Chocolate-Marshmallow Whoopie Pies

What exactly is a whoopie pie? Is it a cake? Is it a cookie? Does it really matter? It's delicious, whatever you consider it. I used to make these all the time when I worked at the coffee shop, and the older customers especially would snatch them up, saying that they tasted like childhood. I think that's a pretty apt description no matter who you are. These whoopie pies have a simple, classic taste that almost has the flavor of a homemade Oreo, though the texture is quite different.

The recipe comes from one of my favorite food blogs, Annie's Eats, and I haven't changed it other than to jazz it up with a bit of (entirely optional) colored sugar crystals. I was feeling particularly generous before Christmas and decided to make these for all of our neighbors, as well as our mail carrier and the office staff at our apartment complex. I made the whoopie pies using a small scoop and then coated the filing with the red and green sugar to make them extra festive. Using a 1/2 ounce scoop, this recipe made about 60 miniature whoopie pies (or 120 individual cookies/cakes/sandwich halves/whatever). Bigger scoops will obviously result in bigger whoopie pies. Making the smaller ones, I reduced the baking time to about 8 minutes instead of the 12 listed in the original recipe.

One final note: whatever you do, don't lick the batter off your spoon, scoop, finger, bowl, etc. It is highly, highly addictive. The texture and flavor combine to make my absolute favorite batter, and it takes everything in me to actually bake it instead of just eating it with a spoon.


Ingredients

Cookies
3-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
7.5 ounces marshmallow fluff
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Decorative sugar crystals (optional)


Directions

Preheat oven to 400 F. To make the cookies, whisk together flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl, and set aside.

Put butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer, and beat on medium-high for 3 minutes, or until pale and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add buttermilk and vanilla, and beat until well-incorporated. Add flour mixture, blending until just combined.

Using a 1-inch scoop, place scoops of batter, evenly spaced, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat until all batter has been used.

Make the filling by beating the butter in the bowl of a mixer on medium-high for 3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, and beat until fully-incorporated. Add marshmallow fluff and vanilla, and beat until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.

Pair cookies together by size and shape, matching them as closely as you can. Fill a pastry bag with a plain tip--or a large ziploc bag with a hole cut in one corner--with the marshmallow filling. Pipe a generous dollop of filling onto the flat side of one cookie, and place the matching cookie flat-side-down on top of the filling, pressing slightly to push the filling to the edges. If desired, sprinkle decorative sugar crystals all around the sides of the filling to cover.


Servings: 24


Recipe adapted from Annie's Eats.