Sourdough pumpkin whoopie pies
These sourdough pumpkin whoopie pies are brimming with a creamy smooth maple filling sandwiched between two delicious soft pumpkin cookies.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups flour (all purpose flour or half regular and half whole wheat are fine!)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 2/3 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup unrefined sugar (or regular white sugar)
- 1/2 cup sourdough discard or active starter
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 6 T butter, melted
Maple Buttercream filling:
- 1/4-1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup (half stick) softened butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 T cream cheese
- drizzle of milk if too thick
Instructions
- In a medium bowl whisk together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, unrefined sugar, sourdough starter, eggs and vanilla.
- Melt the butter and allow to cool about 5 minutes. Add to the pumpkin mixture and stir briefly.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir well but do not over mix! The cookie batter will be very moist. That is fine.
- Preheat the oven to 350. Put the dough in the fridge until the oven has reached temperature.
- In the meantime, grease two cookie sheets/baking sheets or line with parchment paper or use silicone baking mats which are my personal favorite.
- Using a small cookie scoop (ice cream scooper) place little mounds about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. These cookies do not spread very much.
- Flatten slightly with the back of a spoon.
- Place into oven and bake for 12-14 minutes. These are a soft pumpkin cookie but they should still be a bit firm and yet bouncy when you tap them with your finger. They have the texture and feel of part cake-part cookie.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the pan for five minutes.
- Transfer to a wire rack and allow the cookies to cool to room temperature before spreading filling on them.
- Make the filling by using an electric mixer and beating together everything except the powdered sugar. Add the powdered sugar and beat well. Add a dash of milk or two until it is a spreadable consistency.
- Spread filling between the flat side of two cookies and sandwich them together. (Or use a piping bag for a prettier appearance). Store in the fridge for up to a week. Enjoy!
Notes
Note: I doubled this recipe and it made a nice big batch of apx 2 1/2 dz finished whoopie pies.
These cake-like cookies can also be enjoyed for a less sweet (and messy) snack with out the maple buttercream filling as a basic sourdough pumpkin cookie recipe.