Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
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| Yield: | 1 dozen 4" whoopie pies |
Ingredients
Cake
- 1/2 cup soft butter
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 2 tablespoons King Arthur Cake Enhancer, optional
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons Vietnamese cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups (one 15-ounce can) pumpkin
- 2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or King Arthur 100% White Whole Wheat Flour
Filling
- 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
- 4 tablespoons soft butter
- 2 cups glazing sugar or confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum, optional
- 1/4 cup diced crystallized ginger, optional
Directions
1) To make the cookies: Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease two baking sheets or line with parchment paper.
2) Beat together the butter, oil, sugar, molasses, cake enhancer, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
3) Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl, then beat in the eggs one at a time, until fluffy.
4) Stir in the pumpkin.
5) Add the flour in two additions, mixing well after each addition.
6) Use a muffin scoop to deposit the thick batter onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2" around each mound.
7) Bake until the cookies feel firm; a slight indentation will remain when you gently press them in the middle, about 16 to 18 minutes.
8) Remove from the oven, cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then move to a rack to cool completely.
9) To make the filling: Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth and fluffy.
10) Beat in the sugar in two additions.
11) Add the vanilla and xanthan gum. Beat for 2 to 3 minutes, until very fluffy.
12) Stir in the crystallized ginger.
13) To assemble: Sandwich two cookies around 2 tablespoons of filling. For best storage, wrap each pie in plastic wrap.
Yield: 1 dozen 4" whoopie pies.
Reviews
12/02/2011- WOW! Were these soooo good! I used honey in place of molasses and regular cinnamon. I also left out the Cake Enhancer because I didn't have any. I also left out the xanthium gum and ginger from the frosting. All these subs and they were still FABU!!! I used a melon baller to get mini cookies (1 1/2 in) and I loved that they were done in 6-7 minutes! My 8 yr old daughter squealed when she saw them assembled. My only problem was keeping the cookies from sticking to the cooling racks, paper towels and my plastic containers. Any suggestions on how to store these? Thanks for the silicone mat suggestion mharteri. They worked better for me than the parchment paper.
- 11/20/2011
- Love, love, love! Like Thanksgiving & Christmas rolled into one in your mouth!
- 10/28/2011
- I made these for Thanksgiving. It yielded quite a bit and everyone loved them. I individually wrapped them so neatly and the children loved this. As for the taste, my husband thought they were moist and perfect. No negative reviews from him, and he's such a food critic! So many "oohs and ahhs" ! I surprised myself at how bakery - perfect these turned out! I used mascarpone cheese instead of the cream cheese, though. It's a little more expensive, but yummy! You can see how mine turned out and I even wrote a poem about Whoopie pies, and how you can't keep from laughing at the name! It's all at http://layersuponlayers.wordpress.com/ This recipe is a keeper!
- 10/22/2011
- I made these 2 weeks ago and my mouth is still watering. I am going to make another batch today. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the flavor of these! That being said, it is ALWAYS worth reading the reviews/notes before baking to see if anyone has any problems. Because of that, I made sure I kept my unused batter AWAY from the stove, stirred it each time before I placed my cookies on the pans, and rotated pans, being sure they were cooled BEFORE I put any batter on the pan. I had no problems at all, and everyone loved them. They also freeze beautifully, you can eat them directly out of the freezer :-) and don't have to wait for them to defrost. I made some regular size and used a small scoop for some. The smaller scoop made them oreo-sized and stretched it quite a bit, and you can make several dozen smaller filled cookies, just be sure to test the time with one or two at first. I believe my oven did the smaller ones in 11 minutes. The larger ones were wrapped individually; the smaller ones I laid 4 on the plastic wrap with at least an inch between them, wrapped them and then folded/sandwiched them so they would fit better in a freezer bag.
- 10/17/2011
- de.lic.ious. they were a bit on the large size - the next time I make them I will make smaller ones, but the filling was amazing!
- 10/16/2011
- So good! Made them tonight for Sunday dinner dessert and everybody raved! Perfect fall dessert!
- 10/11/2011
- These taste amazing...as my husband said when he took the first bite. We used too large of a scoop the first time 4 oz way too big 2 oz much better. I did have a few develop some shiny bubbles which caused some to run into the one another. I am not sure why that happened?? Anyone have any ideas?
If this batter sits, I find the cookies tend to spread. It may help to chill the batter (or the scooped batter on the baking sheets) to prevent the spread - while you're waiting for the first pan to bake in the oven. Happy Baking! Irene @ KAF
- 10/11/2011
- These pumpkin whoopie pies were delicious! I did not have a muffin scoop on hand so I took another's advice that commented below and made mounds of 2tbsp. of the batter. They cooked perfectly in 15 minutes. All of my friends loved these and they are the perfect autumn dessert.
- 10/06/2011
- First of all, these taste wonderful. They came out great and I am an amateur. Maybe the recipe was adjusted since earlier in the year.
Either way, here are some things that might have helped, including suggestions from previous reviews: (1) I do not live at a high altitude, (2) I took six paper towels worth of moisture out of the canned pumpkin before I used it, (3) I used 1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour and 1 cup all purpose, (4) I did remix the batter for the second batch but it didn't seem to need it, (5) I used new baking pans for each batch of cookies, and (6) I kept the cookie batter that wasn't baking in the dining room rather than the kitchen so it didn't get hot. The compaints about the batter being too oily and separating made me think that drying it out a bit might help and perhaps it did because the recipe worked for me. That seems to be my only new suggestion. Hope it helps!
In other news, I almost never end up with the right number of cookies. I usually end up with fewer, bigger cookies. I made 22 of these, using about 2 tablespoons for each cookie, which was pretty close to par. I ended up with 2-3 tablespoons of extra filling because of it. Seems to be measured well to me!
Thanks, KAF!
Thank you for sharing your suggestions with all of us! ~Amy
02/07/2011- I read all of the reviews before I baked the Whoopie pies. I grew up in New England and have made chcolate whoopie pies for YEARS. I am an accomplished baker and have taught others to bake. With that said now I am at high altitude. I believe the reason the pies were spreading out was a bit too much oil & butter. With that said I tried baking the 2t. size and 1t. size as readers recommended - no success. These were some real gut busters, BUT I do think less oil would have been wise. I suggest if you are having no success, STOP, add 1t. baking powder to your remaining batter and bake a cake! You will still get the YUMMY taste but with out frustration and spoiling ingredients. We will be having a pumpkin whoopie pie torte for desert, which is fine, just a bit heavier then i would have liked. Also High altitude you HAVE to lower the oven temp to 350 or you will burn the edges and have raw dough in the middle! * Lil suggestion - when you are trying a new rec. DON'T run the first batch a full bacth, do a sampling thus you wont waste all of your ingredients ;)
