One of those comfort meals that makes you want more than one is whoopie pies. Simply put, things stay the same. Although whoopie pies can be enjoyed in a variety of ways, eating them just 5 to 10 minutes after they have been frozen is recommended. You won’t worry about a thing if you have a tall glass of milk and one of these Maine whoopie pies! The frosting is amazing, but keep in mind that you won’t be able to use it until you’ve beat it on high for at least five minutes. After that, it will change into something you have never seen or eaten before. This easily divides in half to make a sizable batch.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 10 mins |
| Additional Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 25 |
| Yield: | 25 whoopie pies |
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (such as Hershey’s®)
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (such as Hershey’s®)
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup butter at room temperature
- 1 cup vegetable shortening
- 2 cups white sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 (7 ounce) jars marshmallow creme
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Cut and set aside 25 pieces of plastic wrap about 5 inches square.
- For cookies, beat 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, 2 cups milk, 2 cups sugar, the eggs, and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract together in a large mixing bowl until smooth and creamy.
- In a separate bowl, whisk 4 cups flour with 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa, baking soda, and salt until thoroughly combined. Beat the flour mixture into the wet ingredients just until smooth.
- Scoop up the batter by teaspoons, and drop onto ungreased baking sheets in small round dollops about 2 inches apart. Recipe should make about 50 cookies. Cookies will rise and expand a lot.
- Bake in the preheated oven until cookies are set in the middle, 8 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheets for several minutes before removing to finish cooling on racks.
- To make the filling, place 1 cup milk in a microwave-safe measuring cup, and microwave until hot but not simmering, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Pour heated milk into a large mixing bowl. Add 1 cup room temperature butter, 1 cup vegetable shortening, 2 cups sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, and marshmallow creme. Beat the mixture on high speed until the frosting is fluffy, 5 to 10 minutes. At first the frosting will appear lumpy, but keep beating.
- To fill cookies, choose 2 cookies that are about the same size, and spread about 1 1/2 tablespoons of frosting onto the flat bottom of a cookie. Top with the other cookie, flat-side down, and wrap the filled cookie in a sheet of plastic wrap. Place filled cookie in the freezer. Repeat with remaining cookies and frosting, wrapping each whoopie pie in plastic wrap and freezing.
- To serve, remove whoopie pies from the freezer and allow to thaw until very cold but not frozen, 10 to 15 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 451 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 63 g |
| Cholesterol | 37 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 4 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 364 mg |
| Sugars | 41 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Definitely something amiss with this recipe. You don’t cream 2 cups milk with the fat, sugar and egg…Creaming is done with sugar and fat, then the egg and liquid added in parts with the dry ingredients. Also 1 tbsp baking soda? Way too much. I am a professional baker so can “speak” with authority. In addition, grew up in Maine continuing to make whoopee pies — have had them all my life. It is nothing like this recipe. Frosting ratio is also incorrect.
The cookie part of these came out FANTASTIC, but I would have to agree with some of the reviewers that the filling came out a little runny (even after whipping and trying to add a cup of powdered sugar and refrigerating by the time I filled 3 the fourth one’s cream was running down the sides). I still made them and put them straight in the freezer after filling and wrapped them after they froze and they are good, but my second batch came out perfect with a couple of tweaks to the filling. What I did was omit the milk, and used a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream instead and I used powdered sugar ( A LOT of it) and 1/2 cup of regular sugar just to give it a little grainy texture and they came out PERFECT This is a WONDERFUL recipe…thank you for sharing…. I’ve lived in Maine for 20 years but never have tried to make one of these…my Downeast friends said they were SPOT ON
Batter was very runny and had to add extra flour and the frosting didn’t come out at all. I had to add 1 1/2 bags of confectionary sugar to get it to thicken. They were still very tasty! I wouldn’t make this recipe again. I’ll continue looking…
I added extra baking powder (double what it called for) to really set the chocolate notes.
THE CAKE PART IS THE BEST EVER, BUT THE FILLING WAS NOT.
my pies came out great however I made a buttercream filling
I am very torn on how to rate this recipe because we really enjoyed the cake part of this whoopie pie, but, the filling was a disast. The cake had a nice chocolate flavor and was very moist which was nice because a lot of whoopie pies come out dry. They didn’t rise very much, but, they were very good and I would make them again. Make sure you butter your pan well or use parchment paper because they do stick. The frosting was a mess! It was very runny. I followed the directions exactly and even took the suggestion of other reviewers to beat longer because it would thicken. I beat the filling for ten minutes and it never thickened. I even put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and it still stayed runny. I also thought the use of white sugar left a terrible grainy texture that did not go away. I ended up throwing out the filling and using a marshmallow filling from a different recipe. The cake part I would easily give a 4, but, the frosting would be a zero.
The cake is one of the best I’ve found although I believe the 2 tablespoons extra of cocoa is too much (found it bitter). The 1/2 cup was sufficient. I use my Moms cream filling but love the lightness of the cake in this recipe.
Just like moms, thanks so much!
made them today they kept sticking to my no stick pan and I had to cut the time to 5 mins in order for them to come off the pan easier and my filling came out grainy from the sugar. They still came out good now to hear from my coworkers monday to see what they think
YUM! reminds me of my childhood With the filling as the last reviewer stated you really need to pay attention to texture and thickness as you are whipping it.
Hopefully the previous poor reviews won’t keep folks away from trying this recipe. Mine turned out wonderfully! It does take some time to bake all the cookies, but then just have the kids or grandkids match sizes together. The filling was a cinch…just make sure you don’t start it at high right away or you’ll have milk flying everywhere! You’ll notice it’s runny in the beginning but as it mixes, just speed it up and after a few minutes it turns into a beautiful white fluff!!! I’ve grown up around Whoopie Pies and Shoofly pie, living here in the PA Dutch area, and I’m very picky, and this recipe ranks up there with Mom’s whoopie pie recipe. I had always wanted to try a filling made with marshmallow creme. I skipped the wrapping and freezing part, as these will all be eaten this week. Thanks Teresa! Until finding your recipe, I didn’t know whoopie pies were even made in Maine. Thought only us in PA ate them!
I followed the recipe exactly and the frosting was sooo runny and the white sugar made the frosting very grainy.