Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Name: Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 32 min
Yield: 12
Ingredients: 6 oz. cream cheese, softened; 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened; 1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar; 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, I like Watkins Baking Vanilla; 1 1/4 cups King Arthur all purpose flour - or your favorite AP flour; 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder; 1 tsp. baking soda; 1/2 tsp. baking powder; 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt; 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened; 1/2 cup granulated sugar; 1/2 cup brown sugar; 1 large egg; 1 tbsp. gel red food coloring; 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract; Sanding Sugar, white

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Red Velvet Whoopie Pies are generously sized, fire engine red-hued super soft cookies that sandwich a pillowy cream cheese filling. You can call them red velvet sandwich cookies, red velvet cake cookies, but I think Red Velvet Whoopie Pies is most fitting.

If you’re anything like me, you’re curious about where this rockstar of the dessert world originated because Red Velvet Cake isn’t exactly your typical, regular ass cake.

It is a chocolate cake, not a white cake spiked with red food coloring. The differentiating factor between Red Velvet Cake and the typical chocolate cake is that Red Velvet calls for the addition of buttermilk and vinegar.

Another difference is the use of cocoa powder instead of chocolate, which gives the cake a more subtle chocolate flavor by comparison.

What is the History of Red Velvet Cake?

There’s more than one story to explain the exact origins of Red Velvet. According to certain historians, the cake was born in the early 1900’s at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, a bastion of luxury and sophistication.

It’s said that a savvy baker at the hotel, seeking to create a cake worthy of the high society clientele, stumbled upon the magical chemical reaction between unprocessed cocoa and vinegar that produced a red tint in the cake.

Hence the “red” in Red Velvet.

Now, notice I said red “tint”, and that’s because the hue of red in red velvet cakes back then were a little on the subtle side compared to our vibrant red cakes today.

It was also discovered that the combination also made for a tighter crumb texture and a tangier flavor than traditional chocolate cake, especially when the unprocessed cocoa is combined with both vinegar and buttermilk.

Vinegar also gives cake a fluffy, soft texture that separates it from typical cakes.

Hence “velvet” in the name.

When cocoa processing was changed to Dutch-processing (like it is today), that pretty much put a stop to the chemical reaction that turned cakes red.

Because Red Velvet had established a name for itself, bakers started using beets and/or beet juice to get a similar red color.

Before long, food coloring was invented and cake bakers had the ability to color cakes as vibrantly as they wanted.

Variations on Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

So, apparently what constitutes a “whoopie pie” is two mound-shaped cake style cookies with a sweet, creamy filling in between them. That being the case, it’s basically limitless what you could create.

Here are a few suggestions –

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies with Marshmallow Filling
Coconut Whoopie Pies with Pineapple Cream Cheese Filling
Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling
Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Peanut Butter Filling
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Dulce de Leche Filling (this one is from Dorie Greenspan, get her book “Dorie’s Cookies” here)

Obviously, I rolled my cookie dough in sanding sugar before baking, but this is optional. It definitely elevates them a little, but they’re still pretty without it. This is completely up to you.

Here’s your printable –