Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Last year's Thanksgiving introduced my and my sons' taste buds to pumpkin whoopie pies. We have always had the classic chocolate whoopie pies, which, according to my husband, was the reason he bought a Kitchen Aid mixer as a birthday gift to me on m our first year as a couple. When my MIL prepared these pumpkin whoopie pies last year, my husband did not try them at all (which is nothing new). My sons, however, liked them, as I did. I was surprised that this year, after my sons carved out our pumpkins for Halloween, the younger one was anticipating that my MIL would make pumpkin whoopie pies again for Thanksgiving (my MIL was so gracious to host Thanksgiving this year). But my sons was disappointed because my MIL did not make them this time. So I promised him that I would make pumpkin whoopie pies the next day, and I will make it a Thanksgiving or Halloween tradition to make them yearly. I based my recipe on Nestle's VeryBestBaking.com website, with only the addition of two other spices.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
dash of nutmeg
dash of powdered cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar



Instructions:

FOR COOKIES:

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Lightly grease or line four baking sheets with parchment paper.
COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda,spices and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin and vanilla extract; beat until smooth. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Drop by heaping measuring teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets. (A total of 72 cookies are needed for the recipe.)
BAKE for 10 to 13 minutes or until springy to the touch. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

FOR CREAM CHEESE FILLING:

BEAT cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until light and fluffy.
SPREAD a heaping teaspoon of filling onto flat side of one cookie; top with flat side of second cookie to make a sandwich. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

Our Family's Thanksgiving Tradition

Our family tries to stick to traditions, and part of that is celebrating the four major holidays with my in-laws. There are 4 of us families in all -- my parents-in-law, my husband's brother's family, his sister's family, and our very own, that take turns hosting the four major holidays, and for this year's Thanksgiving, my mother-in-law was the "IT." In addition, we have her father with us as well, so that makes for four generations in these gatherings.

I was excited when Eric and Tiffany of theguerrilagourmet.com emailed me for an invitation to be a part of their holiday project - The Gorilla Gourmet -- to represent Maine.  It is an honor for me to do so.

Our family probably typically represents the Mainers in that we try our best to be together with family (and exclusively family) during the Holidays. My mother-in-law prepares her fruit cocktail with mostly canned fruits that they picked from their own trees and bushes.

Our usual menu stars THE TURKEY and it will never be Thanksgiving if we prepare an entreé other than the turkey. (Oh, the Filipina in me tried to do that before, and it was like a major violation to them true Mainers!). The turkey is roasted with stuffing that is usually prepared the night before then stuffed into the turkey's cavity just before roasting.

Mashed potatoes are also prepared using potatoes they harvested from their own garden. White bread is prepared using a breadmaker (and no, we don't mill our own flour; we get that from Hannaford stores). Other sides are pitted olives, cranberry salad, bread and butter pickles, boiled onions (a Tibbetts family tradition that I am still trying very hard to assimilate), and mashed turnips.

My mother-in-law also prepared three various pies -- pecan pie, pumpkin pie and raspberry pie, but I forgot to take photos of these desserts before they were gone. One thing that my mother-in-law prepared last year that she skipped this year was the pumpkin whoopie piea, something that was not really traditionally prepared in our family during Thanksgiving, but my younger son was somehow anticipating this year. Now if there is something in our menu that I would be almost sure was very Maine-ly, it would be whoopie pies. So I decided to make the whoopie pies the very next day (recipe coming soon), and I promised to my son that from now on, pumpkin whoopie pies will be part of the Thanksgiving tradition in our family.

From the slideshow above, you can see how closely-knit our families are.  I feel so blessed to have in-laws who treat my sons as if they are true blood relations, and that is something worth thanking for.  We have a lot other things to be thankful for, but that would be something exclusively for our family to ponder upon.

Thanksgiving/Christmas Dinner

It is not my turn to host the Thanksgiving Dinner this year nor last year. So I am not hysterical at the moment...I will come Christmas time. Haha! But since we have basically the same menu for both Holidays, it is like having a preview before I actually have my turn to host.

Anyway, this post is about the traditional Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner our family has...We cannot deviate from the basics...we can only add if we want anything new, but there should always be the following:

Roast Turkey & Gravy with Stuffing
Bread (usually white bread)
Mashed Potatoes
Boiled and Mashed Turnips
Boiled and Mashed Onions
Cranberry Salad
Fruit Salad
Bread & Butter Pickles
Pitted Olives

No we are not pumpkin lovers, so there are no pumpkins here.

We usually get 20++ lb turkey for a gathering of 14 people. The stuffing is cooked with diced celery and onions sauteed in butter. Some stuffing is stuffed into the turkey cavity, and some kept warm in a slow cooker.

My in-laws love the boiled-mashed-buttered turnips and onions (I tried, but they don't appeal to me at all, and they laugh about it, being smug that they found out something I would not eat!).

The cranberry salad is something my SIL Stacey makes, a mixture of cranberry and marshmallows and whipped cream, but I do not know the recipe. I like it, but not so much that I want to learn the recipe.

I love the fruit salad, but my MIL and FIL make that using their own canned fruits (peaches and kiwi in particular came from their own trees, which they canned right after harvesting, and the only fruit here that they get from the store is the cherry topping).

Bread & Butter Pickles is a must for my FIL.

Pitted olives from the grocery store is part of the tradition.

White Bread is made using bread machine/breadmaker.

[Now my frustration is, the same menu is what we have for Christmas. I would want to deviate, but my husband and in-laws are such traditionalists, so I cannot. Ham is for Easter. I can add other desserts, but I cannot change the entree.]

What we are thankful for? That we have a happy and closely-knit family. No one is antagonistic to others. No one is envious or jealous. Everyone is supportive, warm, and loving. The youngest generation, for the most part, behave how they should behave. And of course we are thankful for generally good health for everyone, and all the blessings we receive.

Here's wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!