My mom isn't much of a baker, but there are a few things that she does bake really well. Every Christmas she makes delicious cookies, she makes really good monkey bread, and she loves baking whoopie pies. She inspired my love for whoopie pies. And they are so fun to experiment with. Since its fall, and pumpkin season, obviously I had to make some pumpkin whoopie pies!
These pumpkin whoopie pies have a soft pumpkin cake, spiced with cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice, and then filled with cream cheese buttercream. They are the perfect fall treat!
What are Whoopie Pies?
Whoopie pies are two small cakes sandwiched together with a filling between them. They look like cookie sandwiches, but the cookies are fluffier and softer. They are the official state treat of Maine, and a New England and Pennsylvania favorite. The cakes and fillings can be any flavor, but are traditionally chocolate with marshmallow filling.
Tips
- Since you can make the whoopie pies and the fillings any different flavor combination you want, it's fun to experiment. you can use my cake recipe with a different filling, or use my filling recipe with a different cake recipe. Its all up to you!
- I find that its best to use an ice cream scoop to scoop up the dough and put it on the cookie sheets, that way all the scoops are the same size, and its easier to match up top and bottom parts of the whoopie pie. No matter what you use, make sure you make even scoops otherwise you'll end up with pieces that are too different in size to look right together.
- Leave at least 2 inches between each whoopie pie on the cookie sheet so that when they spread out while baking they have plenty of room.
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 pies 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup canned pumpkin
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
filling
- 3 oz cream cheese
- 3 tbsp butter (softened)
- ¾ cup confectioners sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
Whoopie Pies
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl whisk together the brown sugar, oil, pumpkin, egg, and vanilla until well combined.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.
- Using an ice cream scoop or tablespoon, drop evenly sized scoops of batter onto the prepared cookie sheets 2 inches apart each, making 16 scoops total.
- Bake 10-15 minutes, until the cakes are springy. Let cool completely.
Filling
- Beat cream cheese, butter, and salt until smooth. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract and continue beating until smooth. Chill filling until it holds its shape, about 30 minutes.
- Spread one tablespoon of filling onto the flat side of one cookie, top with another cookie. Repeat until you have 8 whoopie pies.
