"The combination of cakey chocolate and creamy vanilla was sublime—like a cross between a cupcake and an Oreo cookie." After reading the whoopie pie piece in last week's New York Times, I couldn't stop thinking about the pillowy pastries. Visions of moist chocolate cake moons and mounds of sugary cream filled my head. And I wasn't alone—inspired by the piece, a friend opted to serve whoopie pies instead of cupcakes at her birthday party last weekend. The whoopie pies she had—from Glaser's Bakery on Manhattan's Upper East Side—more than fulfilled my fantasies. The cakes, each about the size of a diner-style pancake, were light and fudgy, and left a trail of soft crumbs across every napkin they touched. The cream...
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When it comes to pancakes, I've always scoffed at boxed mixes such as Aunt Jemima and Bisquick. With a basic formula of flour, sugar, baking powder, milk, and eggs, why not just make them from scratch on your own? And don't even get me started on artificially-flavored maple syrup—I'm from New England, where that stuff is practically illegal. But recently, in my quest to find mixes with a bit of magic—ones that taste like the real thing, cut down on kitchen time, and are inexpensive—I came across Stonewall Kitchen Blueberry Pancake and Waffle Mix ($10). The Stonewall Kitchen company is based Maine, a.k.a. land of blueberries. If ever there was a pancake mix out there with all the flavor of...
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