Molasses Whoopies

Molasses whoopie pies put a New England spin on the Pennsylvania Dutch lunchbox classic. Where traditional whoopies are chocolate cake rounds sandwiched with marshmallow filling, this version trades cocoa for molasses and warm spices, then doubles down by working molasses and ginger into the buttercream filling too.

The result is a soft, cake-like cookie sandwich that tastes like a gingerbread cookie crossed with a Boston cream pie.

The cookie part is functionally a soft drop cookie, leavened with baking soda that reacts beautifully with the natural acidity in unsulfured molasses. That reaction creates the gentle puff and tender, almost cake-like crumb that makes whoopie pies famous.

Milk in the dough keeps things moist (whoopie pies should bend slightly without breaking, never crisp).

The filling is the real personality move. Beating butter, shortening, sugar, and ginger to a creamy base, then gradually adding milk and molasses, creates a stable buttercream that won’t slide out when sandwiched.

The shortening keeps the filling from melting on warm days, while the butter carries the flavor.

Pro Tips

• Use unsulfured molasses, not blackstrap. Blackstrap is too bitter and overwhelms the spices.
• Drop the cookies in matching pairs of similar size. Mismatched pairs make wonky sandwiches.
• Cool the cookies completely before filling. Warm cookies melt the filling into a sticky mess.
• Wrap individually in waxed paper and freeze. They thaw in 30 minutes and stay fresh for weeks.

Variations

• Add a tablespoon of finely chopped crystallized ginger to the filling for textural sparkle.
• Roll the edges of the filled sandwiches in finely chopped crystallized ginger or chopped pecans.
• Use cream cheese in place of half the butter in the filling for a tangier balance to the molasses.