Sunday, November 2, 2008

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

I'm back! Hope you all enjoyed yesterday's post from JenFinn. If you're reading this now, the Blogger gods are smiling at me and have let me schedule my post while I do something highly embarrassing this morning which I may or may not tell you about in the coming weeks. I spent the majority of the day yesterday in bed. I wasn't sick, I just overindulged the night before and decided to have a lazy Saturday, but I don't feel so bad about it since I had cooked a whole spread for Halloween. Here's one of the treats I made for my friends. Whoopie pies have been popping up all over the food blogosphere and of course pumpkin whoopie pies are especially popular right now. These are really easy to make and my friend Tony helped frost them while I got everything else together (thanks honey!). These seemed to go over really well...or else my friends were lying to me. I only made a couple of changes to the original recipe. I used a little less sugar in the cookies and frosting and added a few dashes of cinnamon to the frosting and a little more to the cookies. Hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday. I look forward to bringing you some more treats from the Halloween gathering over the next few days.


Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
(From Sweets By Sarah)

For the cookies:
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup canned pumpkin

For the filling:
6 tablespoons butter, softened
4 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 3/4 cups powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottoms of your baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, powder, soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside. Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for 30 seconds. Decrease the speed to low and mix in the sour cream and pumpkin until just combined. Add the flour mixture and blend until it is incorporated. Drop tablespoons of batter three inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. The batter is thick enough to hold its mound shape on the sheets.
Bake cookies for about 12 minutes, or until the tops are firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cookies comes out clean. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheets before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting:
Put the butter, cream cheese and vanilla in a large bowl and with an electric mixer, beat on medium for about 1 minute until the mixture is smooth and thoroughly combined. Decrease the speed to low and add the powdered sugar in 2 additions and add the cinnamon. Beat until it is incorporated and the frosting is smooth.

Use a thin metal spatula to spread a slightly rounded tablespoon of icing over the flat bottoms of half of the cooled cookies. Press the flat bottoms of the remaining cookies on the cream cheese frosting. Chill until the frosting is firm, about 30 minutes.


Me with some queens at the WeHo Carnivale:

Tony scaring a cute little boy:

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15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have never in my long life made a whoopie pie. But, I do notice they are everywhere, that and macaroons. Yours look great and perhaps I will have to give these a try.

Alicia Foodycat said...

I've never in my whole life eaten a whoopie pie! But I am feeling that I have missed out. The combination of flavours sounds like such a winner!

vanillasugarblog said...

oh no you didn't! your friends are soooooooo lucky to have you.
good grief you have no idea how much I love these.
::::sigh:::::
they look insanely amazing!

Heather said...

yum! they look great! looks like you had a super spooky halloween, too :)

Esi said...

This was my first time even tasting a whoopie pie, but now I am a little obsessed. They were sooo good and so easy to make. The cinnamon cream cheese really put them over the top.

Unknown said...

color me totally curious about the embarrassing thing bit.
whoopwhoop hooray for the pies! they look way scrumptious.

Diana said...

Sorry you were feeling a bit under the weather after your Halloween extravaganza, but it sounds like you and your friends had a blast!

And those whoopie pies? Let's just say I'd like to make mouth whoopie to them...

Esi said...

Celine - I think I can let you know in about two weeks. It is very embarrassing though, so we shall see.

Diana - hahaha!!

Ruth said...

These look delicious i have never had a whoopie pie but after seeing yours I realize I am missing out,

test it comm said...

Pumpkin cookies with cream cheese filling...mmm... I am liking all of the pumpkin/squash dishes!

Unknown said...

haha, looks like a fun time!! and with pumpkin whoopie pies, sheesh :)

CECIL said...

Oh that's the most cutest ever whoopie pie!!! Does it has good shelf life? I have been piling up recipes for baked goods - holiday season and all, but refuse to slave myself for days in last minutes. Haa...

Esi said...

Hey Cecil. Not only are these easy to make, but you can definitely do them in advance. I made the cookies the night before and left them on the wire rack (covered). I also made the frosting the night before and refrigerated it. I let it come to room temperature before I spread it on the cookies.

Anonymous said...

I FINALLY got around to making these. I'm so glad I did. These were wonderful. Even my husband loved them, and he isn't into sweets at all.

I was really happy to finally find a recipe for these without shortening, as I can't stand it. The cinnamon in the cream cheese frosting was a nice treat, too.

Esi said...

Kerrie, glad they worked out for you! I agree with you on shortening, I don't use it.