Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, “oh my it’s getting late.”
The second one said, “there are witches in the air.”
The third one said, “but we don’t care!”
The fourth one said, “let’s run and run and run.”
The fifth one said, “I’m ready for some fun!”
OOOhh OOOhh went the wind
And out went the lights
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight….

….or into my belly

When I first saw these, I thought “OMG – these are WAY too cute to actually eat” – but I got over that real fast 🙂

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Cookies & Cups

INGREDIENTS
*yields 14-18 whoopie pies

    Pies

2 cups all purpose flour

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup room temp butter

1 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

Orange food coloring

   Cream Cheese Filling

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature

    1/2 cup butter, room temperature

    1 tsp vanilla

    2 cups powdered sugar

*mini pretzels

*green frosting

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2) Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

3) In a standing mixer, cream butter and sugar together then add egg and vanilla & mix until combined.

4) Mix your dry ingredients together.

5) On low speed add 1/3 of your dry mix, then 1/3 of your buttermilk…continue adding in this order until all your dry ingredients and milk are mixed in and smooth.

6) Now add your food coloring.  You can use the Orange gel type, or I just used the red and yellow from the little 4 pack you can buy at the grocery store, alternating between the 2 until I got the right color (or until I ran out of yellow haha).

7) Mix on low to combine the food coloring, scraping the sides until color is even.

8) Place about 2 tbsp. of batter onto your baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.  If you want them to really look pumpkinesque, you can place the batter in a ziplock or piping bag and pipe the  batter onto the sheet in a fat heart shape.

9) Bake for approx 6-8minutes until they are set and spongy to the touch.  Let cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

10) In the mean time, prepare your cream cheese filling by creaming together your butter and cream cheese until smooth. On low speed, add in your vanilla and powdered sugar.  Turn speed up to medium until combined, scraping sides of bowl when necessary.

11) Place about 1-2 tbsp. of filling on one side of the pie.  Break off a a piece of a mini pretzel and place it in the frosting at the top to make your ‘stem’.  Cover with the other half and pipe your ‘leaves’ onto the pie with green frosting.

I have  a confession to make, that I actually make an oops when making these and added 2 sticks of butter vs. the 1 that was called for in the pie batter.  I realized it when they came out of the oven without that puffy, cakey look that whoopie pies have.  But, after several samples, I discovered that they were still pretty damn good! They took on more of a dense ‘cookie’ texture than the cake-like texture of a standard whoopie pie.

Regardless, this may be my favorite fall recipe yet! Go get your pumpkin on!