High altitude pumpkin whoopie pies are made of soft and cakey pumpkin cookies, sandwiched with fluffy cream cheese buttercream. The soft pumpkin cookies are perfectly spiced, complemented beautifully by the sweet cream cheese filling. These pumpkin sandwich cookies are a must-make for fall!
You might also love these high altitude tested recipes for pumpkin crumb cake muffins, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, and brown butter pumpkin layer cake.
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What are Whoopie Pies?
A whoopie pie is basically a cookie sandwich that’s made of two little cakes that are baked like cookies and assembled with cream filling between them. They’re not as light and fluffy as a cake or cupcake, but not as dense or chewy as a cookie either. Whoopie pies are also sometimes called a black moon, black and white, big fat Oreo (or BFO), or a gob (which is a term specific to Pittsburgh and surrounding areas). Gobs are the name that I grew up knowing them by (since my dad was from Pennsylvania, and gobs were one of his favorite treats), and my mom usually made a chocolate and vanilla combination.
Besides pumpkin whoopie pies, other popular flavors include vanilla, carrot cake, chocolate, snickerdoodle, red velvet or gingerbread. They’re often filled with some type of marshmallow cream filling, but I prefer buttercream.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Soft and Cakey. Whoopie pies stay soft for days after baking, and the combination of soft, fluffy cake with cream filling is just delicious.
Quick and Easy. The batter comes together quickly, and the cookies are easy to assemble with filling sandwiched between.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
Cookies
- Flour. Plain all purpose flour gives the cookies structure and strength.
- Sugar. A combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar adds sweetness, moisture, and helps the cookies to spread as they bake.
- Spices. A cozy blend of cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves and nutmeg adds warmth, and perfectly complements the flavor of the pumpkin and brown sugar. Salt balances the sweetness and enhances all the flavors.
- Baking Soda. Leavening agent, so the cookies puff and spread.
- Eggs. Add moisture, richness and strength.
- Vegetable Oil. Keeps the cookies soft and moist.
- Pumpkin. Use canned pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
Filling
- Butter + Cream Cheese. When making cream cheese frosting, it’s best to use a combination of both butter and cream cheese to keep it more stable.
- Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
- Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the frosting.
- Meringue Powder. Adds stability and improves the texture. You can also use a little cornstarch, instead of the meringue powder.
- Salt. Balances the sweetness.
Instructions
Cookies
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, baking soda and spices, until evenly distributed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, pumpkin and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, gently whisk the batter, then finish folding in the floury bits with a spatula.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Fit a disposable 16-inch piping bag with a large round tip #2A, then fill the bag 2/3 full of batter. Pipe the batter into even mounds on the baking sheet, 3 inches apart, about 1 1/2 – 2 tablespoons of batter per cookie. Let the remaining batter rest at room temperature while you bake the first batch of cookies. If you don’t have a piping bag/piping tip, you can use a medium cookie scoop with a release lever to scoop the batter onto the baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes, until puffed and set. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before filling.
- You should be able to get about 26 cookies, for 13 filled pumpkin whoopie pies.
Filling
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, mixing until combined. Increase the speed to medium. Whip for 4-5 minutes until very light and fluffy, stopping to scrape the bowl down several times. Turn the speed down to “stir” and mix for 1 more minute.
- Fit a disposable piping bag with a large piping tip, such as 1M (I used a specialty tip #902), and fill with the buttercream.
- Turn half the cookies over so the bottoms are facing up, generously pipe the buttercream onto the cookies, and top with another cookie, pressing the top cookie down gently.
- Store the whoopie pies, separated by wax paper, in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
How should I store pumpkin whoopie pies?
Since they contain cream cheese frosting, your whoopie pies should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days. Let come to room temperature for 1 hour before serving. The cookies are sticky to the touch once they’re filled and refrigerated, so try to store them without touching each other.
Can I use melted butter instead of vegetable oil?
This substitution may work, but the cookies will stay more moist with vegetable oil than with butter.
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High Altitude Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Baking Sheet + Parchment Paper
- Disposable 16-inch Piping Bag with Large Round Tip #2A (or, a medium cookie scoop with release lever – about 1 1/2 – 2 tbsp)
Ingredients
Cookies
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Filling
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup (4 oz or 1/2 block) cream cheese, softened slightly for about 1 hour at room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp meringue powder, optional
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Instructions
Cookies
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, baking soda and spices, until evenly distributed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, pumpkin and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, gently whisk the batter, then finish folding in the floury bits with a spatula.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Fit a disposable 16-inch piping bag with a large round tip #2A, then fill the bag 2/3 full of batter. Pipe the batter into even mounds on the baking sheet, 3 inches apart, about 1 1/2 – 2 tablespoons of batter per cookie. Let the remaining batter rest at room temperature while you bake the first batch of cookies.Baker's Note: If you don't have a piping bag/piping tip, you can use a medium cookie scoop with a release lever to scoop the batter onto the baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes, until puffed and set. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before filling.
- You should be able to get about 26 cookies, for 13 filled whoopie pies.
Filling
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, mixing until combined. Increase the speed to medium. Whip for 4-5 minutes until very light and fluffy, stopping to scrape the bowl down several times. Turn the speed down to "stir" and mix for 1 more minute.
- Fit a disposable piping bag with a large piping tip, such as 1M (I used a specialty tip #902), and fill with the buttercream.
- Turn half the cookies over so the bottoms are facing up, generously pipe the buttercream onto the cookies, and top with another cookie, pressing the top cookie down gently.
- Store the whoopie pies, separated by wax paper, in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
So delicious, my kids & I are devouring them! No changes to the recipe (central IL) and everything came out perfectly! I will be making again, probably next week!
Asked my son,”What dessert for Christmas?” and his reply was the pumpkin cookies I used to make. Moved to CO from FL two years ago and not much of a baker. Maybe a couple times a year. Instead of trying to figure out the adjustments went looking for a high altitude version. They are perfect, did the filling for the holiday but for sure will be making this my go to when in mood for Pumpkin cookies.