Growing up we used to spend most of the summer in this tiny little town in Maine. There wasn’t much to do there except play in the ocean, boat around to tiny uninhabited islands, and watch the seals play. Basically, it’s heaven on earth. The entire town is pretty special, but if you ask me (and you’re here aren’t you?) the best part of this amazing place is a side of the road diner with the BEST WHOOPIE PIES EVER! I know, bold claim, but stick with me, I can back it up.
If you’re not familiar with whoopie pies, first off, I’m sorry. Second, get ready for the best dessert you’ll ever taste. Whoopie Pies are a Maine delicacy. They’re basically chocolate sandwich cookies filled with the most mind altering creamy frosting you can imagine. Now this isn’t just any old chocolate cookie, these are cakey, but also cookie like, the perfect crossover. There are some in the world who would fill their Whoopie Pies with regular old buttercream. While there is a time and place for buttercream, those people are wrong! Whoopie Pies are meant to be filled with a marshmallow, creamy, buttery, perfectly sweet bit of heaven. I consider myself a bit of a Whoopie Pie aficionado (how cool would it be if I had a job where I got to try all the Whoopie Pies and rate them? Seriously, I’ve dreamt of that.) and have tried SO MANY different types. Some flatter more cookie like cookies, some cakier that you had to eat with a fork, some with buttercream filling, some with marshmallow filling, but the best Whoopie Pie I have ever had the privilege to enjoy was from Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro Maine. I challenge you to find a better one. (If you do you better send it to me ASAP, I won’t believe it until I eat it!) Now, I’m pleased to let you know that instead of making the trip to the mid-coast of Maine you can order these lovely and have them delivered directly to your door! Unfortunately with all the current USPS delays they have had to suspend shipping them, but I’m optimistic that one day they will again! Keep an eye on their site to see if you can have the privilege of eating one of these soon! https://moodysdiner.com/online-stores/diner-online-store
In the meantime, let me come to the rescue! Moody’s is the best, there’s no way to duplicate what they do there, I’m certain there’s some magic involved, but you can make your own, and you can use their recipe!!!! I know, try to contain your excitement. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/whoopie-pies-recipe1-1953121 Now, this recipe is amazing, it’s never come out exactly as they taste at the diner, but it’s pretty darn close and it’ll sure do for a fun day of baking (seriously, this recipe is a commitment so set aside some serious time, we usually set aside a few hours). We’ve tried the recipe exactly as is and have found a few things helpful. First, instead of making large Whoopie Pies we make minis. We use a 1/8 cup scoop and bake for 10 minutes and they are a much more manageable size for eating. The large size, which is what you would get it you walked into the diner, is BIG. It’s difficult to finish in one sitting as it’s basically a meal size dessert. The smaller size makes a TON of cookies, and I find that they bake best doing one sheet at a time, so the baking really ends up taking almost an hour…sometimes more. When we make the smaller pies we usually do 1 1/2 times for the filling recipe. We go a little filling heavy around here, so depending on the filling to cookie ratio you’re looking for you may not need to make extra. We also use butter instead of shortening. Not for any reason other then I rarely have shortening in the house and always have butter. Basically I’m lazy and don’t want to make extra trips to the store.
This is one of our favorite recipes of all time. We love to make this, and because it makes so many mini Whoopie Pies we love to share this. We have made these over the years to share with my husbands baseball players and a few of them may be addicted at this point. Today we were inspired to make some for a couple of birthdays we wanted to celebrate this week, but can’t because Covid ruins everything, so we will drop off at the doorstep of some lucky people.
The kids know this recipe really well and though I wouldn’t call it simple, they are able to take the lead. This is such a large recipe that it doesn’t work well in our stand mixer, so we use a hand mixer and the worlds largest mixing bowl. Since we were using the hand mixer and the mixing bowl is so large I held the bowl while they took turns mixing. It was just too much for them to try on their own and I didn’t want them to get frustrated and be done.
When it comes to the filling they did it all. They even added the milk until it was the right consistency, which is tricky because it’s not an exact measurement, you just have to add a little and eyeball it. They did a great job, and then they filled them! Well, they filled some of them. They lost interest after the first dozen or so and called me in.
We are so excited to share this recipe with you and to share with friends and family these awesome treats! Let us know if you make them and how they turn out. Oh, and don’t forget to send me some Whoopie Pies if you order some!
100 days of baking with kids 