Whoopie!

Today is very grey, coldish, and rainy.  All in all very autumnal, which makes sense in the middle of October.  October is my very favourite month, and not just because I was born at the end of it.  It means leaves changing colour, bundling up but not being too cold, warm dinners, and baking things with pumpkin.  It seems to me that for whatever reason there is a severe lack of pumpkins in the UK.  On this point my American roots go deep----I love pumpkin.  Last night I made Pumpkin Milkshakes (just like Dairy Queen's blizzard) and they were fantastic.  With that in mind, today (just now in fact) I made some Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.  I would love to know where the name comes from, but not enough to look it up.  They are from an Allrecipes recipe, but I tweaked it to suit me.  I would also say if you want to make this recipe but cannot find pumpkin, you can easily substitute cooked and puréed butternut squash or sweet potato.  They will also taste yummy.  Here is what I did:

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies   

• 250 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
• 5 g (1 tsp) baking powder
• 5 g (1 tsp) baking soda
• 2 g (1 tsp) ground cinnamon
• 0.9 g (1/2 tsp) ground ginger, nutmeg, all spice
• 3 g (1/2 tsp) salt
• 115 ml vegetable oil
• 225 g (1 cup) granulated sugar, and half demerera
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
• 300g (1 1/2)  LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Filling:

• 230 g 7/8 oz cream cheese (soft cheese), at room temperature
• 85 g (6 tbsp) butter, softened
• 3 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla extract
• 100 g (1 cup) powdered (icing) sugar or more as needed to reach consistency

1. For cookies: Preheat oven to 350 (180C) degrees F. Lightly grease or line four baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, all spice and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin and vanilla extract; beat until smooth. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Drop by heaping measuring teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets. 
3. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until springy to the touch. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
4. For cream cheese filling: Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Spread a heaping teaspoon of filling onto flat side of one cookie; top with flat side of second cookie to make a sandwich. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

The link to the original recipe is here:  

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mini-Pumpkin-Whoopie-Pies/Detail.aspx

Some members of the family preferred theirs without the icing

And some with the icing, yum!