pumpkin whoopie pies.

I've gone squash crazy. It all started a few weeks ago with the bread pudding, which led me to eat pumpkin oatmeal for breakfast for a week straight. Then I moved onto butternut squash, which has consumed me for the last week in the form of several Italian specialties. Now I am back to pumpkin in the form of another dessert. I thought about saving this for another week - a week when you haven't seen a plethora of squash recipes but this is just so damn good that I couldn't bring myself to save it.

My better half is from Maine and I had never heard of whoppie pies until I went to Maine one spring and came across a cookie/cake hybrid that was the size of head and filled with a marshmallow filling that oozed out of the sides of the cake with each bite.  This was like an Oreo on steroids.  I was hooked and have made sure to seek them out on each subsequent visit.  As fond as I am of the chocolate version, I prefer the pumpkin.  There is something about a heavily spiced (and very moist) pumpkin cake that makes me happy.  Traditionally the pumpkin ones have a cream cheese filling but I prefer the traditional marshmallow one, sometimes it's nice to keep a bit of tradition. 

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Whoopie Pie recipe from Baked by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

Marshmallow filling recipe from Gourmet

Makes 10 hamburger size whoopie pies or double the amount if mini sized

I halved the whoopie pie and filling recipe since having 24 whoppie pies around seemed like a bad idea.  If you do make the full amount, you can freeze these individually (fully filled).  They actually taste wonderful cold!

For the Whoopie Pies

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cloves

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

1 ½ cups chilled pumpkin puree

1 large egg

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Filling

½ stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened

½ cup + 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar

1 ¼ cups marshmallow cream such as Marshmallow fluff

½ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves together and set aside.  In a separate bowl, whisk the brown sugar and oil together until combined.  Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly.  Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.  Sprinkle the flour mixture over the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.

Using a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to drop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, about one inch apart (I only had a regular ice cream scoop thus my hamburger sized pies). Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cookie comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely while you make the filling. 

To make the filling, beat together butter, confectioners sugar, marshmallow, and vanilla in a bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. 

Drop a large dollop of filling onto the flat side of the cookie.  Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edge of the cookie.  Repeat until all the cookies are used.  Put the whoopie pies in the fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up before serving.