As a born and raised New Yorker, I was long deprived of the wicked snack called a Whoopie Pie. But it seems it is finally having it’s day.
The New York Times has an article on the rise of the cake-like sandwich (or is it a sandwich-like cake?) known as a Whoopie Pie. For generations, vacationers in Maine and visitors to Pennsylvania’s Amish country have found the simple snack on nearly every gas station counter. But now, Whoopie Pies are getting some legs and are apparently making their way across the country.
What’s a Whoopie, you ask? The classic version is two round mounds of chocolate cake about three inches across, with French vanilla cream filling.
I happen to be partial to the “Wicked Whoopie” that I pick up at Waldo’s in Falmouth every single time I go to Maine. I prefer the oatmealy-cookie variety. Bob behind the counter sees my New York plates pull into the station and has them ready for me (along with my other Maine favorites–Fox Family BBQ chips and some Geary’s for the road).
Food historians (they exist?) believe Whoopie Pies originated in Pennsylvania, where they were baked by Amish women and put in farmers’ lunchboxes. Tired from a morning’s barn-raising, the farmers purportedly would shout “Whoopie!” if they discovered one of the desserts in their lunch pails.
I’m pretty sure the Mainers I’ve met associate the pie with a different connotation of the word “whoopie,” but either way, it’s wicked.
Read the article in the New York Times.
