Chocolate whoopie pies are fun and portable treats. These whoopie pies are made with soft, cakey chocolate cookies and filled with vanilla buttercream frosting.
Ingredients for Chocolate Whoopie Pies
Chocolate cookies
- All-purpose flour: Regular all-purpose flour.
- Dark cocoa powder: Dark cocoa powder gives the whoopie pies a deep, chocolate flavor and color. You can use regular cocoa powder, but the whoopie pies may appear lighter in color.
- Baking soda: A leavening agent that will interact with buttermilk to cause the cookies to rise.
- Salt: To enhance the flavor of the cookies.
- Butter: Use room temperature, soft butter for easy creaming. Unsalted is best.
- Granulated sugar: To sweeten the cookies.
- Brown sugar: Brown sugar adds some chewiness and moisture to the cookies.
- Egg: Room temperature for emulsification.
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla extract enhances the chocolate flavor – believe it or not!
- Buttermilk: Room temperature buttermilk adds moisture to the cookies and interacts with the baking soda to help the cookies puff up.
Vanilla buttercream frosting
- Unsalted butter: Room temperature, unsalted butter. If you have salted, just omit additional salt.
- Powdered sugar: No need to sift unless your sugar is super lumpy.
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla extract gives the buttercream a great vanilla flavor.
- Salt: To enhance the flavor of the buttercream.
- Heavy cream: Heavy cream helps bring the buttercream together and make it light and fluffy.
Tools & Supplies for Making Chocolate Whoopie Pies
How to Make Chocolate Whoopie Pies
To make the batter for the cookies, I recommend using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking trays with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, dark cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer.
- Add in the egg and vanilla extract and continue to mix.
- Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the butter. Mix on low speed in between each addition. (1/3 flour mixture – 1/2 buttermilk – 1/3 flour mixture – 1/2 buttermilk – 1/3 flour mixture)
- Continue to mix on low speed until the ingredients are combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Do not overmix the batter.
- Scoop the batter onto the prepared baking trays using a large cookie scoop.
- Bake for about 12 minutes until the cookies are puffed up and maintain their shape when gently touched.
Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
How to Make Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
The frosting sandwiched between the cookies is my Vanilla American Buttercream recipe. Check out my recipe blog post on making Vanilla Buttercream to learn more about the details of the buttercream.
To make the frosting, you will need an electric hand mixer or stand mixer. I prefer using a whisk attachment to make my buttercream, but many people prefer to use the paddle attachment. It’s really up to you. I will often switch to the paddle attachment after my buttercream to remove some of the air bubbles and make the buttercream smooth.
The basic breakdown is: cream the butter, add the powdered sugar, add vanilla and salt, drizzle in the heavy cream, and whip until light and fluffy. Don’t forget to use room temperature butter for easy creaming!
You can spread the buttercream on the cookies with a knife or a small offset spatula. My preferred method is to pipe it onto the cookies using a disposable piping bag and Wilton 1M tip to make them extra fancy. This is the piping tip I used in the photos.
Chocolate Whoopie Pies Recipe Tips
Buttermilk substitute
If you do not have buttermilk, you can use a buttermilk substitute. Check out this blog post on how to make buttermilk substitute to see how it’s done.
Use silicone baking mats or parchment paper to line the baking pans
Non-stick silicone baking mats prevent the cookies from sticking to the pan, help with easy clean up, and helps keep the edges and bottom of the cookies soft.
Use a cookie scoop
As we are making a “cookie sandwich”, it is essential to have two cookies that match so the whoopie pies are uniform and even. A great way to achieve uniform cookies is to use a cookie scoop to portion your batter.
Bake on the middle rack
For the cookies to rise, spread, and bake properly, the middle rack is the way to go. I also only bake one pan at a time on the middle rack to ensure that the heat is evenly distributed over the cookies.
Storing and serving
The whoopie pies can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for about 3 to 4 days. To serve, bring the whoopie pies to room temperature for the best taste and texture.
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Chocolate Whoopie Pies
Equipment
- Stand mixer or electric hand mixer
Ingredients
Chocolate Whoopie Pie Cookies
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup dark cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tbsp heavy cream
Instructions
Chocolate Whoopie Pie Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line baking sheet pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, dark cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, cream together butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar using an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy.
- Add in egg and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add in ⅓ of the flour mixture to the butter, mixing on low speed, and then ½ of the buttermilk, continuing to mix.
- Once combined, add another â…“ of the flour mixture and continue to mix, and then the remaining buttermilk.
- Add in the remaining â…“ of the flour mixture and mix until fully combined. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Scoop batter onto the prepared baking trays. For this recipe, I used a 3 tbsp large cookie scoop. Space the batter out as the cookies spread when baked (6 cookies per half sheet tray).
- Bake for about 12 minutes until the cookies are puffed up.
- Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the tray for 2 minutes.
- Remove the cookies from the tray and transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add in room temperature unsalted butter. Whip the butter for 5 minutes on medium-high speed, scraping down the sides occasionally. The butter will be light, fluffy, and pale in color.
- Add the powdered sugar and mix on the lowest speed setting until fully combined.
- Add vanilla extract and salt and mix on low until combined.
- Increase speed to medium on the mixer and slowly drizzle in the heavy cream.
- Once the heavy cream is added, turn the speed on the mixer to high and whip for an additional 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally to ensure the frosting is well mixed.
Assembling the Whoopie Pies
- The vanilla buttercream can be spread onto the whoopie pies using a knife or offset spatula, or piped onto the cookies using a piping tip and disposable piping bag.
- Invert a cookie so the bottom is facing up. Spread or pipe a generous amount of frosting onto the bottom of the cookie.
- Take another whoopie pie cookie and create a sandwich.
Notes
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Comments & Reviews
how many cookies does this yeild?
It depends on the size scoop you are using, but for a large cookie scoop, it makes about 10 whoopie pies.
Hello! I am getting ready to make this but I don’t understand what 1.2 eggs means? Could you explain this a little more please. Thank you!!
Excited for you to try the recipe! I’m not sure what the 1.2 eggs is referring to…where are you seeing this so I can help! (There should only be one egg in the recipe).
Sorry about that – I changed it to make 12 instead of 10 and it comes up with 1.2 eggs
Could we add peppermint extract to this buttercream? Chocolate peppermint for Christmas could be delish!
Absolutely you can! That would be sooo good! Hmmm…now you have me thinking!! 🙂
What piping tip did you use to get that beautiful look for the filling?
It is a Wilton 1M tip! My absolute favorite!
Oh man these were SO GOOD. I premeasured all the ingredients and let my littles help me make these and boy did we love eating them!
Aww YAY! I love it when we can include the kiddos in baking! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe! (It is one of my personal favorites)!
I made these for my daughter’s 3rd birthday party, and they were a HUGE hit! Everyone was raving about them and there were none left by the end of the party. Cannot wait to make them again!
Thrilled to hear they were a hit! These don’t last long in my house either!