High Altitude Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Pumpkin whoopie pies are made of soft, cakey, spiced pumpkin cookies, sandwiched with fluffy cream cheese 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
- 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.
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 hours before serving.
The cookies are sticky to the touch once they're filled and refrigerated, so try to store them without touching each other.
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