I almost wore boots today, and it's barely September. Fall is my absolute favorite time of year, and I do everything I can to encourage its arrival. I had a school meeting of a few moms at the house last night, and being unprepared with a sweet treat of any kind to serve, I went digging around my pantry and found a can of pumpkin puree.
And in my usual fashion, I hunted around for the perfect recipe and ended up pulling and combining several, and tweaked here and there to make it to my liking. You'll see that I used white whole wheat instead of all-purpose flour. I also don't care for shortening-based fillings, so I went with cream cheese. Enjoy...and may Fall come quickly...
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling
Recipe Type: Dessert
Ingredients
- For filling:
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 stick of softened butter
- 8 ounces softened cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- For cookies:
- 3 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon ground cloves
- 2 cups packed brown sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Combine flour, salt, baking pwder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a large bowl.
- In another bowl, beat together eggs, brown sugar, oil, and pumpkin puree.
- Combine wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and whisk together until fully incorporated.
- Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Drop 1 1/2 inch rounded spoonfuls unto the parchment-lined cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan and let cool on rack.
- Beat together (with a paddle attachment on a mixer) cream cheese and butter. Add in powdered sugar, and beat until smooth. Add in vanilla and blend well.
- When cookies are cooled, sandwich about 1 heaping tablespoon of cream cheese filling between two (comparable sized) cookies. Slightly press and adjust so that the filling is even and to the edge of the whoopie pie.
- Refrigerate before serving if you'd like the filling to firm up a bit, or serve as is, ooey and gooey. :) Enjoy!
