Jack Allen’s Pumpkin Whoopie Pie Recipe

Dee Dee Sanchez, pastry chef at Jack Allen’s Kitchen, shares her recipe for festive pumpkin whoopie pie.

By Dee Sanchez, Photos by Natalie Paramore

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Makes 24 whoopie pies

Ingredients for the whoopie pies

2 cups pumpkin puree (canned or freshly roasted pumpkin when in season)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

3 farm-fresh eggs

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder

Ingredients for the cinnamon cream-cheese icing

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the pumpkin, eggs, vegetable oil, sugar and brown sugar. Mix with a whisk until all the ingredients are incorporated.
3. Whisk the rest of the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.
4. Add about half the dry mixture to the wet ingredients. Whisk until incorporated.
5. Add the rest of the dry ingredients, being careful not to overmix but making sure no lumps remain in the batter.
6. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
7. Fill an 18-inch disposable piping bag with about 2 cups of pumpkin batter. Using scissors, cut the tip off the piping bag, leaving a pea-sized hole on the end. Be careful not to cut the hole so big the batter leaks out too much. Have a liquid measuring cup ready to catch any drips.
8. Pipe out the pumpkin filling into 2-inch circles on the lined cookie sheets. Pipe the batter circles about 1 inch apart, with only 12 per sheet pan so the whoopie pies do not spread and bake with the sides touching.
9. Bake for eight minutes, then rotate each baking sheet to ensure even browning. Bake for about eight more minutes. Repeat the process until all batter is baked.  
10. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and cool the whoopie pies completely before filling them with cream-cheese icing.

For the icing

1. Using an electric hand-held mixer or counter-stand mixer, beat the softened cream cheese until no lumps remain and the cream cheese has become fluffy, about five minutes.
2. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.
3. Starting on a low speed, mix until all ingredients are incorporated. Set the icing aside and keep it at room temperature until the whoopie pies are cool and you’re ready to assemble.

To assemble the whoopie pies

1. Carefully remove the pumpkin whoopies from the parchment using a flat spatula.
2. Pair same-sized pies and place them next to each other. Turn one side of the whoopie upside down.
3. Fill an 18-inch piping bag with the cream-cheese icing. Cut off the tip of the icing bag to expose a half-inch hole in the end.
4. Pipe the icing in a spiral formation to fill each upside down whoopie.  
5. Top each with another whoopie to form a sandwich.
6. Serve them at room temperature. Store them cold for as long as three days.