High Altitude Gingerbread Whoopie Pies
Gingerbread whoopie pies are part cake and part cookie, with cozy winter spices, and sandwiched with fluffy vanilla buttercream.
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
- Medium Cookie Scoop with Release Lever (1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons)
- Baking Sheet + Parchment Paper
Ingredients
Cookies
- ¼ cup warm water
- 1 tsp instant espresso powder or instant coffee
- ⅓ cup original molasses
- ⅓ cup dark brown sugar (lightly packed)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Filling
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tsp meringue powder, optional
- ⅛ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Cinnamon Sugar
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
Cookies
- In a bowl, stir together the water and espresso powder, then whisk in the molasses, brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt, then whisk until everything is evenly distributed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and use a spatula to fold everything together just until moistened. The batter should be thicker than cake batter, but not quite as thick as cookie dough.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour to rest and chill the batter.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.Use a medium cookie scoop with a release lever (1 1/2 - 2 tablespoon capacity) to scoop the batter onto the baking sheet, leaving 3 inches between each cookie. You should be able to get 28 cookies, for 14 assembled whoopie pies.
- Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, until puffed and set. Cool on the pan for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before filling.
Filling
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the powdered sugar, meringue powder and salt, mixing until combined. Add the vanilla, and increase the speed to medium. Whip for 4-5 minutes until very light and fluffy, stopping to scrape the bowl down several times.
- Fit a disposable piping bag with tip 1M, and fill with the buttercream.
- Turn half the cookies over so the bottoms are facing up, pipe the buttercream onto the cookies, and top with another cookie.
- Store the whoopie pies in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
Cinnamon Sugar
- In a bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar.
- Before serving, sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top of the whoopie pies.
Notes
Whoopie pies should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days. Let come to room temperature for 1-2 hours before serving.
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