Whoopie! Wednesday and Logan's Lasagna

If you have ever been a student in the state of Minnesota, MEA probably means something very important to you:  Yay! NO SCHOOL!  If you've ever been a teacher in the state of Minnesota MEA probably means something completely different to you...actually...no it probably doesn't.  Same: Yay! NO SCHOOL!  Hey, teachers need a break too.

Needless to say MEA break is here,  a blissful four day weekend lies ahead of me.  To celebrate, our friend Logan invited us over for lasagna.  Logan (a fellow seminarian)  has been forced (more than once), to eat my creations, and to like them.  He is a good actor.

To repay Logan, I needed to make something especially celebratory for dessert.  I searched and I searched, until I found the perfect answer.  What says celebratory like Whoopie Pie?  The answer to that question is: nothing. For those of you who aren't familiar with these delightful creations, a whoopie pie is like a giant, souped-up Oreo, but better.  Naturally I had to give my whoopie pie a bit of a fall-ish spin.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Pumpkin Whoopie Pie with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp
1 tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp cinnamon
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown suga
1 cup canola oil
3 cups chilled pumpkin
2 large eggs
1tsp vanilla

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 oz fat free cream cheese, at room temperature
3 Tbsp sugar-free syrup (I promise you it tastes the same in the frosting)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

The pie part of the Whoopie! pies (it will never get old typing that with an exclamation point), was fairly simple.  I mixed all the dry ingredients, and then added the wet ingredients.

 I spooned the batter in tablespoons onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  I had to bake them at 350 degrees for 11 minutes in several batches.  See: tiny oven.  They come out cracked on top, puffy, and cake-y looking.

About 7 batches later, I proceeded hesitantly to the frosting.  My two experiences with making frosting involved Christmas cookies and my birthday cake.  Neither ended well.  I beat the room temperature cream cheese and butter until they were smooth.  I added the powdered sugar, syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon, and beat until it was frosting like!  Whoopie! It turned out fantastic.

So fantastic in fact that I arrived home yesterday to a sad looking husband who informed me that he had several spoonfuls of the leftover frosting, and "didn't feel so good".

When I finally assembled the whoopie pies, they were quite cute, in fact, I became quite protective of them in the drive over to Logan's.  But, they did get eaten, and the boys gave them rave reviews.

Logan's lasagna, which fit nicely in my alliteration theme (I promise I didn't plan it), was delicious.  Logan, for the record, has a much larger kitchen than us.  But, who doesn't?

Happy MEA everyone!