Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

5 from 1 vote

Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

These super cute pumpkin whoopie pies with cream cheese filling are made with little pumpkin spice cakes and filled with a brown butter cream cheese frosting. These whoopie pies make a great pumpkin dessert for Thanksgiving for people who don't like pumpkin pie!

Prep Time40

Cook Time15

Total Time55

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: assembled whoopie pies

Calories: 181kcal

Author: Janice Lawandi

Ingredients

For the whoopie pies

188 grams bleached all-purpose flour
5 mL baking soda
2.5 mL baking powder
2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
5 mL ground cinnamon
1.25 mL ground nutmeg
1.25 mL ground ginger
0.625 mL ground cloves
58 grams unsalted butter
200 grams granulated sugar
2 large egg(s) room temperature
125 mL pumpkin purée or strained homemade pumpkin purée
125 mL buttermilk (1 % fat)

For the brown butter cream cheese filling

58 grams unsalted butter
90 grams icing sugar sifted
200 grams Philadelphia cream cheese (full fat, regular) 200 grams, almost an entire block, room temperature

Metric - US

Instructions

Make the whoopie pie cakes:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray the whoopie pie pan with cooking spray. Set aside for later.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and the sugar for about 5 minutes.
Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed with a spatula.
In another small bowl, combine the pumpkin and buttermilk.
To the mixer, add the flour mixture and the pumpkin mixture, alternately, beginning and ending with the flour.
Fill each whoopie pie mold no more than half full, spreading the mixture into all the nooks and crannies.
Bake for 7 to 10 minutes (I baked some longer than others so that the whoopie pies were all different golden browns, just like fall leaves and pumpkins).
Let the whoopie pies cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then tap them out onto a rack to cool completely before filling.

To make the filling:

Begin by browning the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until the milk solids turn a nutty brown. Set aside to cool.
Beat together the cream cheese and the cooled brown butter (be sure to add all those nutty brown bits!) in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
With the mixer on low, slowly add the icing sugar. Beat until the desired consistency and level of sweetness is achieved.

To assemble

Spread the filling on one cake and sandwich with another. Repeat to assemble remaining whoopie pies.

Notes

This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
Please use full fat Philadelphia brand cream cheese. This brand has the best flavour and texture!
For the whoopie pies, I used the Wilton Harvest whoopie pie pan (available on Amazon) but of course, a regular whoopie pie pan (from Amazon) would also work, as would a muffin tin.
If you don't have buttermilk, a common baking substitution is to use regular milk with a splash of vinegar (7.5 mL (½ tablespoon) of vinegar per 125 mL (½ cup) of milk)

Nutrition