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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Chow Making Whoopie Pies

Posted by Paul Constant on Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 10:45 AM

Owen Curtsinger

In just fifteen minutes, a panel of celebrity judges (including Molly Moon Nietzel and Christopher Frizzelle) will be judging a Whoopie Pie Bake-Off at Oddfellows Cafe.

As born-and-bred Mainer—Maine is probably the second-biggest whoopie-pie hotbed in the world, after Pennsylvania—I have been watching this whole gourmet whoopie-pie trend with a suspicious eye. The point of whoopie pies is that they are cheap, sweet, and straightforward baked goods; you can manipulate a cupcake a million different ways and it's still a cupcake. Once you start messing with the classic whoopie pie dynamic—frosting between two small chocolate cakes—you've made something else entirely.

That said, I'm going to pick a favorite in this Bake-Off: Owen Curtsinger is a fellow Maine expatriate who appears to have a suitable amount of respect for the whoopie pie (the improved Maine state flag you see on this post is from his website). He's working on a variation on the recipe that could potentially revolutionize whoopie pie technology forever. I'm not going to spoil his secret ingredients, but as a lifelong whoopie pie fan, I'll say this: It's so crazy it just might work.

Comments (10) RSS

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I feel the same way about po'boy sandwiches. There suppose to be cheap and simple dammit! So why can't you find one around here for under $8? Thank god we have bahn mi.

Posted by JoshMahar on July 21, 2010 at 10:56 AM

GO OWEN!!! OOOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Posted by JaimePMcG on July 21, 2010 at 11:18 AM

As a Pennsylvanian, I have to say I've had many good whoopie pie variations:
chocolate/peanut butter
pumpkin
oatmeal
red velvet
Trans fatty goodness!

Posted by Fangdoc on July 21, 2010 at 11:48 AM

Team McManus!!!

Posted by paulus on July 21, 2010 at 11:49 AM

I feel sick.

Posted by Christopher Frizzelle on July 21, 2010 at 12:15 PM

First they came for the cupcakes,
then they came for the caramels
then they came for the ice cream,
then they came for the whoopi pies,
after that they came for the moon pies...

Posted by thatsnotright on July 21, 2010 at 12:34 PM

There was a heated, contentious debate amongst the traditionalists at the judges table regarding Maine vs Pennsylvania Whoopie Pies. I think Molly Moon kicked me hard enough to leave a bruise.

Penn won. That would be the marshmallow over the buttercream...

Posted by Michael Wells on July 21, 2010 at 1:21 PM

@7, everything I've read suggests that it's Mainers who put Marshmallow Fluff on, not Pennsylvanians. Am I wrong?

Posted by Fnarf

on July 21, 2010 at 1:43 PM

Oh, Fnarf, wrong is such a loaded word when it comes to Whoopie... I consider Jessie Oleson of Cakespy a supreme source on the subject and my historical info comes from her. Paul's post seems to confirm.

We may never know...

Posted by Michael Wells on July 22, 2010 at 7:47 AM

I live in Maine, and I can assure you that any whoopie pie from here has marshmallow fluff in it...Anything else is not a whoopie pie

Posted by Siberiagal on August 6, 2010 at 4:25 PM