Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Hello, everyone.  Meet the whoopie pie.

What exactly is a whoopie pie you ask?  Well, according to the trusty and reliable Wikipedia, "a whoopie pie is an American baked good that may be considered either a cookie, pie, or cake.  It is made of two round-shaped pieces of chocolate cake, or sometimes pumpkin or gingerbread cake, with a sweet, creamy filling or frosting sandwiched between them." 

I think that description pretty much sums these little guys up.  Or as I like to call them, an inside-out cupcake.  There you have it.

These whoopie pies are pumpkin with a cinnamon-vanilla buttercream.  I only wish I had made my staple cinnamon-cream cheese frosting for the center and they would have been divine.  However, I was trying to step outside my box and use a regular buttercream.

They were still quite delicious. I just love cream cheese.

I followed the recipe exactly from Brown Eyed Baker. I just went the cinnamon frosting route rather than maple.  To each his own.   I didn't use a whoopie pie pan and you probably don't need to either.  My first batch, I put the batter into a piping bag and piped rounds on a baking sheet.  The second batch, I used a cookie scoop.  They both worked well.

With 3 full cups of pumpkin in these little treats, you're sure to get your pumpkin-fall fix.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cinnamon-Vanilla Buttercream (printable recipe)

adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

3 cups flour

2 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 cups canned pumpkin puree, chilled

2 eggs 

1 tsp vanilla

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.  Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl and whisk together.

3.  Combine sugars and oil in mixer.  Add pumpkin puree until thoroughly combined.  Add eggs and vanilla.

4.  Gradually add in flour mixture until thoroughly combined.

5. Using piping bag, cookie scoop, or large spoon, drop by heaping, rounded tablespoons onto baking sheet about 1 inch apart.

6.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Allow to fully cool on wire rack.

7.  Once cooled, pipe frosting onto one side of one cookie and place another cookie on top and sandwich together. Store in airtight container.

Cinnamon-Vanilla Buttercream

2 sticks butter, room temperature

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp milk or cream

4-5 cups powder sugar

1.  Beat together butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and milk/cream until combined. Gradually add powdered sugar until combined.  Once combined. Beat on medium speed 3-4 minutes.  If too thick, add 1 tbsp of extra milk at a time until desired consistency. 

Fall & Fiesta Birthday Cakes

October is a big month for birthdays in this household.  It's probably my second favorite month of the year because of all the birthdays.  For when there's birthdays, there's an opportunity to bake!

First up in October is my older sister's birthday.  Crazy thing, she turned 29 again this year.  29 and holding, as she would put it.  I feel so guilty, I didn't make her a special cake.  She came to visit the week before her birthday when I had all the wedding cupcakes, so I just made sure she had lots of those.  Sorry, sister.  Next year.

But I did write about my brother's 16th birthday cheesecake.   He's next in line.  

And now for the grand finale...my good friend, Laura, my twin niece and nephew, and my mother, all share an October 30th birthday.  Needless to say, I had a very busy baking weekend.  

For Laura's special day,  I went with the theme of her cocktail party...Fall.  I had seen a picture online with this idea and tried to do something similar.   

I used my pumpkin cake recipe with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and fondant for the decorations.

Since we don't have changing tree colors with seasons in Texas, I turn to fondant.  

And now for the twins' cake.  The theme of their party was Fiesta! 

I made pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting and fondant (obviously) for decorations.

As far as the decor on the cake goes, I just started playing with fondant and cutouts and came up with these.  I started with white fondant and picked bold colors to work with.

The banner idea came from here.  I now want every cake I make to have a banner.  Just sayin. 

At the party with the pinanata!  If you asked the twins what the birthday donkey says, they would say "Heeee-haaaaww!"

I also made a dozen pumpkin cupcakes in yellow and pink so the kids could have a personal cake.  

Again, my mom was lumped in with the masses.  But for the record, I asked her if she wanted her own cake and she said she'd just have a slice of the twins.  I tried.  At least sister and mom get their picture on the blog.  Happy Birthday :)

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

 Want to know a secret? I don't like pumpkin pie.  Never have, possibly never will.  Hate the texture, dislike the flavor, just. don't. like. it.  Sounds kind of like a treasonous statement, doesn't it?

Funny thing is....I like everything else to do with pumpkin.  Pumpkin muffins. Pumpkin bread. Pumpkin cookies. Pumpkin beer. Pumpkin pasta.  Pumpkin oatmeal.  And most of all, pumpkin cupcakes.

Like I said before, I refuse to buy and use pumpkin until at least October each year, then set it back up on the shelf around February.  It's reserved for a special time of year.  But I'm happy to tell you, it's that time of year!

 So may I present to you......Pumpkin Cupcakes!

Warning: these are dangerous.  Usually when I bake, I can try a cupcake/cookie/blondie then for the most part be done with it and ready to give it away.  But these...I wanted to keep all of them for myself.  They were that delicious.  The cake was fluffy and moist and paired perfectly with my favorite icing. Dare I say, my new favorite cupcake. 

Thank goodness for a groggy head early yesterday morning when I thought, "how great would it be to take these to work for everyone to enjoy!"  Whelp. Regretted that decision when clear headed self came home last night to no cupcakes.  Kidding...kind of.  

These cupcakes received rave reviews at work and by my professional taste tester.  I just tweaked my carrot cake recipe a bit and voila!  Make these. You won't be sorry.

Rainy Day Bread

When the weather outside looks dreary,

And you have these items sitting in your fridge:

It only seems practical to make this:

That, my friends, is Pumpkin Banana Chocolate Chip Bread. And here's how you make it. First, you need the following ingredients:

Then, you mix the wet ingredients together (in your pretty pink mixer, of course)

Now mix the dry in a separate bowl:

And add them to the wet.  Be sure to mix only until combined:

Should look something like this:

Now pour it into a greased 9x5 pan and suddenly remember that you forgot to add the oil to the wet ingredients. Well, don't follow these instructions exactly...maybe follow the recipe. But yes, I completely forgot to add the oil.  I seriously contemplated pouring the mixture back into the bowl and adding the oil....but then I decided to just skip it. I've made plenty of recipes substituting apple sauce or pumkin puree for oil, so we'll see how it turns out.

End result:

Moist and delicious pumkin/banana/chocolate chip bread. (Actually the recipe I followed did not call for chocolate chips, I just added them for good measure.)

Who needs oil? Not this recipe.

Pumpkin Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

adapted from Allrecipes.com

2 ripe bananas

1 1/3 cup pumpkin puree

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil (optional)

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Mix wet ingredients with dry ingredients until just combined. Pour into greased 9x5. Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!