Five (Minutes) on Friday: The Whoopie Pie

Hello, Friday! I don't have a list for you this time, but a post written in (approximately) five minutes.

The Whoopie Pie

Hello, nemesis.

[I'd "insert whoopie pie picture here"... if I had one... Just picture two thick, cakey chocolate cookies with a liberal layer of creamy white icing in the middle.]

The famous whoopie pie. Have you ever eaten one? It's sort of like a hand-held cake, only much, much better. This treat originated in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (maybe?). The state of Maine tries to lay claim to the invention of the whoopie pie also, but anyone from PA will strongly dispute that! I've enjoyed my fair share of whoopie pies in my life, but I've only made them a few times. And apparently only once since getting married. And my husband doesn't think that I know how to make them. That really got my dander up – any good Lancaster County-raised gal knows how to make a Whoopie Pie! So I set out to prove him wrong!

And didn't I go and prove him RIGHT?!? Ugh.

Halfway through – not nearly enough cocoa powder. As I was unwilling to waste half a pound of butter (have you bought butter lately? wow.) , I improvised and used hot chocolate mix to fill in (also known as setting myself up for failure). And despite the fact that I knew I should reduce the baking soda to compensate for the altitude (over 5000 feet here), I did not do it because I thought I had made the recipe successfully before with no alterations. The batter looked great! It smelled right, too. I spooned it onto the cookie sheets and off to the oven it went! And about ten minutes later, I had... giant, flat, super-dry chocolate pancakes. I tried to redeem myself and baked the remaining batter in a cake pan. And now I have a whole pan of nice-looking, dry-as-breadcrumbs chocolate cake. I'm not convinced that there is any amount of frosting that will be able to help it out. I'm going to chop it up and smother it in pudding and whipped cream and chocolate sauce (hello, trifle!).

I still haven't admitted my failure to him (unless, of course, he's reading this right now). I'm planning on telling him what happened later... just as he's taking his second bite of an irresistible, perfectly baked, made-by-me whoopie pie (next week) (after I go and buy more cocoa) (and alter my recipe). That's my mission for now! I'll let you know how things turn out...

(By the way... hot chocolate whoopie pies are totally possible. The cake does taste good. And it did bake evenly. I think I should spend some more time in the kitchen perfecting that idea...)