pumpkin whoopie pies

What better way to kick off the fall season than with 2 things - pumpkin in the form of whoopie pies!  Whoopie pies are the newest hottest thing to hit the cupcake circuit.  Essentially it's a cupcake sandwich.  I've been wanting to try out the whoopie for months, but I've been so busy with cupcakes, there's been no time for experiments.  Good thing things are slow in them here mountains!  Here's how!

Make your cupcake batter as usual, and put in piping bag!

Swirl onto cookie tray, just like you would do to frost the top of a cupcake! These whoopie pies turned out pretty enormous, so you don't have to make as big as you see here.  The only downfall of the giant whoopie pie is that the weight of the 2 halves doesn't support the frosting inside.

Pop in the oven - with the heat, they will rise and expand, just like cookies!

Another downfall of the enormous whoopie pie is that the sides stick together so when you remove from baking tray to place on cooling rack, it is obvious where the sides stuck together.

I used 2 different styles of piping the batter onto the cookie tray.  One is the true frosting style of piping that has almost 2 layers - you can see the swirl effect of this style in the center pie.  The pie on the outer edges I did a "blob" more than a swirl style for a smoother pie after bake time.

When you pick 2 sides to become 1 whoopie pie, try to pick the 2 that are closest in size so they fit together nicely - they look like pancakes when you flip them upside down!

First I wanted to experiment with a textured filling, rather than the traditional smooth edges that you typically see.  This filling is a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

As you can see, it looks nice and full, but not quite awesome...

With these whoopies, I did a traditional swirl, similar to the piping style I used to make the actual cake pies, and once the tops are placed, they look more inviting - fuller and plumper - yum.

These whoopies are enough to feed 6 people because they're so big.  But, if you give yourself enough time, say, while carving pumpkins, it's possible to take care of business.  Caution - you may need a fork!