Let the baking begin!

It's October, and that means we have officially entered the holiday season! For me, that means it's time to break out the sprinkles and work on honing my baking skills. I am a pumpkin fanatic, so when I saw this recipe for Pumpkin Whoopie Pies on the Martha Stewart website, I had to try them.

A couple notes before you get to the actual recipe:

1. I swear that when I read this recipe I thought it called for nutmeg, so before I realized it didn't, I had added a whole tablespoon of it to the batter. Guess what? It was great--I highly recommend adding nutmeg to the recipe along with the full amounts of the other spices.

2. I used canned pumpkin and it was fine. I also forgot to chill it, but that didn't seem to be a problem.

3. I baked the pies as directed, but at 15 minutes they were still pretty doughy in the middle. I ended up baking them for 20 minutes instead of 15, and they were perfectly done.

4. We let the kids fill these, and they had fun doing it. They looked really pretty rolled in sprinkles, too.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Makes 12 large sandwich cookies

Ingredients
FOR THE PUMPKIN WHOOPIE COOKIES:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground cloves
2 cups firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

FOR THE CREAM-CHEESE FILLING:
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Make the cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves; set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together brown sugar and oil until well combined. Add pumpkin puree and whisk until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until well combined. Sprinkle flour mixture over pumpkin mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.
3. Using a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism, drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Transfer to oven and bake until cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cookie comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely on pan.
4. Make the filling: Sift confectioner' sugar into a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add cream cheese and beat until well combined. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla, beat just until smooth. (Filling can be made up to a day in advance. Cover and refrigerate; let stand at room temperature to soften before using.)
5. Assemble the whoopie pies: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Transfer filling to a disposable pastry bag and snip the end. When cookies have cooled completely, pipe a large dollop of filling on the flat side of half of the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edge of the cookies. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate cookies at least 30 minutes before serving and up to 3 days.

From The Martha Stewart Show October 2008