Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Ya, you read right.... h.e.a.v.e.n.


I think today was the first day... ahem, morning.... that it felt like fall. The marine layer took an extra hour to burn off, so I actually had a blissful moment where I thought I would actually get to wear a sweater for fall... which meant that I had to do make sort of pumpkin-y mess in the kitchen.

I am making sure to ease my new fiancé into the holiday baking terror that I can be...... apparently baking 6 pies and 4 loaves of bread in an afternoon while watching Home Alone on repeat is not normal behavior for most girls, so I figure that if I bake a little here and there, when I turn into full fledged crazy christmas cookie mode he will barely notice what I have become. Fingers crossed.

Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup canola oil
3 cups pumpkin puree (I used pumpkin pie puree..... and I still added all of the above spices. I highly recommend making the same mistake as I did.)
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

For the Maple Cream Cheese Frosting:
3 cups of powdered sugar
8 ounces whipped cream cheese at room temp.
4 ounces/ 1 stick of butter at room temp
3 tablespoons of PURE, REAL maple syrup***

***Note: Please, for the love of all Canadians, do not use that awful fake stuff. That's all that I can even say about that. That said (being Canadian and all) I may have added a little extra maple syrup..... just a little.....

Method:
Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
In a large bowl cream together granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil. Whisk in the pumpkin puree, eggs, and vanilla and mix well.
Gently add the flour and spice mixture to the pumpkin mixture and whisk until completely combined.
Using a small cookie scoop (I recommend getting one so that all of the cookies are the same size since you will be pairing them together) drop dollops of the dough on parchment paper lined cookie sheets about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees until a toothpick is inserted into the cookie and comes out clean.
Let the cookies cool completely while you make the frosting.

For the Frosting:
Beat the butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy.... I highly suggest using a stand mixer because I am lazy. You don't want any lumps. Add the powdered sugar and maple syrup and continue to whip until light and fluffy.

To Assemble:
I always use a ziplock bag to pipe frosting.... it is easy, mess free, and looks nice. Turn half of the cooled cookies over and pipe about a tablespoon of frosting onto each one. You want to leave a little border around the edge so that the frosting doesn't go everywhere when you put them together. Press an un-frosted  cookie onto and gently press together. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving so that the cookies have time to set.

*recipe barely adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking.