Chocolate-Mango Whoopie Pies

Mangoes are in season right now and they are life-changingly good. I was slicing one the other day and one taste sent me into a frenzy. Before I knew it the flesh was gone and I was gnawing on the pit. I went out and bought a whole slew of mangoes and, while I was elbow deep in one, I thought to myself, "What else could I do with one of these beauties?" One idea came to mind: whoopie pies!

Chocolate-Mango Whoopie Pies
Adapted from 13 Bakery, makes about 12 pies
Cakes
1.75 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1.5 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Filling
1 mango, peeled, diced
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
3 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
In medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and beat to combine. Beat in milk and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture just until combined.

Using an ice cream scoop, drop mounds of batter onto cookie sheet. Try to keep the mounds as round and even as you can because the pie halves will retain whatever shape you give them at this point. In other words, if you make ugly mounds, you'll get ugly pies. Bake 8-12 minutes until top springs back when touched. Cool completely on wire rack.

For the filling, start by cooking the mango in a saucepan over medium heat. Add grated ginger and sugar and cook mixture until the mango is soft. Cool completely. Beat the butter and cream cheese until well combined and fluffy. Add in vanilla and mango mixture and beat until combined. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until mixture is smooth. Feel free to add more powdered sugar if you want a stiffer filling.

To assemble the pies, spread a large dollop of the filling on the bottom of one of the pie halves. Then affix another pie half on top of this (the round sides should both be facing out). I'll leave the quantity of filling to be used up to you since some people like theirs oozing over the sides while others prefer a more modest amount.


These pies were very good. The chocolate in some respects overwhelmed the mango in the middle, but mango definitely made its presence known. Perhaps some sort of ginger or spice cake on the outside may be better next time, but chocolate is the classic flavor. Plus, everyone loved these whoopie pies. They did not quite elicit the yells of "Whoopie!" like the story of this dessert's Amish roots, but that may be because everyone had their mouth full.