Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopies
Chocolate whoopie pies sandwiched with a fluffy peanut butter filling made the classic cooked-flour-and-milk way, for that bakery-style, marshmallow-soft texture.
YIELD
36 servingsPREP
30 minCOOK
9 minREADY
60 minThe filling is what separates real whoopie pies from cookies with frosting on top. This one uses the old-school cooked-flour method: milk and flour cooked into a thick paste, cooled completely, then beaten with peanut butter, shortening, and powdered sugar. The starch in the flour paste gives the filling a fluffy, almost marshmallow-soft body that pure buttercream can’t match.
Don’t shortcut the cooling step on the flour paste. Plastic wrap pressed right onto the surface prevents a skin from forming, and the paste needs to be fully room temperature before it hits the fat. Warm paste turns the filling greasy and soupy.
The chocolate cookies are essentially small flat cakes. Heaping teaspoonfuls give you the right size for two-bite pies; bigger drops cook unevenly. Seven to nine minutes at 400°F (200°C) is the window. They’re done when the tops spring back but the centers still look soft.
Roll the edges in peanut butter chips after sandwiching for the bakery-window look.
Pro Tips
- Buttermilk is part of the cookie tenderness; no buttermilk on hand means souring a cup of milk with a tablespoon of vinegar and letting it sit five minutes
- Drop the cookies in matched pairs on the sheet so they bake to similar sizes for clean sandwiching
- Cool the cookies completely before filling, or the filling melts and slumps
- Store assembled whoopies in a single layer with parchment between rows; they soften over a day or two and that’s a feature
Variations
- Swap creamy peanut butter for Nutella for a chocolate-hazelnut filling
- Use marshmallow fluff in place of half the powdered sugar for a true Maine-style whoopie
- Add a teaspoon of espresso powder to the cocoa for a darker chocolate read
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 400℉ (200℃).
Grease baking sheets with shortening.
Cream shortening, sugar, egg and vanilla in large bowl on medium speed of electric mixer until light and creamy.
Combine next five ingredients.
Add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, until smooth.
Drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls onto greased baking sheet.
Bake at 400℉ (200℃) for 7 to 9 minutes, or until set.
Remove cookies to cooling rack and cool completely.
Filling:
Combine milk and flour in small saucepan.
Cook, stirring constantly, on medium heat until thickened.
Cover surface with plastic wrap; cool completely.
Beat cooled milk mixture, shortening, peanut butter and vanilla together until smooth.
Gradually add icing sugar, beating on low speed until blended.
Beat on high speed until smooth and creamy.
Chill until ready to use.
Spread filling on bottoms (flat side) of half the cookies.
Top with remaining cookies, rounded side up.
Press gently together.
If desired, roll edge of cookie in peanut butter chips and press gently into filling to stick.
Comments
