What tops your sweet potato casserole? Marshmallows? Crunchy, mapley oats? What about a delicious dollop of cranberry sauce? No matter what your flavorful topping of choice may be, we have a recipe that will fit your festive table.I have been on what you might call a whoopie pie kick lately. I made some classic chocolate-marshmallow whoopies a few weeks back when Mike Edison invaded Ian’s Pizza during his book tour and was shocked to find that so many Midwesterners were unfamiliar with this cookie-cake hybrid.
Whoopie pies, or gobs, are definitely a New Englander’s treat. Maybe I was subconsciously influenced by the time I spent in Massachusetts with my grandparents as a kid, but man oh man do I love whoopie pies. To make a whoopie pie, you basically need two mini cakes and something sweet to stick them together with. The classic version is a sturdy-but-fluffy chocolate cake with marshmallow filling. Around the holidays you might also see gingerbread or pumpkin cakes. Or cookies. Or pies, or whatever they are. There are a lot of goofy theories floating around about how and why whoopie pies were created and named, but the one that holds the most water with me is that they were a use for left over cake batter. As far as the name goes – I don’t know where it came from, but it makes me think of Ric Flair, which is a pretty righteous quality in a dessert if you ask me.
Anyway, my second favorite thing about whoopie pies, the first being that they’re delicious, is that they hold up really well in the mail. Unlike cupcakes, that either require that you make them in a jar or overnight ship them in really expensive packaging, you can easily ship whoopie pies. First of all, they’re sturdy. The cakes look fluffy but they’re really more on the chewy side, so they can hold up to being treated not-so-delicately by the USPS. Also, the traditional filling doesn’t call for any dairy, so you aren’t going to kill anyone with old buttercream should the package take an extra day or two to arrive. Why am I talking about the mail right now? More on that later.
This week is a special week in history and you might not even realize it. This week is Green Bean Casserole Pizza week at Ian’s Pizza. I have literally been looking forward to it since Green Bean Casserole Pizza week last year at Ian’s. It got Tony and I talking about casseroles and why they’re the best part about any big family meal. Seriously, all of them are the best. Broccoli casserole, green bean, sweet potato… especially sweet potato. As I kid I couldn’t believe my mom was just letting me scoop piles of candy-coated potatoes on my plate, leaving no room for vegetables whatsoever. But she did! And I loved it.
So now that it’s that time of year when everyone’s aunts are warming up their casserole dishes I thought I’d try my hand and turning my favorite one into a whoopie pie. I’m calling this an experimental recipe because I’m not quite finished developing it yet. But here’s what I made, feel free to tweak it all you like.
Whoopie pies, or gobs, are definitely a New Englander’s treat. Maybe I was subconsciously influenced by the time I spent in Massachusetts with my grandparents as a kid, but man oh man do I love whoopie pies. To make a whoopie pie, you basically need two mini cakes and something sweet to stick them together with. The classic version is a sturdy-but-fluffy chocolate cake with marshmallow filling. Around the holidays you might also see gingerbread or pumpkin cakes. Or cookies. Or pies, or whatever they are. There are a lot of goofy theories floating around about how and why whoopie pies were created and named, but the one that holds the most water with me is that they were a use for left over cake batter. As far as the name goes – I don’t know where it came from, but it makes me think of Ric Flair, which is a pretty righteous quality in a dessert if you ask me.
Anyway, my second favorite thing about whoopie pies, the first being that they’re delicious, is that they hold up really well in the mail. Unlike cupcakes, that either require that you make them in a jar or overnight ship them in really expensive packaging, you can easily ship whoopie pies. First of all, they’re sturdy. The cakes look fluffy but they’re really more on the chewy side, so they can hold up to being treated not-so-delicately by the USPS. Also, the traditional filling doesn’t call for any dairy, so you aren’t going to kill anyone with old buttercream should the package take an extra day or two to arrive. Why am I talking about the mail right now? More on that later.
This week is a special week in history and you might not even realize it. This week is Green Bean Casserole Pizza week at Ian’s Pizza. I have literally been looking forward to it since Green Bean Casserole Pizza week last year at Ian’s. It got Tony and I talking about casseroles and why they’re the best part about any big family meal. Seriously, all of them are the best. Broccoli casserole, green bean, sweet potato… especially sweet potato. As I kid I couldn’t believe my mom was just letting me scoop piles of candy-coated potatoes on my plate, leaving no room for vegetables whatsoever. But she did! And I loved it.
So now that it’s that time of year when everyone’s aunts are warming up their casserole dishes I thought I’d try my hand and turning my favorite one into a whoopie pie. I’m calling this an experimental recipe because I’m not quite finished developing it yet. But here’s what I made, feel free to tweak it all you like.
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