Oreo Whoopies

When my son took this whoopie from his lunch box, his friends were saying "that's a giant oreo cookie."  Nobody knows what a whoopie is but they all said it looked yummy!  In fact, I didn't know much about it until I found the "Whoopie Cakes" cookbook from the library.  My son was the only person know about it as he remembered it was cooked in a TV cooking show once.

Food historians believe that whoopie was originated from the medieval Germany and the Amish brought along with them when they settled in Pennsylvania in the 19th century.  Whoopies were sold at places such as farmers' market and road-side stands.  An unproved notion stated that the name of Whoopie came from the shout for joy "Whoopie" from the husband and kids when the Amish women baked leftover cake mixture into pie shape and place them into their lunch boxes.  Mainers and Boston also claim to be the birthplace of Whoopie.  The tradition whoopie is chocolate with marshmallow filling.  Eating a whoopie is quite different to a cup cake.  It is soft and thin with the shape of a cookie and there is no dry bit as you sometimes get from the cake.  After eating one and sure you'll know why it's called "Whoopie"!    


Oreo Whoopies
(make 10-12)

100g milk cooking chocolate
115g butter, softened
165g castor sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
180g plain flour
25g cocoa powder
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
225ml milk

For the filling:
3 oreo cookies
55g butter, softened
115g cream cheese
250g icing sugar

Method:

1. Finely grated the chocolate and set aside.  Beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg.  
2. Sift in flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into the mixing bowl with the butter mixture.  Add in chocolate and milk and stir until just combined.
3. Use an 2 inch ice-cream scoop to scoop up the mixture onto 4 baking paper lined trays with 6 in each tray.  
4. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 190c (170c fan) for 10-12 minuted or until firm to touch.  transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool before filling with icing.
5. For the icing: Put the cookies into a zip bag. and crush with a rolling pin to form fine crumbs.  Beat butter and cream cheese till light and fluffy.  Sift in icing sugar and add in crumbs.
6. Fill the whoopies by piping the icing onto the cake or spread with a knife to form a sandwich.  Store the whoopies with a layer of baking paper in between to prevent sticking.  

Source: adopted and modified from the cookbook :Whoopie Cake" - the cakey cookie taking the world by storm by Susanna Tee.