Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Buttercream
Posted by foodess on Mon 2nd of Feb, 2009 11:17:36 PM
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Whoopie pie. I think the name alone has the power to coax feelings of glee from even the toughest old birds. In fact, when I announced to my friends that I intended to make them, the mmmmm’s and ooooooh’s far preceded the ‘what is it?’s.
My childhood memory of this gleefully-named treat is of eager anticipation and zealous consumption. Oversized cakey chocolate cookies with an oozing marshmallow-y filling would stickify my hands, face, and whatever surfaces got between me and my enthusiasm for the whoopie-filled treat. I can still see my mother crouched in front of the hot oven, mitts donned, and nose centimeters from the steamy window to watch the rising mounds of chocolaty batter (yes, it is from my mom that I inherited my squat-and-stare approach to oven use).
The chocolate part of a whoopie pie thicker than cake, but lighter than cookie. Traditionally, where I come from anyway, they are filled with a billowing mound of marshmallow frosting. Many recipes include Fluff, but I prefer a 7-minute frosting. In my version, rich chocolaty cookies sandwich a pile of creamy, caramel frosting.
The filling is based on a simple buttercream recipe, with egg whites that are whisked with sugar over a bath of simmering water then transferred to a standing mixer, and whipped into a fluffy mountain of meringue. It is then beaten with soft butter, salt, vanilla and caramel sauce - which is simply sugar melted into a rich amber, with an added splash of cream.
Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Buttercream
The fluffy, caramel provides buttery relief from the dense, chocolaty crumb of the cookie - the kind that packs to the back of your palate and begs for a glass of milk.
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Salted Caramel Buttercream (below)
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease two large cookie sheets, or line with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugars together, 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and continue beating until fluffy, 1-2 minutes longer. Beat in milk and vanilla extract. Finally, beat in flour mixture to combine.
4. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheets (you should get 12-14 cookies).
5. Bake for 10-14 minutes, until top springs back when touched.
6. Cool completely. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of frosting on the flat half of one cookie, then top with another cookie. Repeat.
Salted Caramel Buttercream
- 1/2 cup sugar, divided
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tbsp + 2 tsp (40 mL) cream
- 2 egg whites
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1. Put 1/4 cup of sugar and water in saucepan over medium-high heat. Do not stir of you will get sugar crystals, but you can swirl the saucepan gently. It will bubble itself into a deep amber. Remove immediately from heat and add cream (careful - it will bubble up furiously). Stir until smooth and set aside.
2. Put the egg whites, salt, and 1/4 cup sugar in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture reaches 140 degrees. Transfer to bowl of standing mixer.
3. Beat on high until stiff peaks form. Add butter a bit at a time, and continue beating on medium. Reduce speed to low, add vanilla extract, and then caramel (you may need to gently rewarm the caramel in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time until it is workable but not burning hot). Beat for 4-5 minutes.
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Other Websites Referencing This Post
- Food, Glorious Food » Blog Archive » Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Buttercream
- This is still a “craft,” isn’t it? « Janice and spice and everything nice!
- the foodess whoopie pie « foodie suz
- discojing » Blog Archive » Show n Tell Issue 3
- Banana Whoopie Pies with Salted Caramel Marshmallow Filling | Sass & Veracity
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Nice Site layout for your blog. I am looking forward to reading more from you.
Tom Humes
Wow, you had me at Salted Caramel Buttercream! Yum!
Wow - these look fabulous! I’ve had a recipe for pumpkin whoopies pies for when fall rolls around again but I just might make these in the meantime.
Thanks for the follow on Twitter!
These look and sound incredible. I love the caramel buttercream variation. Thanks for sharing!
these would look good but only on dinelibrary.com :)
Mmmmmmmmm all those calories :-) Lovely recipe can’t wait to try it out, my daughter is already asking for it.
Oh, my GOD. I need to make these now!
I would run a marathon for one of these babies. (and I hate running!)
Maris: Pumpkin Whoopies sound delish!
Ossi: calorie schmalorie :-)
Metalia: Do it! You won’t regret it, I promise.
Carolyn: hahaha, love it!
your picture is gorgeous and these look delicious. i’ve linked to your blog after making whoopie pies last night. i’m going to try your salted caramel filling next time, but this time i stuck to the traditional filling. they are so good!
thanks for helping me find a great recipe.
http://oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/
Michelle - glad you liked them! The traditional filling is delicious, too!
Those look really good!
Hey! I made these this weekend, and they turned out GREAT. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make the caramel butter cream because my daughter knocked the last 2 eggs on the floor. Oh well. They were a big hit! Thanks.
Leah - no sense in crying over cracked eggs, eh? Glad you liked them!
Oh man, I could eat this filling all day.
Just made some tonight, they look great! Thanks for the recipe!
I was even nice and made a few with marshmallow fluff filling for the hubby. LOL
Should you refridgerate this wonderful woopie pie
Sue - you don’t need to refrigerate them, they’re fine at room temp for about 3 days…. should they, by some miracle, last that long!
Salted Caramel Buttercream sounds like heaven. I grew up in Maine so Whoopie Pies are practically our state food. I hope to try this soon.
Oh my nom. I am for sure making these- sea salt caramels are my favorite food *evah*! so I know that I will just love the salted caramel buttercream. Excellent recipe- thanks!
I made these last week for a craft night with friends. They were a huge hit! I made them a bit smaller than the recipe calls for (2 dozen pies), but otherwise followed your directions exactly. Thanks for posting this.
I just made them and they tasted great but the icing didn’t maintain any fluffyness… it’s more the consistency of butter. What did I do wrong?
Hi Jessi - you have to beat the egg whites into stiff, glossy peaks in the first part, then after you add the caramel and soft butter, beat again continuously for up to 5 minutes… If it wasn’t beaten enough in either of these steps, that would definitely reduce the fluffiness.
I’m addicted to the salted caramel buttercream. It was surprisingly easy to make, too! Thanks for the great recipe.
Where is the salt for the buttercream? I see a “pinch” listed in ingredients but where does it enter in for the salted effect? thanks! these look DELISH
Hi ButterBaker - a pinch of salt is all you need to complement the caramel. Of course, you can adjust it to your preferences if you prefer it more predominantly salty.
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly (and you were absolutely right!) — but help! I messed up the eggwhite consistency and now my caramel filling is soupy. Is there any saving it??? It tates heavenly…
ButterBaker - did you beat the whites to fully stiff peaks? And then did you beat it for a full 5 minutes on low after you incorporated the butter and caramel? The texture changes during that time… keep beating and the end result should be very light and fluffy.
and then once fluffy will it stay at room temp over night or does it need to be chilled?
THANK YOU!
No problem :-) They’ll be fine on the counter for a couple of days in an airtight container. But if you think the batch will last you longer than that, keep the cookie part in a container at room temp (they’ll go stale in the fridge), but keep the frosting refrigerated, covered, and fill the whoopie pies as you eat them.
I tried this recipes, the cake part was great, but the buttercream kept falling apart. It looked great online, and I was dieing to try it. The butter in the frosting deflated the egg whites and it became a soupy mess! I am still so frustated. I tried the the frosting recipe 3 times and they all didn’t work.
P.S. I did beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and I followed the recipe exactly. I even beated the egg whites and butter together for about 5 min. and it still remained soupy.
Okay, for those having some difficulty with the filling, I have two Swiss Meringue Buttercream tips for you:
First, melted butter = soupy buttercream. If either the meringue is too warm when you get to the butter-adding stage, or the butter is partially melted (warmer than room temp) before you start adding it, the the result will be soupy. (Conversely, if the butter is too cold, the buttercream will be stiff instead of fluffy).
When you make a buttercream (any meringue buttercream) if the butter melts (i.e. it becomes loose) when you add the first bit, stop, allow the meringue to cool (in an ice bath, or in the fridge) then try some butter again after cooling a bit.
If you’ve got soupy buttercream, you can save it! Stick it in the fridge (or cool it faster over an ice bath) for a while then beat it again until light and fluffy.
Second tidbit: Swiss meringue buttercream goes through a totally normal lumpy stage before it smooths out. It looks curdled and clumpy and messy, and this is 100% okay! Keep on beating, and you’ll get smooth and fluffy eventually.
Sam - I’m sorry you’ve had a frustrating buttercream experience! Don’t be afraid of it, you can get it right! Just play around by cooling it more, and experiment with beating longer than 5 minutes (it really could take shorter or longer depending on the strength of your mixer and the temperature of your meringue!)
Hope this helps, lovies. Good luck!! ♥
hi! i tried this one and it turned out good- even though my mixer decided to bail out on me while I was on the finishing process of making the buttercream. The chocolate “cookie/whoopie” turned out okay. Even the buttercream turned out okay- its all becuase of the strong arm and will. Hehehe. Thank you for this one. :D
Make your filling to go w/different exterior the other day. Put the buttercream in fridge for the night then allowed to soften & beat again. Took some time to get to the smooth stage again (I know buttercream can do this…) but decided to add some marshmallow cream to it after all to stabilize it a bit. It’s fantastic! I love the flavors in this, so thanks very much for sharing your recipe. I’ll post a link when it’s up! Can’t wait to try your entire version. Next time — after my hips recover!
Im from the UK so ive never had a woopie pie but im definitely making these they look so good
Hi,
I played around with your cookie batter using different baking times @ 190 Celsius:
soft and cakey (14 mins)
crisp shell with cakey interior (16 mins)
crisp cookie (18-20 mins)
The texture of the first was nice but I didn’t care for the bland, floury taste.
The second was not too bad but I like the taste of the crisp cookie best.
All three had smooth domes, compared to the cracked ones in the pictures.
The filling didn’t make a difference to the taste.
I’m going to rest the cookies overnight in the fridge to see if the taste develops.
*Update*
I rested the cookies in the fridge overnight and left them in an airtight container at room temperature and tried one a day.
The cookie got more cake-like (sticky even) as it absorbed more of the fat from the filling - each bite melted in the mouth. Great for those who like that texture.
Your instructions for the filling are excellent but I added more salt for more flavour.
Thank you for putting this recipe up. I made these whoopie pies a few weeks ago and they were absolutely amazing…and exactly like the recipe. I love your site and your pictures are mouthwatering.
This is the best cookie recipe ever!! Everybody in the house absolutely loved them and everyone wanted lots of filling. I made a batch this weekend and I can’t wait to make them again next weekend for a family dinner, as a desert they’re going to be a real treat! You can’t even begin to describe how amazing they are especially that filling…yummy!. I followed the recipe to a tee and it turned out fantastic! Here’s a couple of tips, place your oven rack in the middle and check them at 7 minutes, use a thermotetre in the egg white/sugar mixture to make sure you’ve reached 140 degrees, and tripple or quadruple the batch of icing, the cookies are cakey and need lots of filling inbetween, besides it tastes so amazing you’re going to want to pack tons of it in there :)
Happy Baking!
are they suppose to fall apart and crumble so easy…first time i have made them and mine were VERY easy to crumble. We couldnt hold them.
i have a few questions please..
1. i see ur cookies look moist and semi glossy..mine on the other hand,albiet soft, look dry ..can i do something to make them look more like yours?
2. the shape of yours is consistant and round and perfect..mine had peaks hear and there
and they look rough not smooth like yours..any suggestion?
3. i dont have a mixer so i had to do everything by hand..i never did my meringue to peak..instead it was a foamy thing (like royal icing) in the end my icing was not as fluffy as yours appear but it finally did thicken up to a point where even though i couldnt make peaks it was thick enough that the “peaks” flopped over and laid on top without disappearing..do you have any suggestions for making the meringue by hand?
When I made the cookie part of this, the batter spread out and made thin, pancake-like discs that were difficult to remove from the pan (i tried one batch with parchment, one with a greased pan, and one with a Silpat)… they tasted awesome, but they weren’t like the thick, crackly-looking cookies in your picture. Any ideas what went wrong?