Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Happy December! I am so happy it is December! I love this time of year, the Christmas music, the shopping, the decorations, the food, all of it! Mostly I am excited to go and see my family and friends over Christmas because that is what the holiday is about to me. The holiday season also brings to mind peppermint things. I think December is definitely a peppermint month, where as October and November are pumpkin months. Fortunately, I made these Pumpkin Whoopie Pies in November, and I am just now getting around to posting them, so I am safe.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, isn't that a funny name? They basically tasted like pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting in between. Yumm. They were good, but this recipe made a TON so I gave a pan to one of my friends at work, as rent payment for my plant. It is still thriving, in case you were wondering. They are simple to make, simple to eat, what more could you want from a pumpkin treat (nice rhyming, eh?)?

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling
Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

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Pumpkin Whoopie Cookies:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 TBSP cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground fresh nutmeg

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1 cup canola oil

3 cups chilled pumpkin puree

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare to baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. Set aside.In a separate bowl, whisk to sugars and oil together. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.Use a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to drop healing TBSP of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on the pan while you make the filling.

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Cream Cheese Filling

3 cups powdered sugar

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

3 TBSP milk

1 tsp vanilla

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth with no visible lumps. Add the cream cheese an beat until combined.Add the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and beat until smooth. Be careful no to overbeat the filling, or it will lose structure.

To assemble: Turn half the cooled cookies upside down. Pipe filling (about a TBSP) onto that half. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spread to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Put the whoppie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm before serving.