Whoopie pies are chocolate cake-like cookies filled with a whipped buttercream filling. These sandwich cookies are rich, decadent, and a crowd favorite chocolate cookie recipe.
Have you heard of whoopie pies before? How about gobs, or "big fat oreos"? No matter what you call them, these cookies are a delicious cross between chocolate cake and sandwich cookie.
These soft cookies are essentially round chocolate cakes, sandwiched around a whipped buttercream filling.
Whoopie pies are an American cookie, mostly popular in northeast states like Maine and Pennsylvania. The name "gob" is native to Pittsburgh, PA and surrounding areas.
Cookie ingredients and substitutions
Next, gather your ingredients. For this recipe, you'll need milk, brown sugar, butter, eggs, flour, vanilla extract, dutch process cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
It's important that dutch process cocoa powder is used for this recipe, rather than regular cocoa powder. Dutch process gives these cookies their rich color and flavor.
This recipe accounts for the use of dutch process cocoa, which is not acidic like regular cocoa. This is why baking powder is the main leaving agent in this recipe, with less baking soda called for. Read more about Natural VS Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder.
Making your cookies the same size and shape
To make all of your cookies the same size, I recommend using a medium sized cookie scoop.
Dropping this dough by the spoonful onto a baking sheet may result in different sizes and shapes of cookies. This makes it hard to pair them up and make into sandwiches.
A cookie scoop, especially for a recipe like this, is a very helpful tool to have on hand.
Buttercream filling
Making this buttercream filling is as simple as whipping your ingredients together in a large bowl. Buttercream frosting is a very sweet frosting, so a little can go a long way.
For detailed photos and instructions, check out my full post about whipped buttercream frosting here: Whipped Buttercream Frosting
Cookie making tips and tricks
Room temperature ingredients will help your cookies have a consistent, creamy, and even dough. When beaten, the eggs and butter form an emulsion, which traps air in the dough, which bakes up into a soft and fluffy cookie.
Properly measuring flour is an issue I see frequently. If you have issues with your cookies not spreading, or turning out extra thick and tall, you probably measured too much flour into your cookie dough.
To properly measure flour, use a spoon to add flour to your measuring cup, then level off with a knife. By scooping flour directly from a container with your measuring cup, you’re compacting the dough into the cup. This can add up to 25% more flour to your dough.
Using parchment paper helps prevent your cookies from spreading too much while baking. A greased baking pan will guarantee your cookies spread more than they should, so I always suggest parchment paper (or a reusable baking mat) instead.
Whoopie Pies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup milk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup dutch-processed cocoa powder *
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
Whipped Buttercream Filling
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 cups confectioner's sugar
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla extract. Beat until creamy, about a minute.
- In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients: flour, dutch cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add half of the dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix until just combined. Add half of milk and mix until combined. Repeat once more until add ingredients are incorporated.
- Using a medium cookie scoop (or a heaping tablespoon), spoon cookie dough 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheet. Recipe should make 32 individual cookies.
- Bake 9-10 minutes, or until cookies are puffy and tops have cracked.
- Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Whipped Buttercream Filling
- In a bowl, add room temperature butter, beat until creamy, about 1 minute.
- Add confectioner's sugar and slowly mix until ingredients are fully combined. Then, whip at high speed for 2-3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- Add vanilla extract and heavy cream, then whip for an additional 2-3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.
- Pipe or spread frosting generously with a knife onto the bottoms of half of the cookies, then top with remaining unfrosted cookies, making a sandwich.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- *It's important that dutch process cocoa powder is used for this recipe, rather than regular cocoa powder. Dutch process gives these cookies their rich color and flavor. The leavening agents in this recipe also rely in the proper amount (or lack) of acidity in this recipe to bake and rise properly.
- This recipe makes 32 chocolate cookies, or 16 sandwich cookies when assembled.
- Your cookies will keep for 4-5 days in a sealed container. To help keep cookies fresh, you can place a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. Replace the bread slice as needed.
- Customize your whoopie pies by adding food coloring to the filling, or rolling the edges of the frosting in sprinkles.
Just made these and they're excellent. However, my cookies did not turn out as nicely shaped but will next time. Highly recommend especially if you have a number of kids or guests.
Hi Chris, glad to hear you enjoyed the cookies!