I pinned it and grabbed some of the ingredients the next time I hit the supermarket, waiting for some free time to try them out. Well that turned out to be yesterday. It was rainy and gloomy and David's soccer practice was cancelled so what better way to feel better on a blah day than to bake! I opened up the link to the recipe and started to read her blog post. Since I had never made whoppie pies before I wanted to make sure I read all her tips and suggestions before having another baking kitchen disaster on my hands. There are too many to list, baking has never been my thing!
After reading I felt ready to try my hand at this and I was honestly surprised just how easy they were!
What You Need:
3 cups Flour
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar (the site I got the recipe from used Splenda, so that could be an option)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 - 15 oz. can of pumpkin
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Cream Cheese Filling:
1 - 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened
1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 - 16 oz. package of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A pinch of cinnamon (to taste)
The Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.
3. In your stand mixer bowl or another large bowl, add the the sugars, oil and pumpkin and beat together. Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition, followed by the vanilla.
4. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
5. Now time to make the cookies, on a greased cookie sheet, plop some batter and swirl a tiny bit.
She used a pastry bag with a round tip but I'm not that fancy! She suggested using a zip lock bag and snipping the corner, but I'm just not that good with stuff like that. Maybe next time I will get more ambitious. This time I took my large Pampered Chef scoop and plopped it on the pan. At first I tried to swirl it out and flatten it myself since she had suggested in her post that the reason she pipes them is because they didn't rise the way she wanted. When I flattened them they just spread out flat. Not bad and still tasted awesome, but not the affect you want in a whoppie pie. So the best batch was just plopping the scoop of batter on the sheet and spreading it into a tiny bit. I think this is one of those things that everyone is going to have a different way they do it to get their own best results. Trial and error!
6. Bake for about 11 minutes and cool on a rack.
7. While the cookies are baking, prepare the cream cheese filling. Beat together the butter and cream cheese and then add in the powered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.
8. Add filling to one cookie and top it with another. I wrapped mine in plastic wrap and stuck them in the fridge to set. She had suggested that they will taste better that way, plus I think the filling will set better anyway. But that wasn't before the boys and I each tried one of my failed, super flat cookies with some frosting. YUM!
The Verdict:
These were AWESOME! I am seriously amazed at how easy these were to make! I felt like a baking pro, of course only after I mastered my technique on the proper whoppie pie shape! But honestly, even the failed cookies still tasted good so who really cares if it doesn't look like a "real" whoppie pie, right! I can't wait to make these again. I have to go stock up on some canned pumpkin and get to it! I think I found my signature Fall recipe!
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