Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling

This probably makes me a bad Pinterest/internet user, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a whoopie pie. They are EVERYWHERE on the internet, in hundreds of flavor combinations – there are even entire books written about whoopie pies! For some reason, I never felt compelled to give the whoopie pie trend a whirl, until this past weekend. I was making a couple kinds of chili for dinner with some friends, and I wanted a dessert that worked well with the fall feeling of chili and football – and pumpkin whoopie pies sounded like the perfect fit.

For some reason, it didn’t occur to me that the cake part of a whoopie pie would be… cakey? I know, I know – Mensa is sure to be revoking my membership at any moment. Turns out a whoopie pie is basically like two cookie-shaped cupcakes, sandwiched together with frosting – making it infinitely easier and less messy to eat! Pretty genius, really.

These whoopie pies have a moist, heavily spiced pumpkin cake, and a sweet maple-y filling. As a bonus, they’re incredibly easy to make!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling
makes approximately 1 dozen whoopie pies

For the cakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon molasses
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil

For the filling:
8oz cream cheese, at room temp
1 stick of salted butter, at room temp
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons maple syrup

*For the cakes, it’s really helpful to have a cookie scoop (1 tablespoon size) with a release mechanism. This ensures that the cakes will be uniform in size and shape (which makes sandwiching them easier), and it also alleviates some of the messiness of working with a very soft cake batter.

1.) Preheat your oven to 350°. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. In another bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, pumpkin, molasses, egg, and vegetable oil.

2.) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and whisk the two together until everything is evenly combined.

3.) Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat liners. Use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop the batter onto the sheets, leaving a few inches of space in between them. Bake the cakes, one sheet at a time, for about 12-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cakes comes out clean, and the top of the cake springs back when you touch it.

4.) While the cakes bake, make the filling. Add the cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and maple syrup to a bowl, and use a hand mixer or stand mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment) to beat the ingredients together until they’re well-combined, and the mixture is smooth.

5.) Once the cakes are baked, and completely cooled, put the filling into a large ziploc bag. Cut one of the corners of the bag off, so you have about a 1/2″ opening, and pipe the filling onto the flat side of half of the cakes. Top the filling with the other half of the cakes.

The whoopie pies will keep fairly well for a couple days, in a tightly covered container. I’d refrigerate them if you can, but they should be fine if you can’t. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t expect them to last long enough to need refrigeration!

Now I’m a little pissed that I didn’t pick up some apple cider to accompany these,
Tina

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