The Food Desert Project - Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

I love holiday baking.  It's easy to get caught up in candy and cookies and forget one's troubles...and sometimes one's dedication to a healthier diet - so when I saw this recipe for 100 calorie pumpkin cupcakes, I rejoiced!  A way to have one's cake and eat it, too!

However, the cupcake is based on whole-wheat flour, something that I'm pretty sure isn't available in food deserts.  No worries- I make my own oat flour all the time for digestive biscuits.  So, a few tweaks to the recipe...and then I thought - why stop with cupcakes?  After all, festive whoopie pies are just cupcakes without the mold.  So, food desert pumpkin whoopie pies were born.

1 cup AP flour
1 1/2 cup quick oats
2 tbsp baking powder
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 can pure pumpkin puree (15 ounce can)
1 cup skim milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs (separated)

Filling
4 oz light cream cheese
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Blend the oats in the blender on high speed until they are finely ground. Measure out 1 cup (you may have a little left over, just throw it back in with the rest of your oats, it will make them creamier)  and pour into a bowl.  Add the remaining dry ingredients (flour through salt) to the bowl and whisk well.  Pour 3 egg whites, 1 cup milk, and the contents of the can of pumpkin into the blender and blend well.  Pour over the dry ingredients and fold together.

Whip the egg whites using the whisk attachment on your mixer until they form soft peaks.  Fold them gently into the batter, keeping as much volume as possible but continuing to fold until you no longer have white streaks.

Drop the batter in rounded spoonfuls (use a heaping teaspoon, you need to make 48 of them - I fully admit, the ones I made were bigger than I intended) onto a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper, leaving at least 1" space around each cake.  Bake in a 375 degree oven for 10-12 minutes, or until your finger doesn't leave an impression when you poke the top.  Allow to cool completely.

Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together to form a frosting.  Frost the bottom side of one cake, and top with a second cake.  Enjoy! Nutrition information.