Whoopie Pies

 This year, Tyler's request for school birthday treats is Whoopie Pies. I made them for school treats a few years back and used a different recipe. This time, I decided to go back to the first Whoopie Pie recipe I ever made. I will never forget making these with my cousin, Trina, in Grandpa and Grandma's basement on County Road 24, a mere 30-some years ago. I think we ended with Whoopie Pies being smeared all over each other. As if making Whoopie Pies isn't messy enough. But it was so much fun. 

I work next weekend, so I decided to make them today. Thank goodness, because it took a good chunk of my day. This was partially because I had to make two batches, and ran to the store between. In the first batch, I used butter and coconut oil in place of shortening because that's all I had on hand, resulting in these flat cookies...

Tasty, yes. But flat. So. Flat.

So, I ran to the store and picked up shortening, and we tried batch #2. Yep, that's the ticket.

Just like I remembered. I decided that since it's been forever since I blogged, it was time to return. This time with a recipe.

05/27/2022 EDIT: I just made them again after a long reprieve. This time with all butter and they were perfect! Maybe it was the coconut oil that threw things off back in 2015! 

Classic Whoopie Pies

2 c granulated sugar

1 c vegetable shortening or butter

1 c sour milk (1 cup milk and 1 T lemon juice or vinegar. Instead, I used buttermilk)

2 eggs, beaten

2 t vanilla extract

5 c all-purpose flour

1 t salt 

3/4 c baking cocoa

2 t baking soda

1 c hot water

Preheat oven to 350°. In bowl of mixer, cream sugar and shortening. Mixing well with each addition, add sour milk, eggs and vanilla. Add flour, salt and baking cocoa. Finally, add baking soda which has been dissolved in hot water. 

Drop cookies on lightly greased cookie sheets. I used a size 30 cookie scoop. Bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until the top of the cookies is firm to the touch. Let cool for a couple of minutes on the pan, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Filling

2 egg whites (I used 2 t meringue powder and 2 T water)

1 T all-purpose flour

3/4 T milk

2 T vanilla

4 c powdered sugar, divided

3/4 c vegetable shortening

dash salt

Cream egg whites, flour, milk, vanilla and 2 cups powdered sugar. Then add vegetable shortening, remaining 2 cups powdered sugar and salt. Beat until light and fluffy.
Spread between 2 (completely cooled) cookies. 

Store in an airtight container. May freeze if not eating immediately. 

Makes approximately 28 Whoopie Pies.