Sasha's Kitchen: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Buttercream

I've been waiting to make pumpkin whoopie pies ever since I picked up my copy of Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell's Whoopie Pies. Like summer, fall is such a great time for cooking and baking but in totally different ways. My two favorite ingredients for fall are New York State apples and pumpkins. I make a mean oatmeal-pumpkin chocolate chip cookie that I can't wait to share with you, and tomorrow night I am trying out a new apple parsnip soup using some of those famous New York fall apples.  But tonight is all about the whoopie pies that I made yesterday which feature two ingredients that go so well - pumpkins and Vermont maple syrup that I bought over the summer when we were in Vermont.  The combination was spot-on, and just ad good as all of the other Whoopie Pie recipes that I tried from the book. I improvised a bit on the frosting, and it was still delicious, just a bit more maple-flavored than the original recipe called for.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies With Maple Buttercream (from Whoopie Pies)
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 (1 stick) cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Maple Buttercream
1 stick of unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 tablespoons of heavy cream
2 tablespoons Vermont maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

To prepare the whoopies, combine the fry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. Beat the butter and brown sugar for a few minutes on medium high using a stand mixer. Add the pumpkin, then the egg, beating well. Add the vanilla and beat until combined.   Add the flour mixture until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a tablespoon, drop one heaping tablespoon for each whoopie, a couple inches apart. Bake each sheet, one at a time, for about 15 minutes.  Allow to cool completely.

Beat the ingredients for the maple buttercream on high speed with the stand mixer.  Place a large dollop of the buttercream between two whoopie cookies to make the whoopie pie.

These whoopies were delicious and perfect for fall. They had just the right combination of pumpkin and spices, while the maple was a stellar combination. If you want an even stronger maple flavor, you can use some maple extract.

Sasha's Kitchen: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Buttercream

Sasha's Kitchen: Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Probably not so surprising at this point, but I made another Whoopie Pie recipe as one of the desserts for Rosh Hashanah.  Now, I will finally get back to making cupcakes and my next cupcake plan is to make True Blood, Vampire Cupcakes.  Saturday is Yom Kippur (Jewish fast holiday) but I plan to make my True Blood cupcakes on Sunday.  Anyhow, enough talking about what I'm going to make - these red velvet whoopie pies were a huge hit with my in-laws. They absolutely loved them and I'm sure I will be making them again soon.  I had fun decorating these too - instead of simply adding the marshmallow filling, I rolled the pies in rainbow jimmies - so pretty! You could pretty much roll them in anything though from sprinkles to non pareils to pixie stick dust. I cut the recipe in half and it made about 30. Unless you are planning on feeding a lot of people, you will probably want to do the same thing - so here's the half recipe below.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies from Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 stick butter, unsalted

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 oz red food coloring (about 5 drops)

1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine the dry ingredients. In the bowl of a mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, shortening, and both sugars at low speed until fluffy and combined. Add the egg, vanilla and red food coloring and beat until just combined. Add half the flour mixture and beat until combined. Then add the buttermilk and the rest of the flour and combine.

Make the whoopie pies by spooning out 1 T of batter for each cookie. Bake each sheet one at a time, for 10 minutes.  Allow to cool completely before frosting with Marshmallow frosting (see below)

Sarah & Amy's Classic Marshmallow Buttercream
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Combine the ingredients for the frosting using your mixer and add between two cookies to make a pie.  Dip the sides in sprinkles to decorate.

Sasha's Kitchen: Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Chip Cookie Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

For my next experiment making whoopie pies from my new cookbook, Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell,  I decided to try making a chocolate chip cookie-cake type whoopie pie and prepared a peanut butter filling to go with it. The recipe makes so many of these little whoopies that it's important to have some friends to share them with - my whoopies have been quite well received at my husband's office. I plan on making another batch of whoopie pies later this week (red velvet with marshmallow filling) when we host dinner at our house for Rosh Hashanah.

Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 T unsalted butter
4 T vegetable shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 T milk
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375. Line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. In your mixer, beat the butter, shortening and both sugars until the mixture is light and creamy, for three minutes. Add the eggs and buttermilk and beat until combined. In a measuring cup, combine the milk, baking soda and vinegar.  Add to the mixture, along with the dry ingredients and beat on low until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips with a spoon (not with the mixer, or they will go to the bottom).

Drop 1 T of batter onto the parchment paper lined baking sheets, spaced at least two inches apart. Bake each sheet, one at a time, for 10 minutes. This made 30 whoopies for me, which translates to 15 whoopie pies when they are combined with the filling.

Peanut Butter Buttercream
3/4 cup peanut butter
6 T butter
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp salt

To make the buttercream, beat together the ingredients for the frosting in the mixer. Spread between two of the whoopie cookie-cakes.

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Chip Cookie Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pie

I love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter.  Even more than the combination, I absolutely love a nice, light peanut butter frosting. The frosting was my favorite part of my Butterfinger cupcakes, and I suppose I have been on a bit of a peanut butter baking kick with my gluten free peanut butter cookies.

Whoopie pie - a traditional Amish dessert, is also a favorite of mine these days.  I decided it was time to make another flavor of Whoopie Pie, after having done a chocolate raspberry Whoopie Pie.  Really, the possibilities are endless and I plan to experiment with some unusual flavors.  But before I go there, it was time to make a classic chocolate peanut butter Whoopie Pie.  As i get to some of the more creative flavors (next up is Oatmeal/Caramel, I think), I will be writing my own recipes.  But I decided not to reinvent the wheel with with one and go with my "old friend" Martha Stewart.  I did adapt her recipe a bit so I could use canola oil in the cakes rather than butter or shortening, and that worked out perfectly.  I love the look of Whoopie Pies - they kind of remind me a reverse cupcake, and yes, they may not be quite as cute as those Alice in Wonderland cupcakes that I posted last weekend, but they're pretty much one of the best desserts I've ever tasted.  I thought I made a pretty big batch, but after sharing a few with friends and family, the rest disappeared very quickly - a little too quickly.  I want more!  I guess that's why the Amish farmers yelled "Whoopie" when they found these in their lunch bags.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pie (adapted from Martha Stewart's recipe)
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch Processed)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 T butter
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup milk (I used organic skim milk from Stonyfield Farms, not whole milk)
1 tsp vanilla

Filling:
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

Preheat the oven to 375.  Mix the dry ingredients for the cookies (which should be more accurately referred to as mini-cakes in my opinion).  Beat the butter, canola oil and sugars until creamy in your stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, for about three minutes.   Add the egg and vanilla and beat for another two minutes, before slowly beating in the dry ingredients.

Drop tablespoons onto baking sheets for the cookies, separating a couple inches apart.  Make sure to spray the baking sheets with Pam first.  Bake each sheet one at a time (I made 23 or 24 cookies total) for 12 to 14 minutes.  Then allow to cool fully.

Beat the peanut butter, confectioners sugar and butter to make the frosting and sandwich between pairs of the cookies.  Enjoy!

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pie

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Raspberry Whoopie Pie

A Whoopie Pie is a baked good made out of two round pieces of chocolate cake or cookie with a whipped, sweet frosting in between.  Its origins come from the Amish (the 'Pennsylvania Dutch') community, where it is said that the farmers' wives would put them in their husbands' lunches, at which point, the farmer would shout "Whoopie" upon discovering the pie in his lunch pail.  This dessert, however, according to a fairly recent New York Times article has finally hit the mainstream.  Now, this Amish dessert can be found right here in New York, and perhaps in your kitchen too, as they are not too difficult to make at home.  In fact, even Oreo has started marketing its own version of the Whoopie Pie, the Oreo Cakester. 

To make this Pennsylvania Amish classic, I adapted a recipe that accompanied the New York Times article into a Chocolate Raspberry Whoopie Pie.  I followed the original recipe for the cakes, but adapted the whipped frosting into a raspberry flavored buttercream that complemented the rich chocolate cookie-cake nicely.  The cakes are good, but quite decadent and best split between two people.  

Chocolate Raspberry Whoopie Pie (adapted from the New York Times)

Cakes:

1 stick of butter at room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups flour

1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa (I used Droste)

1/2 cup buttermilk

Buttercream:

3 egg whites

3/4 cup sugar

2 sticks butter at room temperature

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

2 T seedless raspberry jam

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  To prepare the cakes, beat the butter and the brown sugar in a stand mixer until creamy.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until light and creamy.  Then alternate adding the dry ingredients (mixed together in a bowl) and the buttermilk.  Using an ice cream scoop, spoon or 1/4 cup measuring tool, scoop the batter into round circles on parchment paper lined baking sheets.  The recipe should make 10 to 12.  Bake at 350 for approximately 14 minutes (mine took about 16 minutes) until the cakes spring to the touch and are toothpick clean on the inside. 

To make the raspberry buttercream, use a double boiler, or a pot of water and a metal bowl.  Bring the water to a boil and combine the egg whites sugar in the top half of the double boiler.  Whisk until a baking thermometer reads 180 degrees and the sugar is dissolved.

Transfer the egg mixture to a mixer, and beat on high for a couple minutes until the mixture doubles in volume (as if you were making an Italian Meringue).  Use the whisk attachment on your mixer.  Beat in the butter on high one half Tablespoon at a time.  Add the vanilla, and beat in the salt and raspberry jam.  Whisk in the mixer for another minute on high, and continue to whisk if the mixture curdles at all, until smooth.  Scoop with a large spoon between two of the cakes for your decadent Chocolate Raspberry Whoopie Pie.

Whoopie Pies

Sasha's Kitchen: Chocolate Raspberry Whoopie Pie