So here is the deal. Chocolate cookies are amazing by themselves. And so is cream cheese frosting. So why not put the two together and end with a delicious whoopie pie sandwich? I made these around Thanksgiving time so I did pumpkin cream cheese frosting, but you could substitute that in for a plain cream cheese frosting, or you could also make mint frosting to go with the chocolate.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients (makes 12 sandwiches)
Cookies-
2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup sugar
8 tablespoon butter, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting-
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
8 tablespoon butter, room temperature
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat your oven to 400. Prepare two baking pans with parchment paper or silicone sheets.

2. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Ad the egg, buttermilk, and vanilla and mix. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Add these to the stand mixer gradually at low speed. Mix until just combined – don’t over mix.

4. Remove the bowl and place it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Then scoop the dough onto the cookie sheets in balls about the size of 2 tablespoons. You will want to spread the balls out so you’ll likely need to bake in two batches because you are doing a total of 24 cookies. Place the dough back in the fridge in between the two batches.

5. Bake the cookies for 7 to 9 minutes. You really don’t want to over bake them so watch them carefully. You want to take them out as soon as the edges start to set. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

6. While the cookies are cooling, make the frosting. In your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese, butter, and pumpkin. Add the pumpkin pie spice, salt, and vanilla. Scrape down the sides. While mixing on low, add the powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

7. Once the cookies have completely cooled, spoon frosting onto half of the cookies, and then use a knife to flatten it out. Then place the other cookies on top. I placed these in the fridge for an hour or two before taking them to a party to help them keep their shape so that the frosting didn’t leak out.