Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Baking partners challenge recipe for November is Whoopie pies-a delicious treat loved by both young and old. Since this is the month of pumpkins, Swathi suggested making something with pumpkin as the key ingredient. This recipe was suggested by Anitha of Anitha's Kitchen Diary. Whoopie Pies is a traditional Amish recipe. It consists of sandwiched cake like cookies with a sweet cream filling and you can make a variety of flavors and fillings. Here I used cream cheese filling, you can also try vanilla butter cream or marshmallow fluff cream. Pumpkin whoopie pies is moist and delicious and a great holiday treat. Thanks Anitha for this wonderful recipe.

Ingredients
All purpose flour- 1 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar- 1/2 cup
Sugar- 3 tbs
Butter - 1/2 stick (4 tbs)
Egg-2
Pumpkin puree- 1 cup
Baking soda- 1/2 tsp
Baking powder- 1/2 tsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp
Ground ginger- 1/2 tsp
Ground cinnamon- 1/2 tsp
Clove powder- a pinch
Nutmeg- a pinch
Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Cream cheese filling
I used Martha Stewart' s recipe from here
Cream cheese- 4 ounce (half package)
Butter- 1/2 stick
Confectionery sugar- 1 1/2 cup
Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

To make the pumpkin cookies
To make pumpkin puree at home check the recipe here. I used store brought one for this recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degree F and grease and prepare baking sheet.
In a bowl mix together, flour, spices, salt, baking powder and baking soda and set aside.
Using a hand mixer, beat butter and sugar till it is fluffy and creamy. Add eggs one at a time and beat till light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla extract,pumpkin puree and gently beat till combined. Using a spatula, fold in the dry ingredients till well combined. Drop one to one and half tbs of batter on the baking sheet, spacing each about two inches apart. You can keep the dough as small mounds or slightly flatten with the back of a moist spoon. Bake for about 10 minutes, remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

To make the cream cheese filling

In a large bowl cream butter and cream cheese till smooth . Add confectionery sugar little by little and beat till it is creamy and fluffy. Mix in vanilla extract. This filling can be made in advance. Cover and refrigerate till ready to use. If these is excess you can store it in fridge for up to two weeks.

To assemble
Allow cookies to cool down completely. Transfer the cream cheese filling into a pasty bag. Pipe a large dollop on the flat side of one cookie. Take another cookies and place on top of the filling, pressing down slightly, so that the filling spreads evenly towards the edge of the cookies. Transfer into containers and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for two to three hours before serving.

Try this
Hope you will all enjoy!