Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Things have been going so well. I  had stopped the cookbook madness. Have I confessed that I have a few cookbooks? It is a problem really. But I was had been resisting the urge when I entered bookstores, for over six months. Then I discovered this new cookbook, Baked:  New Frontiers in Baking and it was over.

Baked is a bakery in Brooklyn that has been featured on Martha Stewart Living and Oprah. The pictures are beautiful and make you want to bake all the recipes in the book right now. Well, I gave it a try today, cooking a few and will be sharing them with you this month.

I had never seen Pumpkin Whoopie Pies before but they looked like the perfect thing to bake for our first rainy day. I was out of ginger so I substituted Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pie Spice for the spices. They turned out great. The creamy filling and pumpkin cookie is a great combo. I’ve wrapped them up to bring to work tomorrow.Pumpkin Whoopie Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon ginger
1 tablespoon cloves
2 cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup vegetable 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 heaping tablespoons  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. They will look more like mini cakes then cookies, so don’t panic about that.

Cream Cheese Filling

3 cups powdered sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
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 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. Spoon filling 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.

Adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito