Fluff (and GMILH 61-80)

Have you ever heard of whoopie pies?  I had not, until maybe two weeks ago when Allison mentioned them.  When I Googled the term and saw that these cookie/cake hybrids (why call them "pies"?  O vagaries of American English!) were basically like giant soft Oreos, and that Marshmallow Fluff was involved, I knew I had to make them ASAP.  And what better time to try such a thing than Valentine's Day? 

(Is there any worse term in the world than "making whoopie", by the way?  It's not as smarmy and gross as "making love", perhaps, but it's awful in its own right, and always calls to mind a bunch of terribly unattractive Newlywed Game contestants with Flowbee hair and garish synthetic clothes.) 

This is a dessert that requires a warning label; the chocolate of the cookie/cake part is so intense you could end up in the emergency room, and the filling is so sweet it almost turns your mouth inside out.  But together?  Ohhhh, mama. 

If I drank milk qua milk (i.e., if straight dairy milk did not cause a digestive rebellion of epic proportions, and if soy milk were not so eh in terms of its drinkability (fine on cereal or in a chai latte, not so much on its own)), I would have the world's biggest glass of it sitting right nearby, because every bite of whoopie pie (sorry, I still feel very silly for calling them that and cringe a little whenever I type it) could use a nice swig of ice cold milk to wash it down.  I think if you're not a milk drinker, a small dollop of ice cream on said pie would be the way to go. 

Also, the recipe yields about 8-10 manhole-sized whoopie pies.  They are HUGE.  And while I have very little trouble putting down a chocolate chip cookie the size of my head, these bad boys are far too rich for one person.  We split one and even so, I thought I might not make it to the end.  So I would recommend either making them smaller or share each one with your family and friends. 

I am realizing that 90% of what I write about these days has to do with food, and that's largely because (1) the Situation that Shall Not Be Named still has not been resolved (although it is potentially nearing a resolution, we have literally no idea if it will be in our favor or not) so there's nothing to say about that; (2) work has been, and apparently will be for the foreseeable future, insanely busy, leaving me little time to have anything happen that would be blog-worthy, other than cook and eat; and (3) the only extracurricular activities I engage in the moment are running and 30-Day Shredding, and I'm quite sure you don't want to hear about that.  So in the meantime, you get to have me blather on about food.

Of course, in this case, as with the Girl Scout cookie ice cream, I think it's worthwhile; or at least, it is if you go and make some whoopie pies after reading this. 

Oh!  Also!  Marin asked if the last item in my most recent installation of GMILH was a hint -- and the answer is no; the reference to my taking a leave of absence was to something that happened a few years ago, when I took a leave from work to study acting and try to write and that sort of thing, but after a couple of years of a lot of defeat and disappointment, which I have previously discussed, I ended up going back to my firm.  Sigh.

Here's the next-to-the-last selection from the list of 100 great things I've already done (aka Great Moments in Lawyerish History): 

1. Losing myself in a character and a scene in acting class
2. Laughing loudly with my mom and her sisters
3. Lighting a candle in the dark hush of Notre Dame Cathedral; hearing a boys' choir as we wandered into Westminster Abbey
4. My dad and his coworker regaling my mom and me with stories of their many travels over dinner in Paris
5. The Parisian waiter who could not believe we didn’t want to try the couscous
6. Hearing my dad’s story of the shower cord incidentfor the first time in Amersfoort, Holland
7. Eating ham and cheese on a baguette the size of a baseball bat at the foot of the Eiffel Tower
8. The moon shining over the cathedral in the Barri Gotic, Barcelona
9. Shouting “bloody hell!” on the streets of London with my friend Mo during spring break, first year of law school
10. High tea at the Peninsula Hotel, Hong Kong
11. Speeding past shimmering, impossibly green rice paddies on a motorbike in Vietnam
12. Any and all game nights with family and/or friends
13. Entering the Big House for the first time freshman year and almost being flattened by the cheering
14. Rowing so hard I broke the oarlock; misty mornings on the Huron River; gazing up at the stars after a brutal crew practice
15. Beating Georgetown and UVA at Eastern Sprints and tossing the coxswain into the Potomac
16. Doing crossword puzzles with Grammie, curled up together in Dad’s Eames chair
17. Running out to the motorhome in my nightgown to snuggle with Grammie and Granddad
18. Feeling the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge ripple with the impact of tens of thousands of running feet; getting my second wind as I hit mile 22 in Central Park; conquering that one last hill to the finish line of the New York City Marathon
19. Sitting at the top of the stairs every Christmas morning, breathless with anticipation
20. Long chats with my mom or Allison at the kitchen table of our apartment, looking out at our bird’s-eye view of the block

Comments

[terriwc]

When I went to the grocery store yesterday I was giddy with excitement pondering which of the Girl Scout Cookie ice creams I should buy. And the shock as I went back and forth surveying every type of ice cream known to mankind EXCEPT any Edy's Girl Scout varieties. The only upside to this is that I saved myself a bazillion calories.

[Allison]

I LOVE #20. That's one of my absolute favorite things about coming to see you.

David's grandmother calls whoopie pies "GOBS" which I prefer. Plus, it sounds hilarious with a Pennsylvania accent.

[PomJob]

I grew up in Amish Country, USA, so I'm well versed in the whoopie pie (although if you Google whoppie pie, crap about them being created in New Englad pops up; I still think of them as an Amish delicacy along with shoo-fly pie). However, I'm partial to the pumpkin whoopie variety. And oatmeal raisin is pretty tasty, too. You can't lose with a whoopie.

Have you tried Lactaid milk?

[lawyerish]

HOLD THE PHONE. There are PUMPKIN whoopie pies??

{faints}

{rushes off to Google recipe}

[Marin]

14 and 15, yes! ESPECIALLY 15. UVA rowing makes me want to jump off a bridge. Just lose already.

I thought that I had read something earlier about taking a leave of absence, but I was hoping...well, that's obvious. Apologies if it brought up some bad thoughts about the Situation that Shall Not Be Named.

[Mandee]

Guess what Macon, Ga's hockey team is/was named. You got it. The Whoopie. The Macon Whoopie.

I've been eying those whoppie pies, too. I may try to make some this weekend.

[Shannon]

I want to hear the story about the waiter!

And I am hopeful every time I check your blog that I will find out the Situation has been resolved gloriously exactly how we are all praying for it to be.

Also--I crush thin mints into my vanilla ice cream. yum!