High altitude vanilla whoopie pies made with soft and cakey vanilla cookies, sandwiched together with fluffy chocolate buttercream. You can even use today’s recipe for a variety of flavors, such as lemon, almond, Funfetti sprinkles, maple or coconut, so be sure to scroll through the post to the recipe variations section.
You might also love these high altitude recipes for vanilla cupcakes, vanilla layer cake, and baked vanilla cake donuts.
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What are Whoopie Pies?
A whoopie pie is basically a soft cookie sandwich that’s made of two small cakes that are baked like cookies and assembled with cream filling between them. They’re not as light and fluffy as a cake or cupcake, but not as dense or chewy as a cookie either.
Besides today’s vanilla whoopie pies, other popular flavors include chocolate, carrot cake, pumpkin, red velvet, gingerbread or snickerdoodle. They’re often filled with some type of marshmallow cream filling, but I prefer buttercream.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Cakey and Creamy. The combination of soft vanilla cake with creamy chocolate filling is just so good. See my perfect American buttercream recipe for endless flavor options to fill your vanilla whoopie pies.
Soft for Days. This is a cakey cookie that will stay soft for days after baking. You can even freeze them for later, and they’ll still be just as soft as they are when freshly baked.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Cookies
- Flour. All purpose flour gives the cookies structure and strength.
- Sugar. Granulated sugar adds sweetness and moisture, and helps the cookies spread as they bake.
- Baking Powder. Leavening agent, so the cookies puff and spread.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
- Eggs. Add moisture, strength and structure.
- Milk + Sour Cream. Moisture.
- Oil + Butter. Moisture, as well as flavor from the butter.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
Filling
- Butter. Use unsalted butter, or omit the extra salt in the recipe. Be sure the butter is fully softened to room temperature.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the buttercream.
- Cocoa Powder. I prefer to use Dutch processed cocoa powder for the best flavor, but you can also use natural cocoa powder for making buttercream.
- Meringue Powder. Adds stability and improves the texture.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness and enhances flavors.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
Instructions
Cookies
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, then whisk until everything is evenly distributed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sour cream, melted butter, oil and vanilla, until well combined.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and use a spatula to stir everything together until all the flour is incorporated.
- Cover the bowl of batter and refrigerate for 2 hours to rest and chill the batter.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.Use a medium cookie scoop with a release lever (1 1/2 – 2 tablespoon capacity) to scoop the batter onto the baking sheet, leaving 3 inches between each cookie. You should be able to get 30 cookies, for 15 assembled whoopie pies. (The pan may only fit 15 cookies at a time; keep the rest of the batter refrigerated while you bake the first batch.)
- TIP: Get a small bowl of water, dip your finger lightly in the water, and use your wet finger to smooth out the top of the batter before baking the whoopie pies. This will give them a smoother, prettier finish.
- Bake the cookies for about 12-13 minutes, until puffed and set. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before filling.
Filling
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, meringue powder and salt, mixing until combined. Add the vanilla, and increase the speed to medium. Whip for 4-5 minutes until very light and fluffy, stopping to scrape the bowl down several times.
- Fit a disposable piping bag with tip 6B, and fill with the buttercream.
- Turn half the cookies over so the bottoms are facing up, pipe the buttercream onto the cookies, and top with another cookie.
Recipe Variations
- Lemon. Rub 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest into the sugar, before making the cookie batter. Fill with lemon buttercream.
- Almond. Add 1 teaspoon almond extract and 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom to the cookie batter. Add 1/2 – 1 teaspoon almond extract to vanilla buttercream.
- Maple. Add 1 teaspoon maple extract to the cookie batter. Fill with maple buttercream.
- Coconut. Add 1 teaspoon coconut extract to the cookie batter. Fill with vanilla buttercream, then roll in coconut flakes so they stick to the buttercream around the sides.
- Chocolate Chip. Add 1/2 cup semi sweet mini chocolate chips to the cookie batter. You can also add mini chocolate chips to the buttercream filling.
- Funfetti. For the cutest Funfetti whoopie pies with sprinkles, just scatter some sprinkles over the batter before baking the cookies. Then roll the filled cookies in a bowl of nonpareils so the sprinkles stick to the frosting.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Store the filled cookies in an airtight container, separated with layers of wax paper so they don’t stick to each other, until ready to serve.
Yes, you can freeze the filled whoopie pies in an airtight container for up to 1 month.
You Might Also Like
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High Altitude Vanilla Whoopie Pies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Medium Cookie Scoop with Release Lever (1 1/2 – 2 tbsp capacity)
- Baking Sheet + Parchment Paper
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 2 ¼ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup full-fat sour cream
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
Filling
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups powdered sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
- 1 tsp meringue powder
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Cookies
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, then whisk until everything is evenly distributed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, sour cream, melted butter, oil and vanilla, until well combined.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and use a spatula to stir everything together until all the flour is incorporated.
- Cover the bowl of batter and refrigerate for 2 hours to rest and chill the batter.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.Use a medium cookie scoop with a release lever (1 1/2 – 2 tablespoon capacity) to scoop the batter onto the baking sheet, leaving 3 inches between each cookie. You should be able to get 30 cookies, for 15 assembled whoopie pies. (The pan may only fit 15 cookies at a time; keep the rest of the batter refrigerated while you bake the first batch.)TIP: Get a small bowl of water, dip your finger lightly in the water, and use your wet finger to smooth out the top of the batter before baking the whoopie pies. This will give them a smoother, prettier finish.
- Bake the cookies for about 12-13 minutes, until puffed and set. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before filling.
Filling
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, meringue powder and salt, mixing until combined. Add the vanilla, and increase the speed to medium. Whip for 4-5 minutes until very light and fluffy, stopping to scrape the bowl down several times.
- Fit a disposable piping bag with tip 6B, and fill with the buttercream.
- Turn half the cookies over so the bottoms are facing up, pipe the buttercream onto the cookies, and top with another cookie.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container, separated with layers of wax paper so they don't stick to each other, until ready to serve.
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