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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

The first time I ever ate one of these was at a former local bakery next to my office. I swore at that time that I would somehow figure out the recipe and make them because they were so good. That was probably five years ago. I haven't had one since, and the bakery is now a very popular restaurant serving gourmet sandwiches and luncheon entrees, along with some dinner hours and having a bakery of their own. I would love to someday have my recipes in a restaurant, but until then, I will continue to find something I really like and put my twist on them to make them mine. These Whoopie Pies do not have the usual cream filling. What they do have is my signature cream cheese filling, adapted to be a little sweeter to counter balance the spicy pumpkin cake that the filling is sandwiched by. Enjoy!


INGREDIENTS:
Cake:
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1.2 cups solid pack pumpkin puree
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

Filling:
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
Lightly grease cookie sheets - I spray them with Pam and then use a piece of wax paper to spread it lightly on the pan. Set them aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour
salt, baking powder, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice
Whisk to combine
Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine oil
and pumpkin
It will not look appealing

add the brown sugar (sorry, forgot the picture)
eggs and vanilla
and beat until combined well.
On low speed, mix in the flour mixture
until combined
Using a large spoon, put the batter into a gallon-sized Ziplock bag
Cut off the bottom corner - about 1/4"-1/2". Be careful, because as soon as you cut off the tip, the bag decides that it's time to make to cakes whether you are ready or not. Gravity is a wonderful invention! So, lightly squeeze the dough onto the cookie sheets. The cakes will spread slightly, so make sure you leave enough room in between them.
Put them into the preheated oven and cook for 10-12 minutes.
Using a spatula, remove them from the cookie sheet to a cooling rack. Repeat with all remaining dough, making sure you have an even number of cakes. It would be a horrible thing to have an uneven number, because then you would have to eat a cake without the filling while you were waiting for them to cool!
Now wipe the crumbs off of the corner of your mouth and make the filling while to cakes are cooling.

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla
until smooth
On low speed, and as I said in my Banana Walnut Cupcake blog, I cannot stress this enough, I mean low speed, slowly mix in the powdered sugar until creamy. (If you don't do this slowly, everything within reach will be lightly covered in powdered sugar.) You should stop mixing occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl, and once the sugar is mixed in well, turn up the speed to get it nice and fluffy.
Using a cake spatula or spoon, scoop some filling onto one cake
then top with another cake that's close to the same size ans the cake on the bottom.
I don't think any of my cakes were the same size. I got 22 complete Whoopie Pies out of this recipe, so the number is going to vary depending on the size you make them. I don't think any size is wrong, and I like to have various sizes. Someone might like a small one so they don't feel as bad when the have a second one. And someone will have a second one, guaranteed!
Thanks for reading my blog, and I hope that you try these. They are easy and you can get the kids to help with this one.
Let me know what you think!
Kathi



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