I was invited to attend the Natick Service Council’s Annual Fundraising event a few weeks ago. After reading my article in the Metro West Daily News, they contacted me to see if I would be interested in sampling some of my wares and participating in their auction for about 150 guests plus volunteers. Being a local Natick native, I gladly agreed (knowing full well that these events cost a lot of $ and time for someone like me – a one-woman show!). But, hey, I can bang out about 300 mini whoopee pies in 2-nights’ time, right? Hell, yeah!
And I had a blast doing it! Probably would have enjoyed it more had I not started it at 9pm those nights. But like my Mom, I seem to execute my most creative works during the night owl hours.
Based on a combination of Martha Stewart’s Pumpkin Whoopie Recipe and my own tinkerings, I made pumkin-spiced cake bases with maple icing filling. Since I knew these whoopie pies were going to sit out on serving platters for several hours, I opted to make a more basic icing rather than an egg-based buttercream. When I worked as a Pastry Chef at Whole Foods, we made a similar icing we called “kids icing”. I made, I dunno, over 400 pumpkin bases which resulted in about 240 whoopie pies (minus the dozen or so that Coach managed to snack on while I wasn’t looking).
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For the top bases, I sprinkled them with orange and gold sanding sugar before baking.
To finish, I piped the maple icing filling with a small star tip and nestled the whoopies in Fall Harvest mini cupcake liners. To give them a bit more flare, I put each liner on top of a gold square candy wrapper. All packaging/decorating supplies were purchased from Michaels.
They were a huge hit!! I was delighted to see some familiar faces from my days at the Natick Farmer's Market and meet some new whoopie pie experts who returned for 2nds, 3rds, and so on. Especially since a number of the attendees were fellow local artisans: Cocoapelli Chocolates and Chocolee Chocolates.
The event was held at Club Nouvelle at the luxury residences at Natick Collection. The location was very cool! Including the billiard room and putting green on the roofdeck. After enjoying good company, good wine and passing on the dinner food for the good stuff - chocolate samplings and dessert, the fun began with the Live Auction. As an auction item, I offered a Gift Certificate for my Personal Chef Services for one day in partnership with New Century Homecare Services. As I stood there “live” (feeling much like a ceramic statue on the Wheel of Fortune prize stage) while I was being auctioned off, I was so pleased to see many hands thrusting into the air to bid on my service! A sigh of relief and great feeling of excitement, my service sold for $250. All for a great cause. An overall feel-good night!
RECIPE Makes 12 Pumpkin Whoopie Pies:
Note: when making whoopie pies of any flavor, I always add extra flour to the batter to give them more structure. I start with an extra ½ cup or so and then (depending on what your pumpkin puree is like) I may add more in just before I finish mixing the batter. Basically, I eye-ball it by texture.
3 cups all-purpose flour (plus ½ - 1 cup additional if needed)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon Garam Masala (my favorite combination of spices)
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of cardamom (optional)
2 cups firmly packed dark-brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
When it comes to spices, I always play with different combinations. For some batches I used Garam Masala, for others I used Chinese Five Spice or Jamaican Allspice in its place.
Directions:
Make the bases:
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, spices; set aside. In the bowl of your kitchenaid mixer, 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 on low speed until fully incorporated. Check here to see how thick/dense batter is and if you need more flour. Start with ¼- ½ cup at a time.
You can use a small ice cream scoop to drop dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. I prefer to pipe them using a medium sized start tip. IMPORTANT NOTE: if you pipe the batter, be sure to chill it first for at least 15 minutes, or it will just run out of your pastry bag. And pipe the bases quickly, storing your pastry bag and extra batter in the frigde while other batches are baking.
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 12-15 minutes. Let cool completely on pan.
Make the icing:
This is the EASIEST icing you’ll ever make and it lasts at room temperature without melting. Will keep for about 2 weeks or so in the fridge. You can add any coloring or flavoring to it for decorating.
2 lbs. confectioner's sugar
2 sticks butter or margarine at room temp
2 tsps. Vanilla (and any other flavored extracts)
about ¼ - ½ cup milk (depending on desired consistency)
1-2 Tablespoons of Maple extract (see note)
Optional: If making flowers, you can add 1 cup shortening, but I never need it
Place butter in mixer bowl. Mix on low until slightly softened. Add vanilla. Gradually add confectioner's sugar, 1 cup at a time. Blend on low, scraping the beater and bowl down in between. Add milk slowly, until you reach the desired consistency.
NOTE: I have tried to make maple flavored icings using just maple syrup and its hard to get a really good maple flavor with the right consistency. You can certainly use maple syrup. I used some maple syrup in one batch and then added the maple extract for the rest. Especially where these particular whoopie pies are bite size, I wanted the maple flavor to stand up and compliment the pumpkin and spices.
Enjoy!!
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