Gluten-free Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Pumpkin season is in full swing in my house and it shows no signs of slowing down.  Even though Richmond insists on keeping the temperature in the high 80′s, I’m telling myself it is fall to justify eating pumpkin everyday. I’m fully expecting to turn orange soon since carrots and pumpkins are nature’s spray-on tan.  I would willingly turn orange for these little gems though.

Pumpkin whoopie pies filled with cream cheese frosting. Swoon.

I’ve never made whoopie pies before but decided they would be fun to make with some awesome gals from work. After all, wine and whoopie pies seem like a pretty foolproof plan for deliciousness.  I was a bit nervous making the cookie portion of the pies because they can be very delicate and break very easily.  Trying to make something gluten-free and delicate can be a frustrating task, but these turned out to be delicate little clouds of pumpkin cookie heaven.

When making these whoopie pies, having a good gluten-free flour mixture is very important.  You want something that isn’t too starchy and that is medium weight. I made my own using ratios similar to this mix here with a few tweaks:

350g flours
-150g brown rice flour (finely ground)
-100g sorghum flour
-100g almond flour

100g starches (potato and tapioca mix)

If you want to buy some gluten-free flour mix, I would recommend Pamela’s baking mix for these. Whichever flour option you choose, you will want a batter that is similar to a sticky, thick cake batter. It looks a bit strange, but trust me, it bakes up perfectly.  They can be made ahead and kept in the fridge for later that day or frozen for up to three days so that you can share them with friends and family. Or for yourself, as a post-workout snack. A good run always warrants a whoopie pie right? Any way you eat them, they are a fun and delicious fall dessert/snack/(breakfast? maybe) that you will be willing to turn orange for.

Gluten-free Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Yield: about 2 dozen medium sized pies (you can make them smaller or bigger, depending on what you like!)
Recipe adapted from: Rachel Ray

1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
1 cup  packed brown sugar (natural cane sugar also works!)
2 large eggs, brought to room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
233g gluten-free flour mix

1 package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1.  Preheat your oven to the 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter and sugar.
3. Whisk in pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until smooth.
4. Fold in flour mix in three batches, fully incorporating the flour between each addition.
5. Drop very full teaspoons of batter (so that it is closer to 1 1/2 tsp) on to baking sheet, taking care to leave a good amount of space between each cookie.  Flatten a bit with your fingers so you have little circles of batter.
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes until just golden on the bottoms and they spring back when touched on their tops. Let cool completely on a wire rack before removing from cookie sheet. (I usually just transfer my silpat or parchment to the cooling rack so I can re-use my baking sheet).
7.  Make your cream cheese filling by combining cream cheese and vanilla in a mixer (or using a hand mixer). Beat until fluffy then slowly add in powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency/sweetness. I made this more runny than my normal frosting so it was more like very thick icing.
8. To assemble: Match up similarly sized cookies and pipe cream cheese filling onto one cookie. Sandwich the other cookie on top and place in the fridge.

Tagged: cookie, cream cheese, frosting, pumpkin, whoopie pie