Several weeks ago Felix wrote about his wife making whoopie pies. He mentioned that they were all the rage these days, which I didn’t realize… but as these things go, as soon as he mentioned that, then I saw whoopie pies everywhere. I’ve been watching Top Chef Desserts and they were mentioned literally the next day on that show… and a few times since then.
Dallas and I had a football party a few weeks ago when the Cowboys and the Bears played each other. I decided to make whoopie pies for the party, and since it’s fall, I did pumpkin whoopie pies. I don’t think I’ve ever cooked with pumpkin before. I never really liked it much as a kid. I really did not like pumpkin pie… but I think I’m willing to give it another chance, especially when it’s mixed with a bunch of stuff, like it is in these cookies.
I varied off my recipe for the filling because I wanted to make a cream cheese filling. I followed a filling recipe that was suggested in the recipe’s comments. It was ok, but I think I could have made a better cream cheese filling, maybe even by using a cream cheese frosting recipe. Overall, though, I loved these and would definitely make them again.
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Adapted from: Vonieta Stogner at All Recipes
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups solid pack pumpkin puree
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
1/2 tablespoon ground cloves
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
Combine the oil and brown sugar. Mix in the pumpkin and eggs, beating well. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, 1 teaspoon vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix well.
Drop dough by heaping teaspoons onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cookies cool then make sandwiches from two cookies filled with Whoopie Pie Filling.
For the filling, I followed some advice in the comments and made this whipped cream/cream cheese concoction: 1 large tub Cool Whip, 8 oz cream cheese, 2/3 cup sugar and 2 tsp. vanilla, whipped together.
