Lark & Lola

Oh my stars, whoopie pies. You be delicious. I made these for the first time last fall, and they were so easy and delicious, it's now imprinted in my soul as a fall treat. But that's ridiculous, isn't it? The time is always right for making whoopie. Pies.

I've seen pumpkin versions, red velvet versions, sprinkle-coated versions. Me? I just like an unadulterated whoopie. Pie. Using box cake mix and marshmallow fluff, it's never been easier to make whoopie...pies. {Alright, I'll stop now. You're welcome.} These are REALLY EASY. These are also REALLY YUMMY.

{Forgive the gross state of our backsplash, by the way. We're undergoing a kitchen makeover and you can read more about that here. Hopefully soon I'll have a before & after post for you.}

This is quite simple, see, you take a box mix of chocolate cake {try devil's food sometime} and prepare it as the box instructs EXCEPT use 3/4 cup water in place of however much water the recipe calls for. Other than adjusting the water, make as directed. Then, once it's good and mixed together, throw in a package of chocolate pudding. Mix well.

Drop rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, a good 2" or more apart. A cookie scoop would help you keep them round, but they don't have to be perfect for making whoopie...PIES. {Sorry.}

Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes until they are firm in the center. Here's a tip I learned: baking them higher up in the oven resulted in fluffier, taller whoopies. Those I baked lower in the oven fell flat, no matter what pan I was using.

While your whoopies are cooling off and having a cigarette, start making your cream filling. I've seen other recipes for filling, but I wouldn't recommend using one that didn't have marshmallow creme in it, no sir. That's not how you make whoopie pies.

1 cup butter OR Crisco {traditionally made with Crisco, but whatever}
2 cups marshmallow creme {or FLUFF}
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla

Mix and beat together. I added a LITTLE bit of whole milk to thin mine just a tad, but that's an optional thing. This is similar to a classic buttercream recipe, so it's foolproof: thicken by adding more powdered sugar, thin by adding milk.

You can just plop dollops {who else hates the word "dollop" all because of a certain saccharine sour cream jingle?} of your filling between the whoopie cookies, or fill a pastry bag {or Ziploc, if that's your thing} with filling and pipe it out. TIP: place a pastry bag over your hand, shaped like a C, or put the pastry bag in a cup and fold the top over, using a spatula to scrape filling in the bag against the cup or your fingers, this makes filling the bag super easy and clean. Oh dear. I just complicated things, didn't I? ﴾͡๏̯͡๏﴿

Look, when it comes to making whoopies pies, I feel like it's fairly straight forward...as it is when making most types of whoopie.

You can make these cookie sized, or try smaller versions. This recipe yields about 8-10 large whoopie pies.

My kids asked me what I was making and I said, "Momma's making whoopie in the kitchen with..."

I said, "They're whoopie pies."

"What's that?"

"It's like a...like a...a cake cookie!" And as I said those words together, I realized that is why everything is so wonderful when it comes to whoopie  pies. Cake. Cookies.

It's magic...wham, bam....nevermind.



WHOOPIE PIES

Ingredients
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 (3 oz) box chocolate Jell-O pudding mix
Water, eggs, oil--whatever cake mix recipe calls for

Heat oven to 350° and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Prepare box mix cake batter as directed on box, EXCEPT using 3/4 cup water. Mix until well combined. Add pudding mix, mix well until well combined. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until center is firm. Cool, moving to cooling racks or sliding parchment onto cool surface after a couple minutes.

Filling Ingredients
1 cup butter or shortening
2 cups powdered sugar
2 cups marshmallow creme
2 tsp vanilla

Combine ingredients in mixing bowl using stand mixer. Beat until well mixed. Fill whoopie pies using small spatula OR fill pastry bag with filling and pipe onto cookie to create whoopie pie sandwich. Om nom nom nom... ( ^-^)_旦

Store by placing in an airtight container, separate whoopie pies using parchment or wax paper {these are moist and soft and can stick to each other} consume within 3 days, or wrap individually in plastic wrap--can also be placed in freezer this way and saved for later.

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Heather 

 If you like this recipe, check out my other recipe posts here!