These mini pumpkin whoopie pies are packed full of cozy warm fall spices along with a sweet maple cream cheese frosting to make the most delicious bite size dessert. They are full of pumpkin flavour and so easy to make. They are light & pillowy soft sponge cakes that your whole family will love. They’re super soft and perfectly moist. Sweet, but not too sweet. Whoopie pies are like an inside out cupcake with the cake on the outside and some frosting on the inside. These are basically sandwich cookies with the consistency of a cake. They originated in the Northeast and states like Pennsylvania and Maine are said to have invented this classic dessert. If you’re a pumpkin lover, they are going to be your new favourite dessert!
Ingredients you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour: I highly recommend weighing all your ingredients using a kitchen scale for accurate recipe results. If you’re using cups, don’t scoop your cup into the flour. Spoon the flour into your cup and level it off with the back of a knife.
- Leaveners: You will need both baking powder and baking soda to make this recipe.
- Cinnamon: You will need ground cinnamon to add to these pies. Spices help to add a warm flavour to baked goods making them perfect for fall.
- Nutmeg: A small amount of nutmeg along with cinnamon helps to bring out its flavours even more and add depth to them. I don’t recommend leaving this out.
- Ginger: You will need ground ginger to add to these pies. Spices help to add a warm flavour to baked goods making them perfect for fall.
- All-spice: You will need all-spice to add to these pies. Spices help to add a warm flavour to baked goods making them perfect for fall.
- Dark brown sugar: Brown sugar helps to add moisture and softness to these pies. Using only dark brown sugar gives them their distinct flavour and blends very well with pumpkin. If you’re in a fix you can swap this for light brown sugar.
- Oil: You will need any neutral flavoured oils like vegetable or canola oil to make these pumpkin whoopie pies. I do not recommend using olive oil as it will add a distinct taste. Oil will help your pumpkin pies to be moist. It captures the gases that are released from the interaction of the baking powder and baking soda, and slows down gluten formation to keep baked goods tender and fluffy in texture.
- Pumpkin: You will need chilled pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) to mix into your batter. You can either use a canned puree or a homemade pumpkin puree. If you’re making a homemade puree make sure to drain the excess water out of it before adding it to your batter.
- Eggs: Use large eggs and bring them to room temperature before mixing in. Eggs strengthen the binding of your bakes and also add moisture. Having your eggs at room temperature makes it easier to incorporate them and allow them to mix thoroughly in your batter. A good way of doing this is by letting them sit in a bowl filled with room temperature water for around 10 minutes or until they come down to room temperature.
- Vanilla: I highly recommend that you use a high quality, pure vanilla extract. This helps in giving a rich flavor to your baked goods. Pure vanilla extracts are typically dark brown in color. This enhances the flavor of all ingredients and you should never leave this out.
- Unsalted Butter: I always prefer to use unsalted butter because salted butters have varying amounts of salt content in them and it is always a good idea to add it on your own and avoid your bakes from being too salty.
- Cream cheese: Having your cream cheese at room temperature helps to make a smooth glaze without and lumps. I recommend using block cream cheese to make this frosting.
- Maple Syrup: Adding maple syrup to your cream cheese frosting will elevate its flavour and complement even more with these pies.
- Heavy Cream: You will need high-fat heavy cream or heavy whipping cream to make a smooth and silky frosting. If you’re using low-fat cream, make sure to drain out the water content from it before starting.
- Powdered Sugar: You will need powdered of confectioners’ sugar to add to your cream cheese frosting. It mixes in it like a breeze and leaves no grainy lumps at all!
FAQ
To make homemade puree, cut the pumpkin into cubes and allow it to boil along with 1-2 cups of water in a heavy bottomed saucepan. You can add half a teaspoon of salt to speed this process a little. You want to boil it until it is soft enough to be mashed. Drain out all the water and allow it to cool completely. If you’ve not removed the outer skin, do it now. It should come out very easily. Transfer the cooled pumpkin to a mixer and mix until you get the consistency of a thick puree. Homemade puree usually has more liquid content than canned puree. Drain out all the liquid by transferring it to a cheesecloth and letting all of it drain for around 30 minutes. Transfer the homemade puree to an airtight container and chill for 1-2 hours before adding to these pies.
These pies taste the best when filled with a delicious maple cream cheese frosting. This frosting is not too sweet and pairs perfectly with the warm fall spices in these pies. For the best results, chill the frosting in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes before frosting the pies. This will prevent it from flowing down them and not make them messy. Trust me, you don’t want a soft frosting. You can either pipe a dollop of frosting onto these mini cakes using a round tip or a swirl using a star tip. If not, you can even spoon the the frosting onto these pies. Alternatively, it is totally acceptable to swap out the maple syrup with a good quality bourbon for a boozy version of these pies. Once you’ve assembled these pies, chill them in the refrigerator for atleast 30-40 minutes to allow the frosting to set.
Once you’ve assembled these whoopie pies, immediately transfer them to the refrigerator and allow to chill for atleast 30-40 minutes before serving. This will help the frosting to set. However, these pies can be sticky in texture. So you want to place a layer of wax paper or parchment in between them if stacking them on top of one another. You can also freeze these pies. Store them in an airtight container and freeze them for about a month. Before serving, make sure to thaw them in the refrigerator overnight.
Tips to make this recipe:
- Use chilled pumpkin. It is best to chill your pumpkin puree before mixing into your batter. If you’re making a homemade puree make sure to drain the excess water out of it before adding it to your batter.
- Do not hold back on the spices. I know, 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon and adding along some ginger, nutmeg and all-spice might sound a lot at first and leave you holding back from adding them. I get it that you’re sceptical. But trust me, all of these spices blend in so well in these mini pies and give it the perfectly cozy fall flavours you’re looking for!
- Do not over mix. I can’t stress enough on this. These cookies are basically light & pillowy like a cake, which means you want to keep the stirring at a minimum for them to rise perfectly. Stop mixing once the dry ingredients are combined in the batter. A few streaks of flour remaining is okay!
- Pipe the batter and smooth before baking. To make these pies pretty, you will need to pipe circles of the cake batter onto prepared baking sheets or a silicone mat rather than spooning the batter on your baking sheet. Use a macaron mat or make a template (using parchment paper) to pipe the batter in around 1-2 inch diameter circles using a large round piping tip. If you don’t have a tip, just transfer the batter to a disposable piping bag or a ziploc bag and make a small cut of desired size at the front of the bag. This will do the job of a piping tip. Once piped, smooth out any uneven tops. Dampen your finger with a bit of water and gently brush over any lumps and bumps on top. Once baked, the tops will be smooth and shiny.
- Do not over bake. These pies are basically cake, which means they are light and fluffy. Over baking will make them dry and crumbly and will affect their texture. To make sure they stay soft and tender, keep an eye on them towards the end of baking time. They are done when a toothpick inserted in them comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached. At this point, immediately remove the cookie sheet from the oven and allow the pies to cool completely.
- Cool the pies completely before frosting. Waiting to fill these whoopie pies with the maple cream cheese filling is hard to do, but I promise you it’s worth the wait. Do not attempt to frost the pies until they are completely cool to the touch or assembling these minis will be a very messy endeavor.
- Chill the assembled pies before serving. I know, waiting for these pies even more after you’re done assembling them is going to be hard. But trust me they’re absolutely worth the wait. Okay I am not gonna lie, you will probably end up eating a couple of them at this point. Chilling these pies in the refrigerator is necessary to allow the maple cream cheese frosting to completely set. This will take about 30-45 minutes. And they are going to be absolutely scrumptious when eaten straight out of the refrigerator.
HOW TO GET THE BEST RESULTS FROM THIS RECIPE?
All of the recipes on the blog are thoroughly tested multiple times and carefully designed so that anyone can reproduce these delicious baked good in their own kitchen and enjoy them to the fullest. The only way to make this possible is when anyone can exactly replicate the measurements and temperatures.
- In order to standardise the way ingredients are measured, I highly recommend that you weigh them in grams. Volume measurements are nearly not as accurate and have a lot of scope for errors. To precisely be able to replicate the recipes, all you will need is a kitchen scale!
- Every oven heats up differently. Your oven might be over heating or under heating by around 50 degrees or more and you might not even know. In order to ensure that you are baking at the right temperatures, I highly recommend investing in an oven thermometer!
If you would still like to bake using volume measurements, I mentioned those below. However, I primarily test my recipes in grams and cannot promise the best results if you do so. Trust me, once you’ll start using these tools you’d never want to go back.
I hope you’ll enjoy a batch of these mini pumpkin whoopie pies this autumn and don’t forget to bookmark this recipe for the holidays. These mini desserts would make the perfect finale to your Thanksgiving feast!
Happy Fall Baking!
Print
Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
- Total Time: 42 minutes
- Yield: 18–20 pies 1x
Description
These mini pumpkin whoopie pies are packed full of cozy warm fall spices along with a sweet maple cream cheese frosting to make the most delicious bite size dessert. They are full of pumpkin flavour and so easy to make. They are light & pillowy soft sponge cakes that your whole family will love.
Ingredients
Whoopie Pies
- 250g (2 cups) all-purpose flour, spooned and levelled
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon all-spice powder
- 267g (1⅓ cups) dark brown sugar
- 160ml (⅔ cup) vegetable or canola oil
- 283g (10 oz or 1½ cups) canned or homemade pumpkin puree, chilled
- 1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 76g (⅓ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 60g (¼ cup) block cream cheese, at room temperature
- 155g (1¼ cup) confectioners’ or powdered sugar, sifted
- 2 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream or whole milk, at room temperature
- ½ pure vanilla extract
- pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
Whoopie Pies
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper (if using a macaron template) or a silicone baking macaron mat. Set aside.
- Whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger and all-spice powder
- In another bowl, add the oil. To that add in the brown sugar and chilled pumpkin puree and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Add in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Whisk together until completely combined.
- Sift in the dry ingredients into the wet. Using a silicone spatula, mix and fold it in the wet ingredients. Do not overmix. A few streaks of flour remaining is perfectly okay.
- Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a large round tip. Or alternately, transfer the batter into a large plastic bag and snip off the corner of the bag to pipe the batter.
- Pipe the batter onto prepared baking sheets in around 1-2 inch diameter circles leaving around 1 inch space between the pies.
- Bake the whoopie pies for 10-12 minutes. Once fully baked, the pies should spring back when touched and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Do not over bake.
- Remove the pan from the oven and place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the whoopie pies from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before filling.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the block cream cheese and softened unsalted butter until completely smooth.
- Add in the maple syrup, heavy cream, vanilla and salt. Mix well.
- Sift in powdered sugar and beat until combined and no lumps remain.
- Place frosting in a large piping bag fitted with a large round tip. If frosting becomes too soft and warm, place it in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes.
Assembly
- To assemble the whoopie pies, place a dollop or swirl of maple cream cheese frosting on the flat side of one pie and then top with the flat side of another whoopie pie. Gently press together to create a sandwich.
- Place the assembled whoopie pies in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes to chill, allowing the frosting to set.
- Store whoopie pies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for upto 4 days. Place a wax paper in between if stacking them. You can also freeze them (see faqs above).
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Fall dessert, Pumpkin Dessert, Mini Pies
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: pumpkin whoopie pies, mini pumpkin pies, fall desserts, thanksgiving dessert recipes, warm fall bakes
Leave a Reply