Yesterday’s New York Times article “Whoopie! Cookie, Pie or Cake, is Having its Moment,” brought to me a flood of excitement. I haven’t had a Whoopie Pie for years, and that probably because I haven’t been to my Aunt Jack’s house in years.
They were a common appearance at her house for just about any family gathering – a birthday, communion, or just a Saturday-night get-together. We called them “Gobs,” but they certainly are a cousin to the Whoopie Pies mentioned in the NY Times article.
In fact, the article notes “Food historians believe whoopie pies originated in Pennsylvania, where they were baked by Amish women and put in farmers’ lunchboxes.” Since Cleveland isn’t too far from Amish country, I can believe this supposition.
When I asked my aunt where she got the recipe, she can’t quite remember, but thinks it was a friend of her sister, Jan. I guess it doesn’t matter where it came from, what matters is that they were there. I could depend upon the pile of Gobs sitting on a plate in the living room – a bit too close to the dog’s nose for my liking.
It felt so good to sink my teeth into these delicious cake-like sandwiches, filled with delicious crème.
My aunt usually doubled the amount of filling she put in, saying “little is good, but more is better.” She did note that they were sometimes time consuming to make, but I know she found joy in knowing that everyone loved the Gobs. “Even the women at work would always ask me to make them,” she recalls.
My aunt is in Florida, and I in California. And I don’t think they will travel well in the mail. Instead I must head to the kitchen, so I can get working on satisfying this long-awaited craving, and introduce my kids – and Greg – to a creamy rich Gob adventure!
Here is a recipe Mom sent me for Gobs.
1/2 cup crisco
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup unsifted cocoa
¾ cup boiling water
1 cup buttermilk
DIRECTIONS:
1. Cream Crisco and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Add vanilla and beat.
2. Sift dry ingredients.
3. Alternately, add water and buttermilk to dry ingredients.
4. Refrigerate.
5. For large cookies, use a heaping tablespoon of dough. Bake at 350 for approximately 15 minutes.
FILLING INGREDIENTS:
5 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup Crisco
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
FILLING DIRECTIONS:
1. Cook 5 tablespoons flour and 1 cup milk until thick.
2. Beat in 1 cup Crisco and 1 cup butter. Beat well
3. Add 1 cup sugar, slowly
4. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla
