Last week I was very fortunate to have the Thanksgiving holiday off from working in the ER.  Unfortunately, the vast majority of my fellow med students did have to work and many were not able to spend time with their families.  Honestly, I felt a little bad that I was the only one who got the day off (well, the whole week really) and since I was already planning on baking all day on Wednesday, I thought I would make a treat for those working in the ER to enjoy on turkey day!  I wanted something made in individual portions, and something that could be left in the refrigerator for people to grab whenever they had a chance.  These little babies seemed like the perfect fit.

I had such fun making these, and everything came together very smoothly.  I used my Pampered Chef medium scoop to drop the dough and it was just the right size.  Next time I would probably only make a half batch or 3/4 batch of the filling, as I had a TON left over.  Since I didn’t work any shifts after Thanksgiving, I never heard from my colleagues whether or not they liked these, but I had quite a few left over for myself and I am just crazy about them!  I’m just going to assume my friends felt the same way :)

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Yield: about 32 sandwich cookies

Ingredients:
For the pumpkin cookies:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup canola oil
3 cups chilled pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the maple cream cheese filling:
3 cups powdered sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tbsp. maple syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
To make the pumpkin cookies, preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and spices.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl, whisk sugars and oil together.  Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine thoroughly.  Add the eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined.  Sprinkle the flour mixture over the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.

Use a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets (about 1.5-2 tablespoons.), about 1 inch apart.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the pan for about 10 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Repeat with remaining dough.

To make the filling, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the butter until smooth with no visible lumps.  Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.  Add the powdered sugar, maple syrup and vanilla and beat until smooth.  Be careful not to overbeat the filling or it will lose structure.

To assemble, turn half of the cooled cookies upside down.  Pipe filling onto the flat side of the overturned cookies.  Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling.  Press down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edges of the cookie.  Repeat until all the cookies are used.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to firm before serving.

Source: adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody