The Best Pumpkin Whoopie Pie Recipe With Step By Step Instructions
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Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with a cream cheese filling are the perfect fall treat. The best part of this recipe is leave out the filling and have pumpkin cookies! We love to freeze these pumpkin cookie sandwiches and serve them slightly frozen.
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Barbara adapted the recipe for these pumpkin cookies from one she found in the Farm Journal Homemade Cookies cookbook. Her daughter declared these to be the best cookies ever!
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies are great after school snacks for the kids or throw them in the cooler as a treat at the football or soccer field.
Barbara has plans to make up a batch and throw them in the freezer as an easy dessert option for Kevin once he’s in the field harvesting corn and soybeans this fall!
Tips and Tricks
Here’s a tip: Once these Pumpkin Whoopie Pies are assembled, wrap them individually in plastic wrap and put them in the freezer. Pull the cookie sandwiches out one at a time, let them partially thaw out and then enjoy. They are a bit firmer when they are partially frozen and oh-so good! These are a great alternative to traditional ice cream sandwiches!
If you don’t feel like making the cream cheese frosting for the filling of these Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, then just skip that step and enjoy the pumpkin cookies on their own! The flavors are amazing.
However, if you want the full experience, then mix up that cream cheese frosting and and create these rich, flavorful sandwich cookies!
Ingredient List
- Shortening
- Bown sugar firmly packed
- Large eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Canned pumpkin (NOT Pumpkin Pie Filling)
- All purpose flour, sifted
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground nutmeg
How to Make Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Step by Step Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar together with a hand mixer or stand mixer.
- Add eggs, and beat thoroughly.
- Mix in vanilla and pumpkin puree.
- Sift together the dry ingredients in a separate medium bowl.
- Blend flour mixture into wet ingredients.
- Using a large cookie scoop, drop by heaping spoonfuls about 2-inches apart onto a greased baking sheet.
- Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Remove cookies from baking sheet and cool on wire racks.
- While cookies are cooling, make Cream Cheese Frosting.
- Once cooled to room temperature, add large dollop of cream cheese frosting onto bottom of a cookie and top with another cookie. Yields about 5 dozen individual cookies or 2 1/2 dozen whoopie pie sandwich cookies.
Storage Instructions
Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature up to 24 hours or in the refrigerator for longer than 24 hours. Wrap each whoopie pie in plastic wrap and store in a zip-lock freezer bag in the freezer for longer, is desired.
For the full pumpkin whoopie pie recipe, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Recipe FAQs
- If desired, press the dough down gently to spread out the cookies into a thinner cookie.
- Parchment paper makes clean-up super easy. Line the sheet pan with a layer of parchment paper.
- Crisco sticks are the easiest way to measure shortening. I always keep these on hand.
Recipe Variations
- Use any spices that remind you of fall including premade pumpkin pie spice, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, allspice or cinnamon.
- Add a little squirt of real maple syrup or maple extract to the cream cheese frosting.
- Instead of making a “pie” between 2 cookies, only frost the top of one cookie with cream cheese icing. This will stretch the recipe to feed more people, if needed.
- Not a pumpkin fan? Try our Chocolate Whoopie Pies using a cake mix!
​Do pumpkin whoopie pies need to be refrigerated?
If the filling is a cream cheese frosting, then it should be refrigerated. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to ten days, or wrap tightly and store in the freezer for up to 6 months. These taste best at room temperature; therefore, remove from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before consuming.
​Can pumpkin whoopie pies be frozen?
Yes, wrap each individual whoopie pie in plastic wrap first; then wrap again in aluminum foil. Place in an airtight container, and freeze for up to 6 months. To thaw, remove from the freezer, and place in the freezer for several hours, or let sit at room temperature until soft enough to eat.
MORE PUMPKIN RECIPES
Love pumpkin as much as we do? Here are a few of our favorites. Also, check out Our Best Recipes featuring pumpkin over at Recipes That Crock!
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Grandma’s Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
- Vintage Spiced Pumpkin Cake
- Pumpkin Crunch
- Frozen Pumpkin Delight
Kitchen Tools and Pantry Staples
- Kitchenaid Mixer
- Spoonula
- Sifter
- Icing Spatula
- Wire Cooling Rack
- Sheet pan
- Canned Pumpkin
- All Purpose Flour
- Vanilla Extract
- Baking Powder
- Ground Cinnamon
- Ground Nutmeg
- Shortening
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar firmly packed
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 15 ounces canned pumpkin
- 2 1/2 cups flour sifted
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Cream shortening and brown sugar together.
- Add eggs and beat thoroughly.
- Mix in vanilla and pumpkin.
- Sift together the dry ingredients.
- Blend into creamed mixture.
- Drop by heaping spoonfuls about 2-inches apart onto a greased baking sheet.
- Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Remove cookies from baking sheet and cool on racks.
- While cookies are cooling, make Cream Cheese Frosting.
- Once cooled, add dollop of cream cheese frosting onto bottom of a cookie and top with another cookie.
- Yields about 5 dozen individual cookies or 2 1/2 dozen whoopie pie sandwich cookies.
Notes
- If desired, press the dough down gently to spread out the cookies into a thinner cookie.
- Parchment paper makes clean-up super easy. Line the sheet pan with a layer of parchment paper.
- Crisco sticks are the easiest way to measure shortening. I always keep these on hand.
Nutrition
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Can butter be substituted for shorting?
We haven’t tried it but you could do a one-to-one swap. Not sure what it will do to the texture though.
How many dozen does it make?
It makes about 5 dozen individual cookies or two and a half dozen sandwich cookies.