The first time I visited Chococoa, it took a few minutes to find the store. It’s off the beaten track, a few blocks away from the main shopping area of downtown Newburyport. But it is on the Rail Trail, great for an indulgent stopover, and well worth seeking out.

Chococoa makes whoopie pies, and nothing but whoopie pies – but these are not your mother’s – or grandmother’s – whoopie pies. They are petite, compared to the usually oversized affairs, barely two inches across. But take one bite, and you know you’re experiencing something in a class of its own. The cake part is rich, moist, and intensely chocolate. Less is truly more here. “We use three types of chocolate,” says Julie Ganong, who owns the company with her husband, baker Alan Mons. Then there’s the filling, a buttercream made with organic butter, not snow-white Crisco and Fluff. There are no added preservatives of stabilizers, and the flavors are clean and pure.

There are various fillings available, in addition to classic Vanilla. Seasonal for this month is Peppermint; if you pick it up at the bakery, it comes festively decorated with crushed candy cane on the sides. A must for chocophiles it the Chocolate Chocolate, with a truffle-like chocolate ganache filling. There’s also an Espresso for coffee lovers, and a cheery pink Raspberry.

There are a couple non-chocolate whoopies, offered seasonally. For the fall and winter there’s Pumpkin, with a ginger cream cheese filling. It’s replaced in the spring with tangy Lemon cakes with a lemon cream cheese filling.

Chococoa whoopie pies are available at the shop for $1.68 a piece, or three for $4.98 (plus tax). You can also order them online, and find them in local stores. The bakery is worth a visit, as the couple carries original baked treats from several small startup companies, so you can sample all kinds of goodies.

Lagniappe

A perfect stocking stuffer: Markets of New England by Christine Chitnis (The Little Bookroom, 2011, 211 pages, $15.95). This lovely little volume is a like a compressed coffee-table book, with gorgeous photos. Chitnis offers detailed info and links to farmers markets and craft shows in the six New England states. A useful and beautiful resource.