Whoopie Pies!

With the onset of autumn comes all things pumpkin. There's pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin scones, and one of our favorites: pumpkin whoopie pies. My indoctrination to the gustatory delight that is the whoopie pie was not a favorable one. My first was a chocolate and creme combination. Overly sweet, but lacking taste. It was then that I decided that Amish cooking isn't always that great.

Since Husband really enjoys a good whoopie, I tried out a few different recipes. Here's the one that we like best:

Pumpkin and Cinnamon Cream Whoopie Pies
 3 C flour
1t salt
1t baking soda
1t baking powder
2T cinnamon
1t ginger
1/2 t nutmeg
1 c white sugar
1 c brown sugar
1 c oil (I use melted butter since I don't like the taste of vegetable oil You can also substitute up to 1/2 c with applesauce)
3 c pumpkin puree either canned or homemade 
2 eggs
1t vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift your dry ingredients together. Cream oil/butter and sugars till blended. Add eggs one at a time. Blend well. Stir in vanilla, then pumpkin. Add dry ingredients to wet. Mix til blended, but don't overly blend, just til blended and fairly smooth.

Drop by tablespoons-full onto a clean cookie sheet. Bake about 12 minutes. Remove from sheet to a cooling rack. Once cool, I pair them up according to size and shape.


Cinnamon Cream filling:
3 c powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 c butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1t vanilla
pinch of salt
1-1/2 t cinnamon, according to taste


Cream butter and cream cheese together til smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar, blending till well mixed. Sprinkle in salt and cinnamon and add vanilla. Mix well.

Spread a dollop of the filling on the flat side of a pumpkin "cake." Top with a second cake. 

I store mine in the fridge. The cake is very moist and will get sticky, so if you layer them  you might want to use wax paper in between.