Try This: Whoopie! She Graduated!
All of Mama’s children are bright, but we’ve always called Drew “girl genius” ever since she skipped first grade and plunged into second grade at 5. Still her high school graduation was a time to celebrate and let out a Texas yee-haw and Whoopie (pies that is)!
I was really high strung because of the graduation, for a number of reasons, but I still wanted to make a special dessert, even if I was relegated to using a box mix.
Whatever box mix I used, it was critical that it had to a) be easy and not too time consuming and, b) taste non-boxy because Drew loves homemade desserts… especially chocolate desserts (remember her quest for the Perfect Brownie?). Thankfully, Stonewall Kitchen’s Chocolate Whoopie Pie Mix delivered on both counts.
Whoppie Pies originated in New England and are the official treat of Maine (not to be confused with Maine’s official dessert: Blueberry Pie). In Maine they make them big, about the size of a saucer. Stonewall Kitchen keeps their Whoopie Pies small… so a serving size is two and costs you only about 150 calories.
Traditionally, Whoopie Pies have a marshmallow filling, which steps into the world of candy making and all it involves: thermometers and gelatin and sugar syrup and boiling pots of water. Yikes! Too much work for Mama. The Stonewall Kitchen mix uses a butter cream filling, which is really sweet and flavorful (maybe a tad too sweet for Mama, but everyone else liked them).
From start to finish, I’d say it took about an hour to make the pies. Follow the package directions exactly, and level off the tablespoon of batter before you put it on the cookie sheet. This is important because then the pies are all the same shape and size and are perfectly formed. I also found that by leveling off the tablespoon, I was able to make more pies. They were smaller, but looked nicer.
Chocolate is the number one flavor, but Stonewall Kitchens also makes Red Velvet Whoppie Pies and seasonally, Pumpkin Whoppie Pies. I’m sure we’ll try them all because around my house, there’s always something to celebrate!
Ingredients Whoopie Cake: Sugar, unbleached and unbromated enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid), cocoa, vanilla, sodium bicarbonate, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcim phosphate), salt.
Ingredients Filling: Powdered sugar, vanilla.
