NYC's 5 Best Whoopie Pies
Whoopie pies are ideal anytime, but they're especially perfect when you can't decide between a cookie or a cupcake. The very best whoopie pies offer a cakey, airy chew and creamy frosting in the shape of a cookie. Below are our five favorite whoopie pie outposts in the city. By Jessica Allen.
Baked has got the other bakeries on this list beat, if only for sheer variety. At this Red Hook shop, you can get your whoopie pie in such seasonal flavors as peppermint, red velvet, and strawberry and banana, in addition to the more common chocolate with buttercream filling. If, by chance, you're still craving a sweet after your whoopie pie, try one of the oversized cookies, such as the chocolate chunk with graham crackers and marshmallows. And if you still can't get enough, consider purchasing one of Baked's cookbooks to try re-creating the dessert at home.
Go to Buttermilk Bakeshop for the signature purple velvet whoopie; stay for everything else. Pastry chef Katie Rosenhouse honed her craft at Le Cirque, Bouley, and the Russian Tea Room, among other notable NYC restaurants, then competed on "Chopped" and won $10,000 on "Sweet Genius" before opening this throwback American bakery in Park Slope in early 2014. We're pretty partial to the lavender shortbread and maple bacon palmiers, and we inevitably grab a bag of caramel popcorn to eat on the subway.
Why, yes, Milk & Cookies, a little bakery in the West Village, does indeed sell something called "bacon smack," a cookie comprised of dried cranberries, toffee, maple syrup, dark chocolate chunks, graham cracker pieces, and candied Nueske's cherry wood smoked bacon. And, yes, you can design your own cookies, combining such bases as sugar or oatmeal with such mix-ins as cappuccino chips and marshmallows. (They're baked to order!) But we can't seem to ever see our way past the heavenly chocolate whoopie pie.
We might as well begin with the obvious: the whoopie pies from Oak Grove Plantation won't win any beauty contests. They're made with love on a 160-acre, 35+-year-old family farm in Pittstown, N.J., then transported to the Union Square Greenmarket in Manhattan. By the time they arrive, they can be a little, well, squished. No matter. Neither your stomach nor the pleasure receptors in your brain will care. Your choice: pumpkin or chocolate. Aw, who are we kidding? Buy both!
Everything at One Girl Cookies is made by hand, including the plump pumpkin whoopie pies, like two autumnal pillows floating on a bed of cream cheese frosting. (You can also get a chocolate version.) The original location, in Cobble Hill, has aquamarine walls bedecked with vintage family photos, as well as Stumptown coffee. Another bonus? The baked goods come served on real plates. The DUMBO location sells the same treats in addition to savory snacks, beer, and wine.
