Summer is my favorite season for a lot of reasons: warm weather, hanging out by the pool, vacations, quality time with family and friends, and good food, to name a few. One of my absolute favorite summer foods to eat is fresh fruit, specifically strawberries, and I’ll eat them any way that I can… including desserts.
Not only do these cookies have strawberry chunks in the actual cookies, but they’re also sandwiched together with a layer of strawberry cream cheese frosting. That’s right – double strawberry! Just the way I like it. And I’m willing to bet that if you’re a fan of desserts and strawberries, then you’ll love these cookies just as much as I do!
Growing up, my family and I baked Christmas cookies together every year, and each year, I always requested that we make my absolute favorite cookie: gobs. Essentially, gobs are just two soft, chocolate cake-like cookies sandwiched together with a creamy buttercream frosting. 
For years, I went along normally with my life, referring to these cookies as “gobs”, but it wasn’t until just recently when I discovered that most people don’t call these cookies by the same name I do. It’s no wonder why people always gave me strange looks when I said I loved gobs! Those people probably had no idea what I was talking about. Oops! It turns out that people in Western Pennsylvania refer to these cookies as gobs, but everyone else in the country apparently refers to them as whoopie pies. Well that makes sense, considering my parents are from the Pittsburgh area and most of my extended family lives around that area.
As I looked into this a bit more, I found that gobs are, in fact, usually referred to as whoopie pies, and also that they can come in many different flavors and variations. I’ve always known gobs (I guess whoopie pies, now!) to be chocolate with a vanilla filling, but seeing all the different flavor combinations out there inspired me to make my very own whoopie pies: double berry!
We’re in the heart of fruit season right now, and I am absolutely loving it! My current fruit obsession is constantly changing, but for the last few weeks, I have really been loving all of the strawberries. My mom and I went strawberry picking (and they were delicious!), and after we finished those up, I have been buying cartons from the grocery store non-stop. I just can’t help myself, though… the strawberries are so good right now, and there are few things better than a fresh, juicy strawberry!
During my most recent grocery haul, there was an incredibly good deal on strawberries, so I picked up a few cartons, only to come home to a fridge already well-stocked with berries. I guess I didn’t realize I had stocked up so well! Most of the berries were pretty close to being the perfect ripeness, and I didn’t want them all to go to waste. I know I could’ve stuck some in the freezer, but I find that freezing berries tends to alter the texture; they just taste much better when fresh. So instead of freezing them or letting them go to waste, I decided to make some cookies out of my surplus of strawberries!
I’m a big fan of using cream cheese in desserts, because I find that it adds so much creaminess and extra flavor to whatever I’m making. Well lucky for me, I had a tub of strawberry cream cheese in my fridge, and I decided that would be the perfect addition to the strawberry whoopie pies I was planning on making. (Whoopie pies still sounds strange to me… I’m so used to saying gobs!)
Once I mixed up the batter for the cookies, I scooped them out onto my parchment-lined baking sheet and stuck them in the oven. Personally, I like to use a small cookie scoop to make smaller cookies, but there’s certainly nothing wrong with using a larger scoop!
About 15 minutes later, the cookies were the perfect consistency, so I took them out of the oven and let them cool down completely. And I may or may not have snuck a few for myself to try while they were still hot and fresh from the oven! I have to say that I was very pleased with how they came out: they were light and fluffy, filled with flavor, and they also had a beautiful color to them, thanks to the Melanie’s Medleys strawberry cream cheese I used. 
While the cookies cooled, I whipped up the frosting to go in between the cookies. Since I only used half of the cream cheese in the cookie recipe, I used the other half in the frosting to make a strawberry cream cheese/buttercream filling. When the cookies were completely cooled, it was time to assemble the cookies: take one cookie, flip it upside down, spread a generous amount of filling on top, and then stick another cookie on top. That’s it – quick and easy!
When you’re all done, you’re left with these delicious double strawberry whoopie pies that are rich, creamy, and loaded with flavor. Talk about the perfect summer cookie.
Now that I’ve arrived in the 21st century and have discovered what a whoopie pie is, I’m excited to experiment with different recipe and flavor variations! Although deep down, they’ll always be known as “gobs” to me.
Strawberry Cheesecake Sandwich Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 TBSP (1/2 stick) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 4 ounces strawberry (or plain) cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract or an additional 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 2 TBSP lemon juice freshly-squeezed
- 1 1/4 cup + 2 TBSP flour
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling
- 4 ounces strawberry (or plain) cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 4 TBSP unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract or vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- 1 3/4 – 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside for now.
- Using a stand mixer or an electric mixer, cream the butter, cream cheese, and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add the egg, extracts, and lemon juice. Continue to mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy and well-mixed.
- Slowly add the flour and baking powder and mix until just combined. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to gently fold in the strawberries.
- Refrigerate the batter for 5-10 minutes (or stick it in the freezer for 5 minutes), or until chilled. After, use a small cookie scoop to scoop batter onto the parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes, or until bottoms are just starting to brown and the centers are set. Rotate the cookie sheets halfway through baking to ensure even baking.
- While the cookies are baking, remove the cream cheese and butter for the frosting to bring them to room temperature.
- Remove cookies from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Once completely cooled, make the frosting: use an electric mixer to combine the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
- Take one of the cooled cookies, flip it upside down, and place a generous layer of frosting on top. Take another cookie and place it on top to form a cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies until all of them have been used.
- Keep cookies refrigerated.
