OXFORD, Maine — It's a Maine classic. In fact, it's our official state treat! And it was about time I tried my hand at making the iconic sweet.
I went to Valley View Orchard Pies in Oxford to learn how they churn out about 160,000 whoopie pies a year.
When I got there on a hot summer day, I was greeted by many kind women, one of which was the owner, Lisa Dunham. After a quick tour of their facilities, we got to work!
The base of a whoopie pie starts off with a cake batter that they make in-house, and then a specific flavor depending on which type of whoopie pie they are creating that day. For our segment, we were making some of their seasonal summer treats, so they mixed in lemon oil to naturally give it even more of that lemon flavor.
What I assumed would be the labor-intensive part of making whoopie pies was actually quite easy, because we had a machine. This mechanism squirted four dollops of batter onto a sheet pan at a time to fill up a trap of whoopie pies. I had to dip in my finger to try the batter (it was delicious — yum) before these went into the oven. Just to clarify for anybody who was concerned, I changed my gloves afterward, and we did not sell that whoopie pie, so no worries there.
A quick trip to the oven and the cooling room, and now the fun part: filling the treat! We had the lemon cakes upside down so we could take the cream filling and put a nice scoop onto the flat side of one, not both. Then you take either the lemon, raspberry, or blueberry fruit filling and put a dollop on top. What's next? You just squish the other half on top and you have a summery lemony whoopie pie!
Lisa was kind enough to let me create my own concoction, so I chose a chocolate cake with peanut butter filling (this was problematic for me talking on camera later — watch the video to find out), marshmallow fluff, graham cracker crumbs, and mini marshmallows. Can you guess what flavor I was going for? Lisa got it quickly — a peanut butter cup s'more!
We got to taste them all together and they were amazing! I have had numerous whoopie pies, but these were so different! The cream was taking each one to a different level because it is homemade, and you could tell. It had a ton of flavor and richness. It was kind of perfect. Yum, yum, yum! If you are a peanut butter fan, you need to try the peanut butter filling, because it's phenomenal.
Thank you so much to Lisa, her family, and to everyone at Valley View Orchard Pies. I had a great time and can't wait to eat another!
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