Pumpkin Whoopie Pies!

Take one look outside your window and you'll know its pumpkin season.  Well, if you live in New England you'll notice, that's for sure.  The trees are all but stripped of their beautiful color.  But for me, a new beauty comes out this time of year.  The trees stand tall and strong, ready for whatever mother nature will throw at them.  The air is clear and crisp and this helps to breath new life into a new season.    Here in New England, we all brace for this change in the season as the weather turns brisk, and the scarves and mittens and heavy sweaters warm our bodies.  The hot cider and hot chocolate have started to warm our insides too.  And with that comes Pumpkin!

I've been wanting to try my hand at Pumpkin Whoopie Pies for several years now.  I've made the traditional Chocolate Whoopie Pies, but I'm discovering there are so many variations.  So I pulled out my "King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion Book" and found a Pumpkin Whoopie Pie version that I knew would be fool proof.  I did adjust the butter and cream cheese upward in the filling and I must say I was skeptical of the crystallized ginger in the filling, but I found that it adds the perfect sweetness and just a little bit of a crunch to every bite AND I doubled the quantity suggested.  The remaining ingredients in the cookie and the filling worked perfectly!

King Arthur's suggestion of scooping these whoopie pies using a 1/4 cup cookie scoop seemed like they would make for a gargantuan whoopie pie.  So I scaled back on that suggestion just a bit and baked off 4 cookies using a slightly smaller scoop, but found those 4 to still be just a little TOO big for my liking.  So I opted for a smaller version as these 'cookies' do spread.  Spread is always a consideration when making cookies so its always good to test out a few before baking off a whole tray and realizing that the size is not to your liking.

The recipe as stated in the book notes that it will make one dozen sandwiched whoopie pies.  With using the smaller scoop, I was able to get 2 1/2 dozen sandwiched pies.  Perfect!

Here's the recipe.  Have fun and enjoy!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies!

                     Pumpkin Whoopie Pies                        

Cookies:                                                                                   
   1 1/2 cups (15oz) pumpkin puree
   2 large eggs
   2 cups brown sugar
   1 cup vegetable oil
   2 Tblsp molasses
   1 tsp salt
   1 tsp ground cloves
   1 tsp ground ginger
   1 tsp cinnamon
   1 tsp baking powder
   1 tsp baking soda
   3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling:

  1 Tblsp unflavored gelatin
  2 Tbslp cool water
  6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) room temp butter
  6 oz room temp cream cheese
  2 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
  4 Tblsp crystallized ginger, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.

For the cookie:  Combine the salt and spices and set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, beat together the pumpkin puree, eggs, brown sugar, oil and molasses.   Add the salt and spices to combine.  Then add the flour and beat until just combined.  Scraping down the bowl as needed.

Scoop onto the sheet trays using the desired scoop you like.  Please note, these cookies will spread somewhat.  Bake off a few to test the desired size outcome. 

Baking for approximately 10 to 12 minutes.   Let cool completely before filling.

For the filling:  Dissolve the gelatin in the cool water and set aside.  Cream the butter and cream cheese together.  Soften the gelatin over a hot water bath stirring to gently dissolve the gelatin.  Add this to the butter and cream cheese and beat in the confectioner’s sugar.  Add the crystallized ginger and beat to combine.  Dollop or pipe an ample amount of filling onto the flat side of one cookie.  Sandwich the second cookie atop the filling.  Wrap each whoopie pie in plastic wrap and store in the fridge.  Enjoy!