Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

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• I haven't had a lot of luck making whoopie pies, my first two attempts making chocolate whoopies didn't go very well. The second batch were an absolute disaster, they weren't so much cakey cookies as they were miss-shaped chocolate puddles. Lucky for me and my whoopie pie making confidence these pumpkin ones turned out great.
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• I really love pumpkin baked goods and their yummy spiciness, they're so prefect for winter. The cake cookies are quite dense and packed with spices that pair perfectly with the slight earthy flavour of the pumpkin. The cream cheese filling is absolutely dreamy, the kind of frosting I'd happily sit down with a bowl and spoon. I'm sure I'll be making these again.
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• For the Whoopies (from Martha Stewart)
• 3 cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground cloves
• 2 cups brown sugar (firmly packed)
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups pumpkin puree ( I used home made, allow to cool before using)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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• To make the whoopies- preheat the oven to 180 degrees c. cover two baking trays with baking paper.
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• Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves into a bowl and set aside.
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• In another bowl beat the sugar and oil until combined, add the pumpkin and vanilla and mix well. Add the eggs one at a time and continue beating until they are thoroughly incorporated.
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• Sprinkle the sifted dry ingredients over the top of the pumpkin and mix until combined.
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• Spoon generous tablespoons of the mixture onto the baking trays about 3 cm apart (try to keep them similar size and shape so they match up when sandwiched).
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• Bake the whoopies for about 15 minutes or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean. Remove them from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking trays.
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• Once the whoopies are cool, pipe the filling onto the bottoms of half of the cookies, sandwich with the remaining halves.
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• Now I skipped this next step and just tried one straight away, but I'd recommended leaving them to set in the refrigerator for a short while to stop the filling squooshing out the sides.
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• For the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Filling
• 60 grams unsalted butter (softened)
• 250 grams cream cheese (softened)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3-4 cups icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
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• Beat the butter and cream cheese until fluffy and smooth, mix in the vanilla.
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• Add the cinnamon and the icing sugar a cup at a time until smooth and spreadable. If the filling isn't thick enough add a little more icing sugar at a time to get the desired consistency.
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• Whoooopie!