These Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies are dense but delicate pumpkin spice cookies filled with tangy, slightly sweet cream cheese frosting! A wonderful treat to bake during the Fall season.
This recipe was originally published in October 2018 – I’ve since updated the photos and tweaked the recipe slightly. Enjoy!
Can y’all believe we are nearing the end of October?! This is my absolute favorite month of the year so I’m very sad to see it have gone by so quickly.
Maybe it’s the fact that today was a high of 90 here in North Carolina. It’s to the point where I’m wearing chunky knit cardigans and making myself sweat just so I can say it’s “sweater weather.” Sigh. My husband and I joked earlier because we were looking at the 10 day forecast and saw 77 and got so excited.
October should be full of brisk, chilly days. Where you go for walks and see leaves falling. Where the sun warms your bones – not makes you sweat! Ha. Maybe we will get there…in December! Oh the joys of living in the South.
BUT! We are still celebrating Fall and I’m officially posting my 4th pumpkin recipe this season thus far, so I think we are in a good place, right?! Right! So let’s be glad and indulge in one of these Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies!
What is a Whoopie Pie?
If you are wondering what in the world a whoopie pie is, you’re probably not alone.
Is it a cookie? Is it a pie? Is it a cake?
And the answer is…it’s kind of a mixture of all of them.
They are cookies – but they’re not like an hard texture like a normal sandwich cookie. They’re incredibly soft and fluffy – almost cake like.
So, you take two of those and then you add some decadent cream cheese frosting in the middle and boom – it’s whoopie pie! Maybe they call it that because when you eat it, you want to yell “Whoopie!” because they’re so good. What do y’all think? Ha!
Why You Should Make These:
Anyway, these Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies are everything I want in life right now.
The cookies themselves are incredibly soft and fluffy. They almost melt in your mouth – they’re delicate and spongy and moist. And filled with the very best pumpkin flavor due to the combination of both fresh pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice.
Oh, and the cream cheese frosting!!
Could I eat the frosting with a spoon? YES.
Did I eat some of the frosting with a spoon? ALSO YES.
But really, the cream cheese frosting is the perfect blend of creamy, tangy and sweet. It’s never overly rich but pairs perfectly with the spiced cookie.
It’s Fall in a cookie. They almost remind me of a Devil’s food cake texture. You could easily eat these cookies by themselves with a hot cup of coffee as a mid-day pick me up. Or at night with a cup of hot tea as a late night dessert.
Anytime of the day, these are delicious! So let’s get into what you need to make them!
Ingredients You Need:
- All purpose flour
- Pumpkin pie spice
- Baking powder + baking soda
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs
- Salted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Pumpkin puree
- Cream cheese
- Powdered sugar
Best Baking Tips:
First off, have I mentioned that this is a one-bowl baking recipe?! YUP! You can mix the batter together in just one large bowl. Win!
Make sure that your butter is softened (not melted!!) for this recipe. This will make it so easy to combine with the sugar and eggs! Speaking of the eggs, I say this in the recipe card below, but make sure to incorporate them one at a time until combined!
Another thing? Make sure that your baking sheet is lined with either parchment paper or a silicon mat. These cookies are sticky dough – so you don’t want them to stick!
One thing I really love about this recipe is that it’s so versatile! You can make the cookies as BIG or as SMALL as you want them and they always turn out! I personally think that mini whoopie pies would be the perfect treat for Halloween! See photo below for reference on how many different sizes that I did!
So, you can use a tablespoon size scoop (or spoon) to scoop these onto the mat or a teaspoon!
I do recommend slightly trying to shape them into a circular shape – you don’t have to flatten them or anything, I just used my fingers to try and best shape them into circular shapes as possible.
Bake and then once they are done, immediately move them to a cooling rack! Let cool for 15-20 minutes and then hello frosting time!
I don’t have a piping bag so after I made my frosting, I simply put it into a ziploc bag and cut the tip of the bag off and “piped” them in myself. Once the frosting is piped onto one cookie, carefully place the other cookie on top and make sure the frosting is evenly distributed.
Sprinkle some powdered sugar mixed with pumpkin pie spice on top and YUM! You’re all set for the best Fall treat ever! Enjoy, my friends!
Did you like this recipe? Here are a few others you might enjoy:
Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Blondies
Healthier Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
Thank you so much for following along here, friends! Want to see more? Be sure to follow ourbalancedbowl on Instagram and tag me with your photo if you end up making a recipe! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the Our Balanced Bowl Facebook page! Like a recipe that you saw? Follow me on Pinterest here! I always love to see your re-creations! If you do make a recipe, it would make my whole day if you were to rate and comment so I can get your feedback! Lots of love! – Haylie
Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies
These Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies are dense but delicate pumpkin spice cookies filled with tangy, slightly sweet cream cheese frosting! A wonderful treat to bake during the Fall season.
Ingredients
Pumpkin Spice Cookies
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or equally parts ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 tsp salt
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 5 oz softened cream cheese
- 8 tbsp softened butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line your large baking sheet with silicon or parchment paper.
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Beat your softened butter and 1 cup of sugar on medium speed with either a hand-held mixer or a stand mixer for about one minute. Add eggs in ONE at a time until they're fully incorporated. Add in your pumpkin puree and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
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Into the same bowl, sift your flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix until dough is full combined.
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Using a teaspoon, scoop out your cookies onto your lined baking sheet. I fit anywhere from 6-8 on mine. Note: You don't have to use a fork to flatten them down or anything BUT I would recommend using your hands to form them into a circular shape.
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Bake for 10-11 minutes. Immediately move to cooling rack once they are done. Let them cool for at least 15-20 minutes. Repeat until all of your dough is baked!
Cream Cheese Frosting
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Beat the softened cream cheese and butter together with the vanilla extract and the pumpkin pie spice. Add in the powdered sugar gradually, continually beating until frosting becomes light and fluffy.
Assembling the Pumpkin Spice Whoopie PIes
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Once the pumpkin spice cookies are fully cooled, add the cream cheese frosting to a ziploc bag and snip off the end. Pipe a generous amount of cream cheese frosting onto one cookie. Place another other bare pumpkin spice cookie on top and gently smush them together, making sure the cream cheese frosting is evenly distributed! Sprinkle powdered sugar on top.
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Enjoy! Can be stored for up to 2-3 days in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed container.
Recipe Notes
Note: this recipe makes several dozen cookies. You can either line 2-3 baking sheets at a time and bake all at once - or do like me: Bake them one batch at a time.
You can also make several different sizes of the cookies!! See above blog post for further instruction/photos 🙂
i love these
These cookies were so yummy and soft! Loved all the pumpkin-y goodness!
Thank you so much for making the recipe, Kimberly! So so happy you enjoyed them 🙂