pumpkin spice whoopie pies – The Sassy Apron

A few weeks ago I was asked if I had ever tried baking gobs. To be honest, I had to google “gobs” before I could even answer. Gobs turned out to be another name for whoopie pies, or essentially a cake sandwich with frosting in the middle. Pretty genius right. I thought it was ridiculous that I hadn’t made these before, so obviously I had to make them right away. Apparently the traditional whoopie pie is chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, but of course I had a bajillion flavor combinations running through my mind. The past couple of weeks I managed to bake a few batches of red velvet, Dr Pepper chocolate, chocolate, and pumpkin whoopie pies. And they were all Amazing. I capitalized amazing for a reason. Whoever decided cake could be baked like cookies and then made into a sandwich should win an award.

Few things I learned while baking these little nuggets of joy:

1. Make sure the pies bake completely. I know this sounds like a no brainer, but if the top of the pie is slightly soft it will cause problems when you make the sandwiches- the top is the outside of the sandwich!

2. Make the frosting a thinner consistency than you normally would. It spreads on the pies easier.

3. Pipe the frosting onto the pie with a large round tip. It looks prettier than spreading the frosting with a spatula.

4. Don’t stack the finished whoopie pies on top of each other- at least not for an extended period of time. Wrap them individually.

I found Red Velvet Whoopie Pies over at the Brown Eyed Baker, so I decided to give her recipe a try. I did find that shortening is what gives the pies their fluffy cookie sized shape, so any whoopie pie recipe should use shortening in place of or in addition to butter.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

3 c. flour
1/3 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
½ c. butter, room temperature
½ c. vegetable shortening
½ c. light brown sugar
1 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
red food coloring
1 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350* and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, brown sugar, and sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and coloring. (I use the same color gels that I use for frosting- it doesn’t take much). Alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour mixture. I used a small cookie scoop to pour the batter on to the baking sheet. That allowed for consistent size and it’s just easier. It was probably about a tablespoon of batter for each pie. Bake for about 10 minutes, then let them cool for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Make your cream cheese frosting while they are baking. When the pies are cool, assemble your sandwiches!! I chose to add some chocolate ganache to mine…just because. I piped ganache on one side, frosting on the other, then sandwiched them together. Ta da!