Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

It's pretty much a given that I'm baking something with pumpkin at this time of the year. For instance, last year around this time, I made pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Baked goods with pumpkin always turn out moist and delicious, with spices like cinnamon and ginger that really make the home smell like autumn.

Recently, I bought Baked: New Frontiers in Baking. As I was flipping through it, I saw a recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies, chubby little pumpkin cakes sandwiching a cream cheese filling; I knew had to make them. But as always, I knew a twist was needed. Instead of the typical round pies, I decided that I'd actually make them look like pumpkins. I piped the batter out: peach shaped blobs with stubby stems. After the pies were baked and cooled, I "painted" the stems with matcha white chocolate and piped on semisweet chocolate lines, thus making these pumpkin flavored pies literally look like pumpkins.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
2 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

2-3 cups powdered sugar
8 tbsp (1 stick) butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves and put aside for now. In another bowl, mix the brown sugar with the vegetable oil. Mix in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and pumpkin puree and mix till smooth. Then add the dry ingredients into the wet, and mix until the batter is smooth and no more streaks remain.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the batter in a piping bag, and pipe out pumpkin shapes (basically a heart with a curved bottom instead of pointy). Smooth down the batter pumpkins. Take a spoon and add a little bit of batter on top to make a stem for each pumpkin. Try to make them all around the same size. Bake the whoopie pies for 8-12 minutes, until a toothpick somes out clean. Let cool on pan for a few minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool.

For the filling, mix the butter and cream cheese together until no lumps remain. Add the powdered sugar 1/4 cup at a time until it is stiff and to taste. Then add the vanilla extract and mix.

How to Decorate

white chocolate
matcha powder
semisweet chocolate

Pair up the pumpkins by size. Melt some white chocolate. Mix in a bit of matcha powder until the color is right, but not too much or the chocolate will be bitter. Take a spoon and cover the stems of all the whoopie pie halves with the matcha white chocolate. Let dry.

Then, take one half of a pair, place a dollop of filling in the center and sandwich with the other pair, pressing gently until the filling reaches the edge. Repeat with the rest of the whoopie pies.

Lastly, melt the semisweet chocolate. Place in a plastic bag. Cut off a little bit of the corner. Pipe lines on the top of each whoopie pie.

Makes 16 whoopie pies.