I have seen whoopie pies all over the foodie blogosphere for sometime now. I’ve seen them in chocolate, red velvet, and S’mores flavors, but it was the pumpkin flavor that sold me. What is a whoopie pie, you might ask? Wikipedia says that it is a “baked good made of two round mound-shaped pieces of cake with sweet creamy frosting sandwiched between them.” They are also know as gobs, bobs, black-and whites, hucklebucks, or BFO’s (Big Fat Oreos). They got their name when Amish women would but these in their husband’s lunchboxes. When their husbands would discover the gobs of goodness in their lunches they would shout “Woopie!” And you will too when you try these. They are AMAZING!
Ingredients:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup dark brown sugar (I used light and it was fine)
- 1 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 3 cups chilled pumpkin puree (canned pumpkin)
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Maple-Cream Cheese Filling:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 4 ounces (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
1. In a big bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, and nutmeg.
2. In a the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the white sugar, brown sugar, and oil. Make sure the brown sugar is crumbled up and not hard. Mine was in hard chunks and it was kind of hard to break them up once they were mixed with the oil.
3. Add the pumpkin puree, eggs, and vanilla to the sugar mixture and mix to combine thoroughly. Gradually add the dry mixture into the pumpkin and mix until combined.
4. Use a large spoon to drop a big rounded gobs of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or just an ungreased cookie sheet). They will pretty much hold the shape and size of the dough mound before it cooks. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 F. They should be firm when touched. Let cool completely.
5. While they are baking, make the filling. Beat the butter on medium speed until smooth with no lumps. Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar a little bit at a time. Lastly, add the maple syrup and vanilla and beat until smooth. Store in the fridge until cookies are thoroughly cooled.
6. Assemble whoopie pies by sandwiching a glob of cream cheese filling between the flat sides of two cookies. Slightly press to make the filling spread out evenly. Chill in the fridge before serving or they will slide around on the filling. If you can wait.
Recipe adapted from www.browneyedbaker.com (I love The Brown Eyed Baker blog!) and originally taken from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking.
