These Pumpkin Whoopie Pies are the perfect fall treat! Make soft mini pumpkin disks and fill them with a decadent cream cheese frosting. Then, bring these mini cakes to a halloween party or Thanksgiving.
Weeking-easy
Beginner-friendly
You’ll Learn: The trick to making smooth, fluffy cream cheese frosting
Worth It: Simple method, great results without fussy steps
Bonus: Customizable filling and spice levels to suit your taste
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Mini cake sandwiches – If you’ve never had a whoopie pie, they are like a delicious mini cake. They look like a cookie sandwich, but the sides are cake instead of cookie.
- Fall twist – Traditionally the cake is chocolate and the filling is a buttercream frosting. I put a fall twist on it by making pumpkin cake filled with cream cheese frosting.
- Great for parties – These pumpkin whoopie pies are the perfect item to bring to a Halloween party or even Thanksgiving! They are great for a buffet or dinner party in October or November, because each one is like a mini pumpkin cake.
who created whoopie pies?
Whoopie pies are said to be created by Pennsylvania Dutch women. They used any leftover cake batter to make little disks and baked them.
Then, they put leftover cake icing between the disks to make sandwich cookies. It was an easy and delicious way to prevent ingredient waste. They are often referred to as whoopie pies or pumpkin gobs.
Serving suggestions
This recipe for pumpkin whoopie pies is such a fun and festive fall dessert. It would be an awesome dessert to bring to a halloween gathering.
You could plan a full fall dinner with a fall harvest salad, spicy pumpkin pasta and these fluffy pumpkin spice whoopie pies.
Ingredients
- Sugar – I use granulated sugar for this recipe
- Brown sugar – the brown sugar gives the whoopie pies a richer flavor
- Vegetable oil – I use vegetable oil, but you can use any neutral oil like canola oil
- Large eggs – make sure your eggs are room temperature for the best results
- Pumpkin puree – use plain canned pumpkin puree for this recipe
- All purpose flour – the flour creates the base of the cakes
- Salt – the salt intensifies all the flavors in the pumpkin whoopie pies
- Baking soda and baking powder – baking soda and powder help with the rise on the cakes
- Pumpkin pie spice – I use premade pumpkin pie spice to add pumpkin flavor, but you can also make your own with cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and any other fall flavors you enjoy
- Cream cheese – this creates the base for the whoopie pie filling
- Butter – make sure to use unsalted butter
- Powdered sugar – use powdered sugar for the cream cheese filling for the smoothest results
- Vanilla extract – the vanilla adds a depth of flavor to your filling
Ingredient substitutions
For best results, I recommend following the amounts and ingredients as listed here for this pumpkin whoopie pie recipe. If you want to make this gluten free you can use a gluten free all purpose flour.
If you do not have any canned pumpkin puree, feel free to use canned butternut squash or canned sweet potato puree. To simplify this recipe, you can use a pre-made cream cheese frosting for the pumpkin pie filling.
If you don’t have vanilla extract, you could use maple syrup instead.
How to make
Step 1: Prepare pumpkin batter
To begin, preheat oven to 350F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Combine flour, half teaspoon salt, baking soda, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl and set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together sugars and oil until well combined. Whisk in the eggs until fully incorporated and smooth. Whisk in the 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree.
Then, fold the flour mixture into wet and mix until the batter is smooth and no clumps remain.
Step 2: bake whoopie pie disks
Pour the dough batter into either a large piping bag or plastic bag. Cut a small tip off the corner. Pipe the batter out into roughly 2 inch sized discs spaced 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. You should be able to make 32 discs. You can also do this using a cookie scoop.
Then, wet a clean finger and smooth out the tops rewetting as necessary so the batter doesn’t stick to your finger.
Bake in the oven for a total time of 13-15 minutes. They should deepen slightly in color. Allow to cool fully on a cooling rack.
Step 3: prepare cream cheese frosting and assemble whoopie pies
Next, make the frosting by beating the butter and cream cheese together with an electric mixer. Beat powdered sugar and teaspoon vanilla extract in.
Continue beating on hight for 3 minutes until a smooth and fluffy frosting remains. Pipe a couple tablespoons of the frosting onto half of the disks and top with the other half.
Allow the whoopie pies to rest for 30-45 minutes in a cool place for the icing to set up then enjoy!
Storage
These pumpkin whoopie pies are made with a cream cheese frosting so it is best to store them in the refrigerator. Place them in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to one week.
You can also store the cake disks and filling separately. Then, allow them to come to room temperature and fill the disks as they are enjoyed.
Check out these other Fall Dessert Recipes
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
Email Recipe for Later
Recipe
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup neutral oil canola, vegetable, avocado
- 2 eggs
- 1 15oz can pure pumpkin puree
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
Filling Ingredients
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
- 4 oz butter 1/2 stick, softened
- 2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Combine flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice in a mixing bowl and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together sugars and oil until well combined. Whisk in the eggs until fully incorporated and smooth. Whisk in the pumpkin puree.
- Fold dry ingredients into wet and mix until the batter is smooth and no clumps remain.
- Add batter to either a large piping bag or plastic bag. Cut a small tip off the corner.
- Pipe the batter out into roughly 2 inch sized discs spaced 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. You should be able to make 32 discs.
- Wet a clean finger and smooth out the tops rewetting as necessary so the batter doesn’t stick to your finger
- Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes. They should deepen slightly in color. Allow to cool fully.
- Make the frosting by beating the butter and cream cheese together with an electric mixer. Beat powdered sugar and vanilla extract in. Continue beating on hight for 3 minutes until a smooth and fluffy frosting remains
- Pipe the frosting onto half of the disks and top with the other half.
- Allow the whoopie pies to rest for 30-45 minutes in a cool place for the icing to set up then enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- You can use a store bought frosting to simplify this recipe
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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