Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies

I've made these twice. The first time... I'm not sure what recipe I used, probably the Whoopie Pie Book (same as the Dr Pepper Float ones). For the second I used the pumpkin recipe from the Whoopie Pie Book and the filling recipe from Amish Cooking: Deluxe Edition which was put out by Herald Press in the 90s.

Itty Bitty Whoopie Pies. That's a teacup saucer for reference.

I made these for DH's family Thanksgiving last year. They seemed well received and the 2nd? 3rd? cousins were sampling them before dinner. It made me miss Thanksgivings with my family (this year will be the first time since high school, thanks to moving 1500+ miles away for college), we are a special bunch and it's hard to replicate that. I brought the leftovers with me to the Tech game that weekend, they didn't disappear as readily but we were all wet and miserable after practice, if memory serves (or that was before we left for the bowl, I can't remember). They started to get a little heavy after a couple days, so be warned.

What I think I changed for the first rendition:

-          I added more spices that sounded pumpkin-y to me (find your favorite pumpkin pie recipe and see what it calls for)

-          I named it after a Starbucks/Panera Drink
-     I used a fancy piping tip so it wouldn't look so messy

The Second Time 'Round:

I made these again for a pumpkin carving party- right before Frankenstorm/Perfect Storm/ "This Could Be a Disaster" hit. (Seriously, that's what they said in the news. Thank you, news person for being just so reassuring). This time I found I needed to bake the cakes for a good 3-5 minutes longer and they never cracked so keep an eye on them so they don't get too crispy- a couple were definitely darker than they should be by the time I pulled them out.

I love this frosting recipe. It's really sugary but it fixes the weird grease issue I had with my previous batch.

Since the book seems to be out of print, I feel I should probably put the recipe here.

You Will Need:

1 Egg White (I used large but I'm not sure size is too big a determinate)

2+ Cups Powdered Sugar (I used more like 2 1/3 but beyond 2 is personal preference, DH thought it was too sugary, as if that's possible)

1 Tablespoon Vanilla (if you can find clear, that'd be best or else you get some color issues)

2 Tablespoons Flour* (I used Cake since I ran out AP)

2 Tablespoons Milk (I think anything more than 2% might be too much)

3/4 Shortening (I used butter flavored Crisco, don't do that, it adds a yellow tinge)

Marshmallow Fluff  (I added several large heaping spoonfuls until I was happy with in, roughly 1/2 a large tub)
Ground Ginger, Cinnamon, Nutmeg

Beat the egg white until foamy, but stop before soft peaks form.

Add everything else- but only a couple dashes of the spice. Throw a towel over the mixer before you turn it on so you don't end up covered in white stuff. Mix "well" (turn it on and walk away, take the dog for a walk, come back 10 minutes later) 

Note: Because of the high marshmallow percentage the filling will just glob. Do not expect pretty designs like you would with buttercream. I alternated between using a pastry bag (until I filled over the "do not fill past this line" line and it squirted everywhere) and a spooning a dollop. Neither made much of a difference.

*Warn people if they have Gluten Intolerance or Celiac. Flour isn't necessarily a standard filling ingredient and some people with GI are known to eat the filling out of whoopie pies.