I’ve never been a huge Pumpkin Pie fan.  I know, call it blasphemy, especially on the holiday that wouldn’t be complete without it.  Unless, that is, you make a pumpkin roll - but that just seems way too old-fashioned or Paula Deen for my tastes.  

Enter:  The Pumpkin Whoopie Pie.  The perfect mixture of cake and frosting, sandwiched together in the most decadent individual serving with all the flavors of fall. You’re sure to satisfy the traditionalists but intrigue even the most picky of eaters. 

This is adapted from Matt Lewis’s recipe via marthastewart.com.  He serves these bad-boys seasonally at his super awesome Red Hook bakery, Baked, of which I’m a HUGE fan. Some minor changes have been made but the bones of the recipe are all his.  So without further adieu, here you have it:

PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIE RECIPE:

For The Cream-Cheese Filling:

• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 8 ounces organic cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For The Pumpkin Whoopie Cookies:

• 3 cups organic AP Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground cloves
• 2 cups firmly packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 cup Walnut Oil
• 3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves; set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together brown sugar and oil until well combined. Add pumpkin puree and whisk until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until well combined. Sprinkle flour mixture over pumpkin mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.

Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets in even circular mounds, about 1 inch apart. Bake until cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cookie comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely on pan.

For the frosting, sift confectioner’s sugar into a medium bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add cream cheese and beat until well combined. Add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla, beat just until smooth. 

To assemble the whoopie pies: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Transfer filling to a ziplock bag and snip the end. When cookies have cooled completely, squeeze a large dollop of filling on the flat side of half of the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edge of the cookies. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap.

The Whoopie Pies can be kept in the fridge for a couple days, so this it the perfect make-ahead dessert.  Bake these on Wednesday, and they’ll be perfect on Thursday. And I promise you, no one will miss the pumpkin pie! 

I fancy myself a savory cook, not a baker, but it’s pretty tough to avoid baking around the holidays.  Luckily our friends over at Ovenly were nice enough to teach me a few things about pie dough using locally milled flour from Cayuga Pure Organics - and they put that pie dough to good use for their signature Hot Tart - Ovenly’s version of the pop tart with a grown-up twist.  Check out the video and follow along with the girls’ recipe posted below!  Merry Christmas!

OVENLY’S PUMPKIN PIE SPICED HOT TARTS:

Pate Brisee

• 2.5 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 cup (two sticks butter) 
• 1/4 cup very cold or ice water

Cube butter into 1/2 inch pieces and freeze for five to ten minutes.

In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar and pulse 2-3 times. Add cold butter and pulse until fully incorporated (about 15 seconds). With machine running, add water, a little at a time, until the dough resembles a course meal and just holds together when pinched. Do not keep the machine running for more than about 30 seconds.

Turn the dough onto your work surface. With the heel of your hand, press dough together, working all the butter bits into the flour. Gather into a ball and need together once or twice. Divide the dough in half, flattening each half into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about one hour before using. This will chill the butter and relax the gluten in the flour.

After the dough has chilled sufficiently, remove one portion of the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry into about a 9” by 15” rectangle. (To prevent the pastry from sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter turn as you roll and always roll from the center of the pastry outwards).

Using a ruler, measure the dough to 9” wide and cut with a knife or pizza cutter. Then cut the lengthwise every 3.5”. This will result in four 3.5” X 9” rectangles. Place a heaping tablespoon of filling on the lower portion of one rectangle. Using a pastry brush, brush water on the top half of each rectangle to help seal the edges, then fold in half, pressing the edges together with your fingers. Press edges with a fork. Again with the ruler, remove ragged edges by cutting hot tarts into 3”X4” rectangles. 

Freeze hot tarts for 10 minutes before baking. Brush with egg wash (one yolk mixed with one tablespoon water) and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until just golden.

Pumpkin filling

• 3/4 cup pumpkin from a can or from the flesh of a fresh pumpkin (like a Sugar Pumpkin or New England Pie Pumpkin) that you have cooked and pulsed yourself (recommended) 
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Baharat
• 1/2 tsp all spice
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp clove
• A few twists from the pepper grinder
• 1/3 cup sugar

Whisk together sugar and spices. Add pumpkin and egg and blend well.

Additional photos from my greenmarket excursion with Chef John Adler of Franny’s.

It’s almost Halloween which means pumpkins are at their peak!  On this episode we head to New Jersey to visit Phillips Farms, where farmer Marc Phillips shows us the different varieties of this scrumptious squash.  Then we head over to Franny’s in Brooklyn (one of my favorite restaurants) for Chef John Adler’s pumpkin crostini - a delicious mound of sauteed pumpkin atop toasted baguette spread with Salvatore Brooklyn Ricotta?  Yes please! Then it’s back to the kitchen for a local pumpkin soup that’s easy enough to make any night of the week, but delicious enough to serve as a first course for your Thanksgiving dinner.  The recipe is posted below the video so feel free to follow along!

Roasted Local Pumpkin Soup:

• 4 Cups Roasted Pumpkin (explanation below)
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 1 Shallot, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 8 Sage Leaves
• 2 Cups Chicken or Vegetable stock (plus more to thin out soup if desired) 
• 2 tablespoons creme fraiche (plus  more for garnish) 
• Chopped Chives
• Salt and Pepper to taste

FOR THE ROASTED PUMPKIN:

Preheat your oven to 350 Degrees.  Cut your pumpkin in half (I used a Hubbard Squash but you can use a cheese pumpkin, cinderella pumpkin, hokkaido squash, kabocha squash, etc.)  Take out the seeds and the strings (save for pumpkin seeds!) and drizzle with olive oil.  Liberally salt and pepper and put a pat of butter in the center of each. Roast for about an hour and a half, until it’s tender.  Allow to cool and scoop the flesh away from the skin.  

FOR THE SOUP: 

Heat the Olive Oil in your stock pot and add the onion, shallot and garlic.  Salt and pepper. Saute until tender, about 10 minutes.  Tear up the eight sage leaves, add them to the pot, and saute another 2 minutes.  Add the pumpkin and two cups of chicken stock and bring to a simmer.  Depending on the salt content of your stock, you may need to add more salt at this point.  Once it’s simmered for about ten minutes, blend the soup into a puree.  If the soup is too thick, thin it out with extra stock. Stir in the creme fraich, and serve! Garnish with a dollop of creme fraiche and a sprinkling of chives.