopie pies
Similar to many brownie recipes, for this one you melt the chocolate and “wet” ingredients together, then mix in sifted dry ingredients. Once mixed, I like to chill the batter a bit for easy scooping.
If you have a ice cream scoop with a release, it helps portion the pie halves evenly for same-size pies (your welcome, Paul Hollywood!). If not, simply use two large spoons and a careful eye, rolling the batter into balls, then flattening them on the pan.
Many a delicious whoopie pie filling
Baking these in autumn? I add pumpkin purée to cream cheese frosting. Love the classic marshmallow filling? Take my homemade marshmallow fluff and add it to classic American buttercream (buttercream recipe below). No matter how you fill these, you truly can’t go wrong.
Why not just bake brownies, you say, and schmear some buttercream on top? Because this whoopie pie recipe will make you say Whoopie! 100% cliché, I know. But don’t knock ’em ’till you taste ’em.
Yours in makin’ whoopies,
Chocolate Whoopie Pies + Three Buttercream Fillings
Description
Whoopie!! That is all.
Ingredients
Whoopie Pies
- 3 ounces unsalted butter (6 tablespoons)
- ¾ cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 6 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips, Ghirardelli 60% recommended
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Cream Cheese Buttercream
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 1–2 cups powdered sugar
- ½ – ¾ cup pumpkin purée (as much or little as you like)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons heavy cream
Vanilla-Marshmallow Buttercream
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1–2 cups powdered sugar (depending on sweetness level preference)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, vanilla beans or vanilla bean paste
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- ½ cup store-bought or better yet homemade marshmallow fluff
Instructions
Whoopie Pies
- In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt together butter, chocolate chips and brown sugar. Let cool for five minutes.
- In a large bowl beat eggs with vanilla. Whisk in chocolate mixture.
- Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. In several additions, whisk dry ingredients into batter. Chill for one hour, or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 325° F.
- Scoop batter using a 1-2-inch ice cream scoop (or two large spoons). Space cookies two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking pan. Use hot water to keep scoop clean and batter from building up and preventing release.
- Bake cookies about 10 minutes for two-inch cookies (adjust baking time for size), just until they begin to rise and loose their sheen.
- Cool completely on the pan set over a rack, then fill with buttercream.
- Store chilled, but serve room temperature.
For Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting
- With a hand mixer (or stand mixer with a paddle), beat cream cheese on medium-low speed until smooth, then slowly add one cup powdered sugar.
- Beat in pumpkin to taste, then add vanilla, salt and heavy cream.
- Beat in remaining powdered sugar a little at a time, stopping when you reach your desired sweetness level.
Vanilla-Marshmallow Butterceam
- Beat butter with a hand mixer (or stand mixer with a paddle) on medium-high speed until lightened in color, about five minutes.
- Beat in powdered sugar on low speed a little at a time, scraping down the bowl often.
- Beat in vanilla, salt and heavy cream. Beat in marshmallow fluff.
they look amazing!
Thanks! It’s hard to be chocolate on both sides of buttercream!