Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

A few years ago, my sister made pumpkin whoopie pies for a cookie exchange that we had.  I couldn't believe how good they were and that I'd never heard of them before.  Growing up, the only whoopie pies I'd ever known were chocolate with vanilla icing.

My son came home last week with a note from his teacher saying they were having a pumpkin taste testing and could each kid try to bring in something pumpkin flavored for the class to sample.  This was perfectly timed with the arrival of canned pumpkin in a package from my mother.  I knew immediately that I wanted to make the pumpkin whoopie pies.

The funny thing is, the teacher sent home a note asking what whooopie pies were and all my friends that asked what I was making had no idea what a whoopie pie was either.  They didn't realize that they have unleashed a beast and now they will be trying like four or five different flavors of whoopie pies over the coming months that I have been planning on trying out.

The recipe I used was in a family cookbook, it was my mom's cousins- I'm not sure if she made it up or got it from somewhere else, either way, it's very very good.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies:

Oven:  350'

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup oil
15 oz pumpkin puree
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

Icing (my recipe):

8 TBSP butter (1 stick)
3 TBSP milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 - 3 cups confectioner's sugar

For the cake part, mix together dry ingredients in medium bowl and set aside.  Mix together oil and brown sugar until combined, add in eggs until combined, scrape sides of bowl, add in pumpkin puree and vanilla.  Slowly add in dry ingredients until combined, scrape sides and mix again.  I used a medium scoop that I got from Pampered Chef (that I LOVE), you can also use a tablespoon to scoop up some batter and drop it onto the ungreased cookie sheet.  Since the whoopie pies are sandwich-like cakes, I would recommend not making them too large.  I was able to make about 40 small whoopie pies with this batch.  Bake in oven approximately 15-18 minutes.

While the cake part is cooking and cooling, make the icing.

Cream the butter with about 1 cup confectioner's sugar.  Add in about 1 TBSP milk and 1 tsp vanilla, then add more confectioner's sugar, then more milk, continue this method until you reach your desired consistency/taste.  I actually used my hand mixers on low to do this and it came out really good.  The consistency I wanted was thick enough that it did not immediately drip off the mixers, but thin enough that when I put a dollop between the two cakes, when I smooshed them together, it spread out to the edges easily - without dripping out.  It is best to wait to put the frosting in until the cakes are completely cool, otherwise, the heat will make the icing melt and drip out.