• FOR THE PUMPKIN WHOOPIE COOKIES
• 3 cups all-purpose 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 vegetable oil
• 3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• FOR THE CREAM-CHEESE FILLING
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Make the cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.
2. 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.
3. Using a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism, drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Transfer to oven and 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.
4. Make the filling: Sift confectioner’ sugar into a medium bowl; 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. (Filling can be made up to a day in advance. Cover and refrigerate; let stand at room temperature to soften before using.)
5. Assemble the whoopie pies: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Transfer filling to a disposable pastry bag and snip the end. When cookies have cooled completely, pipe 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. Refrigerate cookies at least 30 minutes before serving and up to 3 days.

recipe courtesy of Martha. Good ole Martha. I think the fact that she spent time in thr slammer makes her even more endearing to me.

Yummy Chocolatey Goodness

You are only 20 minutes away from rich buttery chocolate chippy goodness.  This is one of the easiest baking recipes you will ever see, its foolproof.  I make these biscones every Wednesday, we have 1 each and I take the rest to work where they are quickly consumed.  If I’m out of chocolate chips I simply modify the recipe to make them Apple (I’ll include the recipe later, I’m still tweaking it).

Here are the ingredients you need:

2 cups flour
1 stick butter (1/4# or 1/2 cup)
1 cup buttermilk (you can use regular milk, soymilk, watered down yogurt or sour cream, just one cup liquid)
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla

First off preheat the oven to 475.
Melt the butter in the microwave.  Fully melt it, but try not to get it too hot.  Set aside to let it cool.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl, mix well.
Add melted butter to milk, the butter should solidify into little chunks, making it look like spoiled milk, this is a good thing.  It will help distribute the butter more evenly and help the biscones rise.  If it doesn’t solidify and look chunky, don’t worry, your biscuits will be just fine.

Look Nasty? Its Perfect.

Add vanilla to the milk/butter mixture.  Add all this to the flour mixture.
Mix until combined, don’t mix too much or the biscones will be tough.  Just mix until the flour is all mixed in.
Spray cookie sheet with non-stick spray.
Use a small Ice cream scoop or a 1/4 cup measure to scoop dough onto cookie sheet.

The Scoop.

Try to stretch dough into 12 biscones, feel free to even them up.  Its fine if the dough looks rough, just make sure its vaguely round.

Pre-Oven

Place in oven and bake for 12 minutes.  Set a timer for 12 minutes.  Always set a timer, always.
Remove from oven, use a spatula to transfer to a plate or cooling rack.

The Transfer

Eat up.