Redeeming the Whoopie Pie

A few weeks ago, I baked a lovely batch of whoopie pies to bring to a bake sale. They were so cute and perfect-looking.... and gross. Ok, they weren't really that bad, but I certainly wasn't eating them.
Recently I made some headway in redeeming the whoopie pie- not in baking a perfect whoopie pie, but it paying homage to it in cookie form.
(Note: some people say whoopie pies are cookies. These people have no idea what a "cookie" is. They are CAKE, people. Two little flat cakes with icing in between. Since when do cookies have fluffy icing? They're deconstructed cupcakes, not cookies. I have strong opinions about certain things, and this is one of them.)

These cookies are actually called Homemade Oreos, and I got them from Smitten Kitchen (who has never shared a recipe I didn't like). Hers look like oreos. Perhaps I didn't flatten mine quite enough- but then, I don't think the frosting/filling really mimics the oreo filling well, either.
The recipe's easy and straightforward, but has a different order than regular cookies.

In a bowl (of your mixer), combine:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar [SK's note mentioned that if you make the cookies without the filling, increase the sugar to 1.5 cups, since these chocolate cookies aren't super sweet. I thought they were sweet enough, though]

Stir.

Then cut in
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
and
1 egg.

Form 1t-1/2T balls, place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, and flatten (with your hand, a glass, whatever). Bake for 9-12 min (depending on thickness) at 375F.

Make the filling:
1/4 cup unsalted, room temperature butter
1/4 cup shortening
2 cups powdered sugar
2t vanilla

Beat all that together. Using a spoon (less mess) or a pastry bag with a plain round tip (easy, most mess) or a ziploc bag with a hole cut in the corner (easiest, if you have a plastic bag handy), spoon/pipe the frosting onto an upside-down cookie, then top with another cookie.

Then eat, and be sure to hide a few in your desk drawer, so that when you bring these to your friend's house and everyone devours them instantly, you'll have a few saved.