I do pumpkin ones with cream cheese frosting and chopped candied ginger. Sooo good. It's like the essence of fall in a cookie.
I also got a jar of maple cream this fall (syrup that's been boiled down until it's halfway to candy), and put that in a cream cheese frosting and put it all on a pumpkin cake.
Figured as much. We got ours at a farmers' market in Western Mass.
You don't really need a recipe for the whoopie pies, if you already have a pumpkin whoopie pie base and a cream cheese frosting you're happy with. (Well, if you don't, then you do need a recipe, but it sounds like you've got the pumpkin part covered and I figured you would have a cream cheese frosting.) You just mince a bunch of candied ginger, stir it into the frosting, and slap that between cookies.
I adore candied ginger--I eat it straight--and I tend to throw it into half my fall recipes whether or not it was called for. I think my favorite ice cream ever was a cardamom-ginger ice cream that had bits of candied ginger in it.
I actually don't have a pumpkin whoopie pie base I really like. Mine all either come out too dry or too sticky; I haven't gotten a really GOOD one yet.
From the King Arthur Cookie Companion (speaking of Vermont, they're one of my favoritest stores ever):
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
1 1/2 cups (15 oz can) pumpkin 2 large eggs 2 cups brown sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 2 Tbsp molasses or dark corn syrup 1 tsp salt 1 tsp cloves 1 tsp ginger 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease (or line with parchement) two large baking sheets. 2. Beat together pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, oil, molasses. Beat in salt, spices, baking powder, and baking soda. 3. Add flour and beat for 1 minute until thoroughly combined. Drop in 1/4 cup meaures onto sheets, 2 inches apart. 4. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cookies will feel firm and a slight indentation will remain when you press your finger in the center.
They have a gelatin-stabilized filling. Gelatin and I don't get on so well. After the first disaster, I gave up and just used a cream cheese frosting with ginger stirred in.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-09 02:16 pm (UTC)From:That's almost as good as pumpkin-maple ones.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-09 02:30 pm (UTC)From:I also got a jar of maple cream this fall (syrup that's been boiled down until it's halfway to candy), and put that in a cream cheese frosting and put it all on a pumpkin cake.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-09 02:48 pm (UTC)From:I have maple cream in the fridge. I live in Vermont, trust me, I know what it is. ;-)
(and that cake sounds AMAZING)
no subject
Date: 2010-12-09 04:30 pm (UTC)From:You don't really need a recipe for the whoopie pies, if you already have a pumpkin whoopie pie base and a cream cheese frosting you're happy with. (Well, if you don't, then you do need a recipe, but it sounds like you've got the pumpkin part covered and I figured you would have a cream cheese frosting.) You just mince a bunch of candied ginger, stir it into the frosting, and slap that between cookies.
I adore candied ginger--I eat it straight--and I tend to throw it into half my fall recipes whether or not it was called for. I think my favorite ice cream ever was a cardamom-ginger ice cream that had bits of candied ginger in it.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-09 04:49 pm (UTC)From:I eat candied ginger straight, too. :-D
no subject
Date: 2010-12-10 12:51 am (UTC)From:Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
1 1/2 cups (15 oz can) pumpkin
2 large eggs
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 Tbsp molasses or dark corn syrup
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease (or line with parchement) two large baking sheets.
2. Beat together pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, oil, molasses. Beat in salt, spices, baking powder, and baking soda.
3. Add flour and beat for 1 minute until thoroughly combined. Drop in 1/4 cup meaures onto sheets, 2 inches apart.
4. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cookies will feel firm and a slight indentation will remain when you press your finger in the center.
They have a gelatin-stabilized filling. Gelatin and I don't get on so well. After the first disaster, I gave up and just used a cream cheese frosting with ginger stirred in.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-10 12:53 am (UTC)From: