Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies

Soft, giant cake-like cookies. Lots of marshmallow buttercream. What’s not to like? Kids will flip for these, but so will adults. I like to make both parts ahead of time, assemble them before a party, and line them up on a narrow platter. Everyone is happy. Enjoy!

What You’ll Need

For the Cakes

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 300 grams
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup whole milk (buttermilk or 2% will be fine too)
• ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

For the Filling

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups marshmallow cream

Equipment You’ll Need

• Stand/Hand Mixer
• 2 Baking Sheets
• Parchment Paper
• Cooling Rack
• ¼ cup measuring cup or scoop

Instructions

Preheat the oven

Before you get started, get your oven ready for baking on two cookie sheets, one in the upper middle and one in the lower middle, with enough space in between. Then set it to preheat and line two baking sheets with parchment paper

Mix the dry ingredients

Now we’ll mix the dry ingredients.

Get out a large bowl and combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, gently mixing it with a whisk.

Cream the butter and sugar

To beat the butter and sugar you’ll really want an electric mixer. A hand mixer works fine but a stand mixer is perfect too. We’re using brown sugar for a real chocolate chip cookie flavor. Go ahead and beat this with the butter until it’s really well creamed and light and fluffy.

You should notice it change color and lighten just a tiny bit and that’s how you know you’ve beaten it for long enough. I actually like to set a timer for this for about four minutes because it goes slower than you think and if you rush this step you won’t have as good of a texture as you otherwise could have.

Add the egg and vanilla

Next we’ll mix in the egg and vanilla. Just a minute or so of mixing here is plenty.

By the way if you’re like me and always forget to take out your egg and let it come to room temperature, just let it warm up in a small bowl of warm water for about five minutes

Combine the batter

Just like making a cake we are going to start with half of the dry ingredients, then add the milk, then add the rest of the dry ingredients. Slow down on the mixing here and just combine until the ingredients mix in. We aren’t beating it. That was already accomplished with the butter and sugar.

Err on the side of undermixing rather than overmixing. You’re done when you don’t see any more flour

Fold in the chocolate chips

Now for the fun part: we add the chocolate chips.

Go ahead and mix these in again on low, stopping as soon as they seem evenly distributed

Scoop and bake the cookies

If you have a really big cookie scoop that measures a quarter cup, this is the absolute perfect use for it and you’ll find it useful for muffins too. If you don’t, just use the measuring cup and use a spoon to get the batter out. You want to give these plenty of room, 2-3 inches of room in every direction because when they bake they will spread quite a bit and we don’t want them to touch.

For smaller whoopie pies, scoop out 2 tablespoon-sized cakes for 24 (12 sandwiches).

They’ll bake for 12 to 14 minutes, But you’ll need to remember to switch them halfway, moving the top rack to the bottom and the bottom rack to the top. They’re done when the edges are just very slightly golden brown. These are going to be nice and soft so we really don’t want to overbake. If they’re fully browned, it’s been too long! Just look at the edges.

Cool completely

When you take them out, use a metal spatula to carefully transfer them over to a cooling rack.

Remember they’ll be soft so be careful

Start the filling

I know I said the chocolate chips were the fun part but making the filling might actually be the fun part. Just like making a buttercream, we’re going to start with beating the butter, salt, and sugar until they are soft and smooth.

If your butter is softened properly, as I hope it is, this should only take a minute or so.

Add the marshmallow cream

Now add in the marshmallow cream. You’ll see that the filling becomes bright white and super soft, just the way we like it.

Again just 30 seconds or so of mixing will be plenty. Scrape down the bowl part-way to make sure the whole thing is fully incorporated

Chill the filling

Before we assemble we’re going to chill the filling in the fridge for about an hour; cover it up and tuck it in there. Remember your cookies are already cooling so an hour from now everything will be ready to put together

Fill the cookies

Before you get started, flip your cookies upside down so the flat side is staring up at you. I know this feels obvious but it’s surprising how often you’ll have them right side up and then you’ll start assembling on the wrong side. And remember only six are getting the filling! Flip them over, flat side up, and then put the filling on half of them using your scoop or your measuring cup.

Then the remaining cookies go on top, flat side down, for a beautiful little sandwich.

Chill until serving

Great job! Aren’t they cute? Put them on a plate where they won’t be touching. Then loosely cover them and pop them in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.

You don’t necessarily need them cold but if they sit out at room temperature for too long the filling can start melting and we don’t want that either. Enjoy!

Storage Instructions

I recommend refrigerating these while you’re waiting to serve them. They’ll be good in the fridge a day or so as long as you tightly cover them.

Any longer than that they freeze really well fully assembled. You might not think they would but they do. I wrap them up individually in plastic wrap and then put them in a big freezer bag. That way you can take them out, pop them in a lunch box, and they’ll defrost really well by lunch time. This works especially well for the mini ones.

You can also freeze just the cake portion and then make the filling fresh before serving or you can make both components a day or so ahead, then assemble, and chill the morning of your party

Questions and Troubleshooting

More whoopie pie recipes

• Vanilla Whoopie Pies
• Oatmeal Whoopie Pies
• Soft & Sweet Strawberry Whoopie Pies