Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

These comforting desserts are packed with fluffy white filling—and a lot of history.

Ingredients:

Cookies
3	cups (750 mL) all-purpose flour
1	tbsp (15 mL) Cinnamon Plus® Spice Blend
1	tsp (5 mL) baking powder
1	tsp (5 mL) baking soda
1	tsp (5 mL) salt
1	cup (250 mL) butter (2 sticks), softened
2	cups (500 mL) packed brown sugar
1	can (15 oz) solid pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) (1¾ cups/425 mL)
2	eggs
1/2	tsp (2 mL) Double-Strength Vanilla
1/2	cup (125 mL) toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped, divided
Filling
3/4	cup (175 mL) butter (11/2 sticks), softened
2	oz (60 g) cream cheese, softened
1	cup (250 mL) powdered sugar
1	jar (7.5 oz/213 g) marshmallow creme

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line Cookie Sheet with Parchment Paper; set aside. In Classic Batter Bowl, combine flour, spice blend, baking powder, baking soda and salt; mix well. Beat butter and brown sugar in Stainless (6-qt./6-L) Mixing Bowl on medium-high speed of electric hand mixer until creamy. Add pumpkin; beat until combined. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until light and fluffy. (Mixture will be thin, like a muffin batter.) Gradually add flour mixture; beat until well blended.
2. Using level Large Scoop, scoop batter onto prepared Cookie Sheet 2 in. (5 cm) apart; slightly flatten cookies with back of scoop. Press half of the walnuts into half of the cookies. Bake 16-19 minutes or until cookies spring back when lightly pressed. Slide parchment and cookies onto Stackable Cooling Rack; cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter and walnuts.
3. Using clean beaters, beat together butter, cream cheese, powdered sugar and marshmallow cream on medium-high speed in Stainless (4-qt./4-L) Mixing Bowl until well blended. To assemble cookies, turn the cookies without nuts bottom side up. Using a clean, scant Large Scoop, scoop filling onto each cookie bottom. Top with remaining cookies with walnuts, pressing down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edge. Wrap each cookie individually with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

Yield: 16 cookie sandwiches

Nutrients per serving: (1 cookie sandwich): Calories 490, Total Fat 24 g, Saturated Fat 14 g, Cholesterol 85 mg, Carbohydrate 66 g, Protein 5 g, Sodium 440 mg, Fiber 2 g

U.S. Diabetic exchanges per serving: 2 starch, 2 fruit, 5 fat (4 carb)

Cook's Tips: Whoopie pies have roots in Pennsylvania's Amish country. As legend has it, Amish women would pack them into their husbands' lunchboxes. Upon discovering them, the men would shout “Whoopie!”

Whoopie pies can be wrapped and refrigerated up to 1 day in advance.

To make smaller sandwiches, use a smaller scoop. The Medium Scoop makes 24 sandwiches and bakes for 12-14 minutes per batch. The Small Scoop makes 48 sandwiches and bakes for 13-16 minutes per batch.