Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling

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It all started with a sweets swap & a few attendees with a gluten allergy. As vegans, we all know what it's like to be the one left without options, so I decided to try to remedy that for the gluten free folks & try my hand at baking for them. It was my first time baking gluten free & luckily, it turned out! Moist, cakey pumpkin cookies were produced & in the end I decided they were best suited for whoopie pies. There's a lack of assembly photos, but regardless of that I wanted to post these for Kittee because she rules at life! While I used a mix of White Chocolate Chip & Dark Chocolate Chips, you can use whatever you have on hand. These would also be great with some chopped nuts!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 Tbsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Allspice
A pinch of Salt

1/2 cup Earth Balance, melted
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 1/4 cups Pumpkin Puree, canned or fresh
1 Tbsp Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 2 Tbsp Water
1 tsp Vanilla extract

2/3 cup Chocolate Chips (I used 1/3 cup white, 1/3 cup dark)
Optional: 1/4 cup Chopped Nuts of your choice

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees & prepare a sheet pan with a Silpat, parchment, or non-stick spray.

In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients.

In a large bowl, mix together the wet ingredients.

Add the dry mixture to the wet, being careful not to overmix.

Fold in the chocolate chips & (optional) nuts.

On your prepared sheet pan make even scoops of your dough, leaving space for spreading. The dough will be soft & slightly tacky, so a small disher / scoop works well for this.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the edges are slightly browned.

Allow to cool completely before assembly.

Cream Cheese Filling
Ingredients:
1/4 cup Earth Balance, softened
1/4 cup Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese, softened
2 cups Confectioners Sugar, sifted
1 tsp Vanilla extract


Instructions:
Beat together Earth Balance & Tofutti cream cheese until combined.

In small batches, add in the confectioners sugar until everything is smooth.

Beat in vanilla extract.

Assembly:
Take your cooled pumpkin cakes & pipe in or smooth on a large dollop of cream cheese filling, add another cake on top. Voilà, Whoopie Pies!

This recipe yields 12 to 16 whoopie pies, depending on your scoop size.