Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

A couple of years ago I tried a bite size pumpkin whoopie pie from One Girl Cookie in Brooklyn and it was delicious. Since then I have been intrigued by the thought of making them but never got around to it, until this week. While browsing the stacks at B&N I came across the "Baked" bakery cookbook. After drooling over their pumpkin whoopie pie and sweet & salty cake recipe, I decided to painstakingly write them down in my trusty little notebook—only to come home and find both recipes on MarthaStewart.com. Arg.

The recipe.

They were really easy to make. The batter was straight forward: mix the dry, mix the wet, then mix them together. The recipe yields 12 pies, but made them smaller, getting 18 complete pies. The cookie/cake is super moist. I was worried that I may have slightly undercooked them, regardless they were awesome.

Pies cooling, pictured with a non-blog worthy chocolate carrot cake. Assembly was simple, I skipped the piping bag and just dished the frosting on with a large spoon, spread slightly and then put the pies together.

A friend gave me a bottle of Nielsen Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste recently and I've really enjoyed using it. I am partial to their extract, but this is the first time I've used the paste. The paste is used exactly like the extract, but I typically save it for frosting—where the lovely little vanilla beans are visible.