Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

We couldn't get enough of these tantalizing treats from Betsy Bullard.

Ingredients

1/2 Cup butter, softened (1 stick)
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
2 Cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 TB. maple syrup (Betsy uses dark)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. CINNAMON (Betsy uses VIETNAMESE)
1 tsp. POWDERED GINGER
1/2 tsp. GROUND NUTMEG
1/4 tsp. GROUND CLOVES
2 large eggs
1 1/2 Cups (1 15-oz. can) pumpkin puree, NOT pumpkin pie filling
3 1/4 Cups flour (white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour works well)

Filling:
1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 TB. butter, softened
2 TB. shortening
2 Cups powdered sugar
1/2 Cup marshmallow fluff (see note)
1 tsp. PURE VANILLA EXTRACT or MEXICAN VANILLA EXTRACT
1/4 Cup diced CRYSTALLIZED GINGER, optional

Note: You really need the marshmallow fluff to make the traditional fluffy filling whoopie pies are known for. You can leave it out and still have a delicious cream cheese frosting-type filling, but it really just isn't the same.

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°. Grease two baking sheets or line them with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, oil, sugar, maple syrup, baking powder, baking soda, salt and SPICES. Make sure the brown sugar is completely mixed in: if it was lumpy to begin with, sift it into the bowl at the start. Otherwise the lumps melt during baking and change the nice round shape of the pie. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and then beat in the eggs one at a time until fluffy. Stir in the pumpkin. Add half of the flour and mix. Add the remaining flour and mix again. Spoon the batter by the tablespoon onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each mound. We did 9 per sheet. We also placed a few pieces of CRYSTALLIZED GINGER on top of half the cookies to become the top halves of the pies. Bake at 375° until firm, about 16-18 minutes. Remove from the oven, cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then carefully use a spatula to move to a rack to cool completely.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese, butter and shortening until very fluffy. Add half of the powdered sugar and mix. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and mix again. Add the VANILLA and marshmallow fluff and beat until very fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the CRYSTALLIZED GINGER. To assemble, spread 2 TB. of filling on one cookie and top with a second cookie.

Prep. time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 16-18 minutes per sheet
Yield: 36