Baking the Night Away

Today is the annual bake sale at my daughter's school which means I did a lot of baking yesterday.  Now, I love to bake, it is truly one of my very favorite hobbies.  The problem is that things go so much smoother in my mind when I am planning to bake than they do in the actual kitchen.  I always underestimate how much time it is going to take.  I thought I would crank out a couple of dozen treats and have them individually wrapped in about an hour.  In reality, it was more like three hours (not counting the time it took to clean the kitchen!).  In my fantasies, I have the perfect little assembly line with nary a speck of flour in the wrong spot.  But in reality, EVERYTHING ends up covered in flour, with not an inch of extra counter space.  Sigh.  In the end though, it was worth it- these little puppies turned out delicious!

Here is what I made:

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (recipe from Betty Crocker.com)

Cookies

1	pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1	tablespoon Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/2	cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/3	cup butter or margarine, softened
2	teaspoons ground cinnamon
1	egg

Filling

2/3	cup marshmallow creme (from 7-oz jar)
1/3	cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3	cup powdered sugar

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1. Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir together cookie mix and flour. Add remaining cookie ingredients; stir until stiff dough forms.
2. Onto ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough by 36 rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart. Lightly press tops with floured fingertips to flatten slightly.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
4. In medium bowl, beat filling ingredients with electric mixer until light and fluffy. For each whoopie pie, spread about 2 teaspoons of the filling on bottom of 1 cooled cookie. Top with second cookie, bottom side down; gently press together. Store tightly covered in refrigerator. Sprinkle with additional powdered sugar just before serving.

These are so good!  I wanted to do something a little different than the traditional chocolate chip cookie or cupcake, so I searched around for something and stumbled across these.  They were actually really easy to make.  You can find completely from scratch recipes online, but I was going for the quickest, easiest route.  I made two different fillings: the marshmallow creme and a cream cheese filling.  Yum!

Here are some of the finished treats, all wrapped up and tied with a pretty bow!

I made a few extra for the family.  I sent the ones with the marshmallow creme to school and kept the ones with the cream cheese filling at home. 

The cream cheese filling made them taste just like a pumpkin roll.  Yummy!

I even made a cute little sign for my treats with some leftover scrapbook paper I had.  I know, I'm a nerd.

Tonight is the annual "Cougar Bash" at my daughter's school.  It is a fundraising event with food, games, and a silent auction.  Last year I bid on and won one of the silent auction gift baskets.  It was Christmas themed and included a homemade rag wreath, a gift certificate for a pedicure, and one of THESE pretty bracelets.  Maybe I'll get lucky and get the winning bid on another neat basket this year!

Have a great weekend!!