Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

I endeavored upon my first go-around of whoopie pies last week and was greatly rewarded! They were fantastic! I chose the Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling from my "Baked" cookbook. I really love that cookbook and hope to try many more recipes out of there, as well as repeat some of my favorites!

In my mind, whoopie pies seemed a little time consuming, mainly because there are more steps to making them than a simple cookie - mix, drop, bake, eat - or brownie - mix, pour, bake, eat. But since I made them in two days time, it didn't seem bad at all because I didn't have to sit around looking for things to do while the cookies cooled. The cookie-cakes were a simple mix and bake recipe, but there was a LOT of batter. Let me tell you, I was a little nervous about the batter coming out of the bowl while it was mixing in the Kitchenaid! Fortunately, I was mixing it slowly and everything worked out ok. But once I saw all that batter, I went back to my page and looked at every ingredient again... the serving size (12 whoopies pies)... the batter... the ingredients... the serving size (12 whoopie pies)... you get the idea. Anyway, it told me to drop them by tablespoon-fulls on the parchment-paper-covered baking sheets and bake. I got my first batch in the oven and it looked like I hadn't even made a dent! Needless to say, I think I ended up getting 60+ cookies out of the batter! I don't know if I made them too small or if the serving size was just off, but I baked them for the time recommended in the recipe, so I don't think I could have been too far off on the size. And I ended up with 30+ pies.

The next day, I mixed up the filling quickly and started putting them together. The filling was easy to work with, tasted wonderful, and I was able to put a generous amount in each whoopie pie and it made just the right amount! I served them to some friends that evening and they were loved by all (except one-- but she doesn't like pumpkin).


Lovebug ate the cookie part plain (since the filling has cream cheese) and he liked them. He did give in and try a little filling, just because he wanted to get the whole experience. I think he liked that even more!

Overall, I would give them 5 out of 5 stars. I don't think I would change anything. They were a wonderful fall treat and I would like to make them again!

To life... full of successful first tries at pumpkin whoopie pies!