Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Filling

We are making this for a dessert tonight for a fun party we are doing. If this turns out yucky, I'll delete it off my blog by tomorrow. If it is "to die for" it will still be here.

1-1/2 cup non hydrogenated vegetable shortening
2 cups sugar
2 t. molasses
2 t. vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups pumpkin puree (I use canned to make it simple)
4-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 egg
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. allspice
1/4 t. cinnamon

Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients
1/2 container Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
2 T. Earth Balance

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Cream shortening and sugar together, using a stand mixer if available. You can also do it by hand. Add molasses and vanilla and beat well. Add pumpkin puree and whip until incorporated (don't worry if the fat doesn't mix in completely).

In separate bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients and mix well. Add this dry mix to the wet until all incorporated. It will make a stiff batter.

It is easiest to use an ice cream scoop that has a release lever to drop the dough onto your cookie sheet.

Wet your fingers and gently flatten the dough balls. This will prevent your pies from tipping over by creating a semi-flat surface for them to rest on.

Bake for 10-13 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean, and the tops spring back when pressed in the center.

Remove cookies fromt the cookie sheet as soon as they come out of the oven to prevent over-baking. Cover them with a towel or plastic wrap to keep moisture/steam in, as this will prevent a hard crust from forming. Prepare the filling while your cookies are cooling.

Cream Cheese Filling
Whip ingredients together until smooth. Set aside or refrigerate until use.

Put filling in a zip-loc bag and slice off the corner to pipe the filling into the center. You don't need that much filling per pie. Make sure the sides of the cookies that were touching the cookie sheet are the side that touch the filling.

Make "sandwiches" by putting the filling on one cookie and placing the other cookie over the top.

Traditional whoopie pies are chocolate. These would be awesome with some mini chocolate chips mixed in, or perhaps some melted chocolate drizzled over the top. Store them wrapped in plastic wrap or in an air-tight container to keep them soft.

Salsa Verde Salad

We had this for our big family dinner. My kids just devoured it. They loved it! Me being "me" I chose not to use the corn tortilla strips. It was good nonetheless.

1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
2 cups chopped green cabbage
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 yellow or orange bell pepper, seeded and julienned
1-1/2 cups jicama (peeled and julienned)
1 can (rinsed) or 1-1/2 cups fresh corn kernels
2 avacadoes, diced
1 can black beans, rinsed well
1 can black olives, sliced
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Corn tortilla strips: cut 8 corn tortillas in long, thin strips, fry in 1/4 cup coconut oil till crisp.

Toss all salad ingredients except tortilla strips. Serve tossed with the entire batch of Salsa Verde Dressing (below). Add tortilla strips right before serving.

Salsa Verde Dressing
Oh my gosh, this dressing is fabulous!!!

3 tomatillos, husked
1/2 cup cilantro
5 T. fresh lime juice
2 t. jalapeno pepper (remove seeds uless you like it HOT!)
1 garlic clove
6 T. olive oil
4 large green onions (entire onion, just the ends cut off)
1/2 t. sea salt
1/2 t. freshly ground pepper

Blend until smooth in BlendTec or Vitamix.

Black Bean Salad

This recipe was sent to me by Cory and Sarah. They just ranted and raved about it. I'm so excited to try it next week for dinner one night.

3 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 bell pepper, chopped (can mix red, yellow and orange)
1 small red onion, chopped
1 big handful fresh parsley, chopped (can use cilantro also)
fresh black pepper
feta cheese to taste

Balsamic vinegarette

1-2 Tbl coarse grain mustard
4 Tbl balsamic vinegar
2-4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 big pinch of sea salt
1 fewgrinds of black pepper
about 4 Tbl olive oil

Make the vinegarette in a large bowl. Throw in everything except the feta cheese. Cover and refrigerate for a least one hour. Serve with feta.

Lisl's Salsa

Here's a recipe that I tried the other night and it was fabulous! Skip, who is a little fussy about his salsa, really enjoyed it and encouraged others to try it! Yup, it was that good. Give it a try!

2 Avacados, cut up
3 Tomatoes, cut up
1 bunce green onions
1 bunch cilantro
1 can shoepeg corn
1 can black eye peas

Dressing:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic
3/4 t. sea salt
1/8 t. pepper
1 t. cumin

Mix it up and, mmmmm! Grab the corn chips and prepare to be impressed.