Whoopie for whoopies

If you read my Maine posts, you will know that my family and I discovered the most sinfully delicious cream-filled pumpkin treats called "whoopie pies". The origin, the Owls Head General Store. And, dear Martha, the proprietor, packed me up one saran-wrapped piece of heaven for each person in the office. Since that day, there have been many talks and day dreams about whoopie pies at Insight. In fact, our Director of Communications, Jessica, has dared to go where not many have… trying to emulate the whoopie pie at home. To no avail thus far. Since Martha can't (won't, we asked!) share the secret recipe that has made the general store famous, Jessica has printed off recipes online and tried various methods, subjecting her boyfriend to numerous taste tests. To date his head only goes from left to right, there have been no nods of approval.

I looked up the history of whoopies pies on the internet, and here is part of an article I found, "Whoopie pies are considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition. They're one of Maine's best known and most loved comfort foods. Mainers will even claim that they were weaned on whoopie pies. In Maine, these treats are more like a cake than a pie or a cookie, as they are very generously sized (about hamburger size). A whoopie pie is like a sandwich, but made with two soft cookies with a fluffy white filling. Traditional whoopies pies are made with vegetable shortening, not butter. The original and most commonly made whoopie pie is chocolate. but cooks like to experiment, and today pumpkin whoopie pies are a favorite seasonal variation."

And here is wikipedia's definition, "A whoopie pie, sometimes alternatively called a gob, black-and-white, or bob is a baked good traditional to the Pennsylvania Dutch culture as well as New England, made of two small, chocolate, disk-shaped cakes with a sweet, creamy frosting sandwiched between them. In Western Pennsylvania they are known as "gobs."

Today was Jessica's birthday, so at 8:15 am this morning, the man in brown delivered a dozen fresh bundles of spice to the agency. Because she knows what is good for her, she gave her 2 bosses (moi and Kimberly) and her buddy Paul each one over coffee this morning. Ahhh, it was a whoopie of a day. Happy B-day and thanks for the excuse Jess.