Wonderful Whoopie Pies
There are some things about whoopie pies that pretty much everyone can agree on. First, they’re not really pies, but sandwich-type desserts usually made with two chocolate cakes
and a white frosting filling. And, whoopie pies tend to be rather large — hamburger-size would not be an exaggeration — making them perfect for sharing. But beyond that, nearly everything else about whoopies is up for debate — including where they originated.
All-American Mystery
You might call it a mystery from the American culinary past — who’s responsible for creating
the magnificent whoopie pie? Both Maine and Pennsylvania claim credit, with two competing
stories. Maine lore asserts that a woman in Bangor (who may have worked in a bakery) baked leftover cake batter in cookie-size rounds and stuck them together with frosting. In Maine, the whoopie pie is practically its own food group, and there are bakeries in the state that claim to have been making whoopie pies since the mid-1920s. Given our Maine bias (Hannaford is headquartered here, after all), that’s long enough to justify the state’s claim
to whoopie creation.
On the other hand, there’s the name to consider. The Amish of Lancaster County, Penn
sylvania, also claim to have created the whoopie pie from leftover cake batter. They even have a traditional explanation for the unusual name of this treat. It’s said that Amish children would shout “Whoopee!” when they found the pies in their lunch bags, and the moniker stuck. In addition, some speculate that migrating Amish introduced the treats to Maine and other surrounding states, which might explain why the whoopie pie seems to be best known in New England and Pennsylvania.
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