Whoopie pies with pumpkin "buttercream" filling

Tonight, we went to a fall festival at Major’s school.  Apparently I am THAT mom that now has to bake everything homemade and package it all cutesy because that is exactly what I did!  I tend to overcompensate since Major can’t have everything at events like this, so I want him to have something special that I made for him.  Something I also did this year was added a sticker that I printed on my computer that listed all of the ingredients in them, just in case someone else had food allergies at the festival.  Anyway, I made these cookies and they were a hit!  They were gone in 15 minutes!  I definitely need to make more next year!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 tablespoon earth balance soy free buttery spread softened

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar

1 large egg

1 cup oat milk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place earth balance, shortening, and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg; mix until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in half the dry ingredients, then the milk and vanilla. Mix in remaining dry ingredients.

Drop about 2 teaspoons dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper (or in a pinch a cookie sheet sprayed with pam works just as well!), spacing  about 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies spring back when lightly touched, 12 to 14 minutes.

Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and let cool 10 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheets and transfer to wire racks using a spatula; let cool completely.

make the icing (see recipe below)

Pipe or spoon about 2 teaspoons filling on the flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies.

Dairy and Soy Free Pumpkin “Buttercream”

1 cup vegetable shortening at room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

2 T. oat milk or any milk alternative

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 T. canned pumpkin puree

1/4 tsp. almond extract

With a whisk or whisk attachment on a stand or hand mixer, beat the shortening, almond extract, and vanilla extract until combined. Add the powdered sugar (with the mixer off, you will only make this mistake once, it goes everywhere!) and whisk until completely combined. If the icing is too thick you can always add more pumpkin or the milk alternative to loosen the icing up. If the icing gets too loose, you can always add more powdered sugar! After the icing is complete, add 1-2 tsp. of icing in between 2 of the whoopie pie cookies and enjoy!

Adapted from: http://www.marthastewart.com/354430/mini-pumpkin-whoopie-pies & http://makinglemonadeblog.com/pumpkin-vanilla-buttercream-frosting/