Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (October Cookie Carnival)
This month’s Cookie Carnival recipe is for pumpkin whoopie pies. When I saw the email, I thought they’d be Pumpkin with a cream cheese filling. I’ve seen quite a few recipes floating around for those. But these are chocolate cookies with pumpkin filling. That way they’re black and orange for Halloween 🙂 The recipe is from Martha and you can even watch her make them with Cookie Monster here.
I’ve never made whoopie pies before so this was fun for me. The chocolate cookie batter is very chocolatey and delicious 🙂 The filling is also great. It only uses 1/4 cup of pumpkin, so it looks like I’m going to be making something else pumpkin-ey soon. I’m looking forward to that! Next time I’ll definitely make a double batch of the filling. I thought the cookie somewhat overwhelmed the pumpkin filling. But overall, these were great and I’ll definitely be making these again. Probably very soon.
Mini Pumpkin Whoopie pies – from Martha Stewart – makes ~20
For the Cookies1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup whole milk – I used soymilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the Filling4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
Prepare cookies: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.
Place butter, shortening, and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in half the flour mixture, then the milk and vanilla. Mix in remaining flour mixture.
Drop about 2 teaspoons dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies spring back when lightly touched, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and let cool 10 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheets and transfer to wire racks using a spatula; let cool completely.
Prepare filling: In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip together cream cheese, butter and confectioners’ sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg; whip until smooth, scraping down the bowl as necessary.
Pipe or spoon about 2 teaspoons filling on the flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping the flat sides down.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
Mmmm amazing! I love all of the different flavors in each part of the recipe! Perfect for the 17th…maybe even with a drop of green food coloring =)
I’ve been wanting to make a version of htis for awhile and almost did this weekend. Now my plan is tackle them for St. Pat’s. Thanks for reminding me to do this.
My husband and his Army buddies LOVE these cupcakes! I get requests for them almost weekly!
sounds so good!! I could go for one now 🙂
Well I love Irish Car Bombs so in dessert form I know I would love it even more!
Wow – I am dying to try these. They look amazing!
Wow these look amazing. That looks like the perfect amount of frosting, too.
I made these for a friend’s birthday last month and absolutely fell in love with them. They are the perfect St. Patty’s day cupcake. Or any day really. My friends proclaimed them the best they had ever tasted. Yours look fantastic!
What a wonderful recipe! And just in time for St Pats 😀
BB
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Mmm, they look amazing and are so perfect for St. Patty’s Day – yum!
Wow these are some fancy looking cupcakes! Great job 🙂
I’m still in the process of making these…(Have yet to Ice and taste) But My ganache didn’t come out right…I stayed runny even when completely cooled and I can’t figure out what I did wrong 🙁
Shayna – So sorry to hear the ganache didn’t set up. Did you try putting it in the fridge? I’ve never had that issue…
I am ready to make these but I do not have enough bittersweet chocolate for the ganache. Can I use semi-sweet or unsweetened chocolate? Will it still taste okay?
beantownbaker — March 16th, 2013 @ 2:49 pm
Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. Semisweet would work ok, I wouldn’t use unsweetened.
Have you ever made these into a cake? I have made them multiple times and love them but was hoping to make this into a cake for a birthday. Any thoughts?