Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with cinnamon cream cheese filling

Pumpkin pie...pumpkin cake...pumpkin bread...pumpkin muffins... pumpkin soup...pumpkin cupcakes...pumpkin chili...pumpkin parfaits...stuffed pumpkins....pumpkin waffles...pumpkin pancakes...pumpkin fries...pumpkin and shrimp...

sounds like Bubba from "Forrest Gump" huh?  ha ha

Everywhere you turn these days it seems every recipe popping up on the internet is for something sweet or savory using pumpkin. And yes it is fall, but there just seems to be an abundance of pumpkin recipes more than ever. So much for the rumored pumpkin shortage!

I am A HUGE fan of pumpkin and not just during fall but year round. I stock up on canned pumpkin, I hoard it in fact. But you will never see me on that show, hoarders, because I use it up way before the expiration date. ha ha. But there is something about pumpkin baked goods that are especially yummy during the fall when it is supposed to be used as an ingredient.  I normally make relatively healthy items with pumpkin like my oatmeal pumpkin pancakes, or whole wheat pumpkin protein muffins. But I have been wanting to jump on the whoopie pie bandwagon for a while and I came across this recipe on Brown Eyed Baker's blog and I HAD to try it. In fact I made the recipe twice they were that DAMN GOOD. I nicknamed these cupcake sandwiches since that's what they seemed like

I didn't even have to bust out my stand mixer for these. I love my kitchen aid, don't get me wrong, but sometimes that one or two bowl recipe for baking makes a recipe that much more enticing to make. Here are the dry ingredients with a buttload of spices. I am not  fan of pumkin pie but I love the pumpkin pie flavors. I know, I'm weird. ha ha

mmmmm cinnamonamannamuminum ( as my 2 year old calls it). You can also SUB 2 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice for the spices in the recipe if you want. Makes it a little easier - less steps

wet ingredients ( pumpkin not mixed in yet)

I use the organic canned pumpkin. I am a pesticide-phobe. And use the canned pumpkin NOT the pumpkin pie filling. That has all sorts of other added ingredients and we don't want those

The pumpkin added into the wet ingredients. Mmmmm  love the orange color

two bowls of ingredients about to become one bowl of spicy pumpkiny goodness. Yes pumpkiny is a word. I say so

this smelled sooooo good

I forgot to take a picture of the blobs before they went into the oven. I used my OXO cookie scoop that is 1 1/2 tbsp size. Not sure what # that is for scoop size but it works perfectly. And I used a silpat silicon mat. No need to buy an actual whoopie pie pan. This worked perfectly.

While these were cooling I made the filling. 

Butter and cream cheese. Paula Deen's favorite food combo. ha ha

Again no need to bust out the stand mixer here, hand mixer works perfectly

Powdered sugar and cinnamon to the butter and cream cheese. This is a great cinnamon cream cheese frosting for anything really. Like cakes, cupcakes, a spoon straight into the mouth.. you get the idea

I used a pastry bag and my big round tip to pipe about 1-2 tablespoons worth of filling. I wanted it to have a good amount of filling inside.

cute lil blobs of filling

Sooooooo good!!!

I LOVED these. They were moist, flavorful, pumpkiny. The cookie part was sooo good and the filling was perfect. The original recipe calls for a maple cream cheese but I thought the maple would conflict a little with the pumpkin and I wanted to enhance the pumpkin flavor more so I subbed cinnamon for maple. These even made a very pregnant girl friend of mine very happy, and she isn't normally big on sweets but she said these were the best things she had ever eat. So I will take it!!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling
Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

Yield: About 4 dozen assembled whoopie pies (will vary depending on how large you make them)
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Bake Time: 15-17 minutes ( original recipe called for 10-12 min but that wasn't long enough in MY oven)

For the Whoopie Pies:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
3 cups chilled pumpkin puree (canned pumpkin NOT pumpkin pie filling)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

NOTE: you can substitute 2 1/2 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. 

For the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Filling:
3 cups powdered sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature (full fat these are a dessert don't use fat free here!)
4 ounces (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the granulated sugar, the dark brown sugar, and the oil together. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly. Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.

4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.

5. Use a small cookie scoop or a large spoon to drop a rounded, heaping tablespoon of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart.

6. Bake for 15-17 minutes, making sure that the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. The cookies should be firm when touched. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on a cooling rack.

7. To make the filling, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth with no visible lumps, about 3 minutes. Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar a little at a time, then add the cinnamon and vanilla and beat until smooth.

8. To assemble the whoopie pies: Turn half of the cooled cookies upside down. Pipe or spoon the filling (about a tablespoon or more) onto that half. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling. Press down slightly so that the filling spread to the edges of the cookie. Repeat until all the cookies are used. Put the whoopie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm before serving.