These Gingerbread Whoopie Pies are soft and pillowy with three different spices including plenty of ginger and filled with a rich and sweet cream cheese frosting. They are really easy to put together because the cookie portion just bakes in the oven for 14 minutes, and they're full of lots of festive holiday flavor. I love the intensity of the ginger and molasses, combined with the sweet and tart cream cheese frosting. These would be great with a mug of hot cocoa or an afternoon cup of coffee or tea.
I first had a whoopie pie at a bakery in Burlington, VT. We drove up to Burlington for a babymoon in October before our first baby was born later that winter. We got to the bakery/coffee shop on a side street late in the afternoon on a clear but cold day. I had never had a whoopie pie before, but they had a number of pumpkin whoopie pies left behind the counter (most other pastries had sold out), so I chose one for us to share. It was so good filled with warm spices and the bakery was nice break from the cold. A few weeks later some friends brought over pumpkin whoopie pies for Friendsgiving. They got me thinking that I’d like to try making a gingerbread version.
Notes:
- I first cream the butter and sugar together and then the rest of the wet ingredients. Then I add the dry ingredients. I do not mix the dry ingredients separately because it does not make enough of a difference and it saves washing an extra bowl.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined, do not overmix or you will not get the light and pillowy cookies for the whoopie pies.
- Two boxes of cream cheese seems like a lot, and every time I read my own recipe I think, nah I don't need two. But it doesn't take me long to realize after making only half of the frosting that I should have stuck to the full recipe using 2 boxes of cream cheese. So I'll pull out another box of cream cheese and the rest of the frosting ingredients to make more.
Gingerbread Whoopie Pies
Ingredients
Gingerbread Whoopie Cookies
- 8 tbsp butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup molasses
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 1½ tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp ginger
Cream Cheese Filling
- 16 oz cream cheese, softened 2 packages
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Cream together the butter and brown sugar. One at a time add the molasses, eggs, and yogurt. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cloves, cinnamon and ginger. Mix until just combined.
- Place large spoonfuls on a cookie sheet (about 1 ½ -2 tbsp), in just about the same way you would drops of chocolate chip cookie dough.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- To make the filling, with a beater combine the cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar.
- To assemble the whoopie pies, layer the cream cheese icing filling between the two cookies to make a sandwich.
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