PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIES

 It's Halloween! I love Halloween, it's an excuse to dress up, and this year I'm going as red riding hood.

Anyway the one thing that makes Halloween even better is pumpkins, in the UK it is really hard to come across pumpkin puree so cooking with them outside of October is a nightmare, so yesterday I went to Tesco and bought four... it may seem a little extreme but I just love pumpkin! 

Makes 14

Takes 10 minutes

Pumpkin puree

Now if you are one of the lucky ones who can buy pumpkin puree then you can just ignore this bit, but for those who find it a struggle to find, here's how to make your own.

INGREDIENTS

1 Pumpkin

1. Slice your pumpkin into thirds, be careful not to cut yourself.

 2. Clean it out of all it's seeds and pulses and cut the thirds in half again, place on a tray filled with a cup of water with the skin facing you. Cook on gas mark 6 (200C/400F) for 30 minutes or until the pumpkin flesh is soft.

 3. When cooked scoop out all the flesh into a bowl. Now I have two options for you, you can either mash it until it is a puree or you can stick it in a blender. If you want a smooth puree I would recommend the blender. Once smooth, stick it through a sieve to get rid of the lumps and allow to cool. 

Whoopie pies

 280g flour
120g casting sugar
110g dark muscovado sugar
100ml vegetable oil
1 egg
1tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree.
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD

1. Preheat your oven to gas mark 4(180C/350F). Make sure your egg is at room temperature.

 2. Sift together your flour, salt, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl and put to the side.

 3. In another bowl mix together your two sugars.

 3. Add the puree, as you can see mine is a little runny, if you find that when all steps are complete your mixture is runny add some more flour.

 4.Mix the pumpkin puree into the sugar mixture.

 5. Add your egg and vanilla and mix through.

 6. Add the liquid slowly to the flour mixture, until it forms a thick batter. Now here is a problem, I used a Whoopie pie tin so my liquid not being like a dough doesn't really matter, if you find yours isn't thick enough add some more flour until it is.

 7. Place in the tins I used a scoop per tin, if using dough, add a scoop and place far apart so the don't blend.

 8. Place in the center of the oven for 8-10 minutes until cooked through, then remove and cool.

Cream cheese

ICING

 

INGREDIENTS

1tsp vanilla extract

225g cream cheese
450g icing sugar
110g butter
cornflour if needed to thicken

 1. Mix the butter and cream cheese together.

 2. Add your vanilla and icing until thick. If it doesn't thicken either add more icing sugar or corn flour.

 3. Now either place it in a piping bag or spoon the mixture onto your Whoopie pie.

4. Like so, then add the top Whoopie pie and there you have it some lovely pumpkin Whoopie pies, perfect for Halloween! I also promise that this is my last Whoopie pie for a while, I think the addiction has gone to far. Enjoy and let me know what you think :)