Mini Chocolate Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

The addition of pumpkin makes these chocolate whoopie pies extra flavorful and very moist.

There's also a few teaspoons of cinnamon and a good dose of sea salt in the batter which are nice compliments to the dark chocolate. The filling is just a vanilla cream cheese buttercream that's quick to make, light and not too sweet.

I also really like this recipe because there's canola oil instead of butter in the whoopie pie batter and it can be quickly mixed by hand. One batch yields enough cakes to assemble four dozen whoopie pies.

Here's the recipe:

Mini Chocolate Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
(makes enough cakes for four dozen filled pies) 
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup canola
2 eggs
2 (15oz) cans pumpkin
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
3/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Line sheetpans with parchment and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together the sugars, canola oil, eggs, pumpkin and vanilla.

Put the sugars, pumpkin, eggs, canola oil, and vanilla in a bowl.

Mix it until it is well combined.

In another large bowl whisk together the remaining dry ingredients.

The flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, sea salt, baking soda and baking powder.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until well combined.

The batter is fairly thick.

Use a 1-inch scoop to drop mounds of batter onto the baking sheets, spacing them 2-inches apart. Use your fingertips to lightly flatten the mounds.

After dropping the scoops of batter onto the baking sheet, use your fingertips to lightly flatten the mounds.

Bake the cakes for 10 minutes or until done and springy to the touch. Let the baked cakes cool for a bit on the baking sheets before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Sort the cakes into pairs and fill with vanilla cream cheese buttercream.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Buttercream
8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and whip again.

I like to support each whoopie pie with a mini muffin paper. Keep the pies covered in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve them.