My manager at work, Niki, and I share a love of baking. She was the one that encouraged me to make the french macarons. She even let me borrow her macaron book and gave me a lot of pointers.
We were talking about fall baking one day, and she mentioned that she had a fantastic pumpkin whoopie pie recipe that I needed to try. I had bought a huge can of pumpkin and only used part of it for the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and I wanted to find another recipe to use up the remainder of the can. I finally asked Niki for the recipe and made it!
These whoopie pies remind me of a well-made carrot cake. The cake-like cookie is fabulous with the pumpkin pie spices, and the cream cheese filling is a perfect complement. And now my kitchen smells like fall!
Pumpkin whoopie pies
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, 1 stick melted, 1/2 stick softened
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature, lightly beaten
- 1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree
- 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon plus 2 pinches salt
- 1 and 2/3 cups flour
- 4 ounces cream cheese chilled
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon vanilla, the baking powder, the baking soda and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour.
- Using an ice cream scoop or tablespoon, drop 12 generous mounds of batter, spaced evenly, onto each baking sheet. Bake until springy to the touch, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, cream the softened butter with the cream cheese. Add the confectioners' sugar and the remaining 2 pinches salt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; mix on low speed until blended, then beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Spread the flat side of 12 cakes with the cream cheese frosting. Top each with another cake.
These look absolutely amazing! As you know I LOVE anything pumpkin and carrot cake. I'm not much of a baker, but given this weekend is Halloween, I may need to channel my inner Julia Child and get my bake on.