Pumpkin Whoopie Pies — 🎃🙌🎉 Soft and tender pumpkin cookies with a thick layer of sweet buttercream sandwiched between them will make you scream “Whoopie!” for one of these fun pies. They’re easy and fast to make, moist, and rich!
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Best Ever Pumpkin Whoopie Pies Recipe
Whoopie!!! That’s what I want to say when I bite into one of these pumpkin whoopie cakes.
If you’ve never eaten a homemade whoopie pie, it’s essentially rich buttercream filling that’s sandwiched between two very soft and tender cookies. It doesn’t get much better!
I just wanted to pick off these little morsels and squish them between my fingers. The cookies are soft and remind me of my days squishing Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies as a kid.
Buttercream is layered on thick and in plentiful abundance. The only way frosting and fillings should be!
Love Pumpkin Spice Treats?
My soft and puffy pumpkin spice cookies are full of sweet pumpkin spice flavor and are perfect for a crowd.
And my pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting is easy to make and perfect for holidays and celebrations!
Ingredients for Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
To make this spiced pumpkin whoopie pie recipe, you’ll need:
Whoopie pies:
- Brown sugar
- Vegetable oil
- Pure pumpkin puree – Make sure to use pure canned pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling, which contains added spices and sweeteners!
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Spices
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
Buttercream filling:
- Milk
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar (also known as confectioner’s sugar)
- Unsalted butter
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Making homemade pumpkin whoopie pies with buttercream frosting is much, much simpler than you might think! Here’s an overview of the baking process:
- Whisk the wet ingredients and dry ingredients for the whoopie pie batter like you would cupcakes. Then, use a spoon or small ice cream scoop to scoop it out onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat using a 1/4 measuring cup. Don’t worry if the batter is soupy! It’s supposed to be.
- Bake the cookies just until set, noting that they’ll firm up as they cool.
- While the cookies cool, combine the buttercream-filling ingredients in a large bowl. A stand mixer is useful for this! The filling should be light and fluffy.
- Allow the pumpkin whoopie pies to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Pipe or spoon the filling onto the flat side of half of the whoopie cakes. Then, stack the remaining cakes on top, creating a sandwich. Enjoy!
Use a Different Filling
Not a fan of classic buttercream? Feel free to swap out the filling with marshmallow buttercream, cream cheese filling, or chocolate frosting for a unique twist on this delicious pumpkin-flavored fall treat.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, some people make the filling with vegetable shortening, but I prefer butter in my buttercream because the flavor can’t be beat. However, the advantage to using shortening is that it has much more structure than butter and so the filling is firmer, holds up better, and has more density and less squish than a butter-based buttercream.
Yes, you can freeze the assembled homemade whoopie pies or freeze the cookies and frosting separately. If freezing the assembled pumpkin whoopie pies, be sure to wrap them individually in plastic wrap and then seal them in a freezer bag. This prevents the buttercream filling from oozing out and also prevents the cookies from sticking to each other.
Yes, you can freeze the assembled homemade whoopie pies or freeze the cookies and frosting separately. If freezing the assembled pumpkin whoopie pies, be sure to wrap them individually in plastic wrap and then seal them in a freezer bag. This prevents the buttercream filling from oozing out and also prevents the cookies from sticking to each other.
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Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Equipment
- 2 Baking Sheets
- 1 Large Mixing Bowl
- 1 Quarter Cup Measuring Cup
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup canola or vegetable oil
- ¾ cup pumpkin puree
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
For the Buttercream Filling
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted and divided
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
Instructions
For the Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 325°F and line two baking sheets with Silpat liners or parchment paper; set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine first 11 ingredients, up to the salt, and whisk until smooth.
- Add the remaining ingredients, and mix until just combined; don’t overmix. Batter will be soft and runny.
- Using a one-quarter cup measure, scoop the batter onto prepared baking sheets, six round mounds of batter per sheet; this may also be done with a pastry bag if preferred.
- Bake for about 12 to 14 minutes, or until tops have set. Cookies will be very soft and may look underdone, but firm up as they cool.
- Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for at least 10 minutes before moving them to rack to finish cooling.
- Allow cookies to cool completely before filling and sandwiching them together. While they cool, make the filling.
For the Buttercream Filling:
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the milk, vanilla extract, and 1 cup of the powdered sugar, then mix on high speed until the mixture is creamy and light.
- Add butter and remaining cup of sugar, and whip on high speed until very light, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Apply a generous dollop of frosting to 6 of the cookies. Sandwich them together with the remaining unfrosted 6 cookies, creating 6 whoopie pies.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Pumpkin Desserts:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake — Takes five minutes to make the batter by hand and it’s one of the moistest cakes I’ve ever had and will be a favorite for years to come!
Pumpkin Roll – With my EASY pumpkin roll recipe and clear specific directions, you’re going to be a pumpkin roll pro! No dish towel required to roll up my classic pumpkin roll cake that’s full of rich pumpkin spice flavor and tangy cream cheese frosting!
Pumpkin Cream Cheese Bread— This is without a doubt the BEST pumpkin bread recipe! This pumpkin cream cheese bread tastes like it has cheesecake baked into the middle. You’ll definitely want a second slice!
Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting— Moist pumpkin cake is topped with a creamy homemade cream cheese frosting. This easy fall dessert is perfect for Thanksgiving, Halloween, and more!
Fudgy Pumpkin Bars with Vanilla Bean Browned Butter Glaze — Bars so soft they’re like biting into pumpkin fudge! The glaze is ahh-mazing!
Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars – Super soft and are like biting into a piece of rich pumpkin fudge! Loaded with chocolate and crazy good!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread — Super soft, moist, rich pumpkin flavor, and loaded with chocolate chips! Easy, no mixer recipe that’s the best!
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars — Classic cheesecake bars get an autumnal makeover in this recipe! Sweet, pumpkin spiced, CREAMY bars with a graham cracker crust for fabulous texture! PERFECT for fall gatherings or Thanksgiving!
I used to make a really good low-fat pumpkin muffin. We were both completely hooked on them for a while. Haven’t done them in a couple of years. I’ll have to look up that recipe again.
Pumpkin Bread is my favorite … https://foodstoriesblog.com/2012/09/25/whole-wheat-pumpkin-bread/
It’s so hard to pick one! My mom makes pumpkin cream cheese muffins that are amazing!
i am barely getting into pumpkin so i want to try so many things liiiiiike pumpkin whoopie pies!
My favorite pumpkin recipe is for pumpkin cookies. Pumpkin makes everything so moist!
I love pumpkin and have a great source of free sugar pumpkins. I want to try all of these. I’ve made the pumpkin chocolate chip and they are our new favorite! Bump today’s whoopie pies are next on my to-do list! Thank you so much!
I would love to read Jenna’s book! My favorite pumpkin recipe right now are vegan pumpkin oatmeal cookies! I love all things pumpkin though :)
I follow you by email
I am not a big pumpkin fan but I will eat it if it has cream cheese frosting on it! :)
My favorite pumpkin recipe is Cook’s Illustrated Pumpkin Pie. It is amazing!
https://www.browneyedbaker.com/2010/11/11/pumpkin-pie-recipe/
my favorite pumpkin recipe? ooo, that’s a doozy…my mom makes a killer spicy pumpkin soup that is to DIE for, but I also love muffins and breads of all kinds! the most recent pumpkin recipe I made, which I’ll say is a new favorite, is for homemade pumpkin spice coffee syrup (Savvy Eats – https://www.savvyeat.com/improved-coffee-shop-pumpkin-syrup/). mine didn’t QUITE turn out like her picture, and when I tasted it by itself I thought it was too spicy and not sweet enough. but add it into some strong coffee with a splash of half and half, and you’ve got a coffee-shop taste at home!
Oh wow, now that’s an interesting idea! Sounds delish!
definitely follow you on Pinterest already, and most recently pinned the recipe for Brown Sugar Cranberry Whole Wheat Bread. I pretty much pin your recipes daily anyway, from your posts :D
Thanks for the pins :)
I subscribe to your blog through email, and one of my favorite parts of morning is going through all the posts from blogs I’m subscribed to – including, and especially, yours!
I already like you on Facebook :)
Like on FB!
YUM! I made pumpkin apple muffins last night, and they are delicious!