Katie Gordon
Professor Jesse Miller
English 110- H6
My Favorite Food
The scent of pumpkin and spices fills the tiny kitchen. The window above the sink is cracked slightly, letting a bit of the autumn breeze in through the kitchen, and spreading the aroma further throughout the house. The counter is littered with empty cans of pumpkin and various containers of spices. The KitchenAid is resting in the sink, and my mom is sitting at the dining room table. I would come home from soccer practice to the messy kitchen and the yummy smell, and I would know that my mom had made her pumpkin whoopie pies. My mom’s pumpkin whoopie pies are the best. Once it started to get a little chilly at night, my mom would start making her pumpkin whoopie pies for my brother and I to bring and share for after our soccer games. At my high school they became famous, and after each home game my team would flock around her when she would bring them down to the field. No matter the result of the game, my teammates would walk back over to the bench with one in each hand and smiling. The whoopie pies that would take her all day to make would be gone within the hour, but she loved it. Everyone loves my mom’s pumpkin whoopie pies, and I love them because it means that my favorite time of year was upon us.
My mom would coordinate both my brother and my game schedules so that she could plan which games she would make the whoopie pies for, and whether she was making them for the girls or the boys team. She would head to the grocery store early in the week, and stock up on can of pumpkin filling and cream cheese- the two major ingredients. She would use at least three cans of pumpkin for one of her batches, and she would basically buy the cream cheese in bulk to make sure she would have enough for the frosting. The ingredients to make the whoopie pies are pretty standard, and it was never too expensive unless my mom was making a really big batch for some game. Her week would be planned around the whoopie pie making. I would always feel bad when she would stay up late or spend the day in the kitchen, but she never wanted any help. When it came to the pumpkin whoopie pies she always wanted to make sure they were perfect, and my brother and I were not necessarily the best bakers in the kitchen. Each pumpkin whoopie pie consisted of two cookie sized halves and cream cheese frosting in the middle. My mom would pipe the halves to make sure that they would all look the same, and she would place them on a cookie sheet and bake them in the oven. She would usually make the cream cheese frosting later on so that the halves would have plenty of time to cool. The finished whoopie pies would look like a perfect little pumpkin sandwich.
Back when my mom first started making her whoopie pies, she explains that “originally I was looking for a dish to use some special spices I had picked up”. However, after finding the recipe for the pumpkin whoopie pies she was able to add these spices to the original recipe and make it her own. She does not share her variation of the recipe with anyone, and when family friends ask for the recipe my mom admits that “I have only shared a version of my original. I do not share the actual recipe with anyone”. When asked why she thinks everyone likes the pumpkin whoopie pies so much, my mom smiles and says “well, pumpkin whoopie pies just make everyone happy, you just can’t help but smile when you have one.” My mom is always the one to be involved in the school and our other activities, and in my opinion her making pumpkin whoopie pies was just another way for her to get involved. Although, she will rave about how good her whoopie pies are to just about anyone, she admits that they are not however her favorite food. My mom is a type 1 diabetic, but she explains “I only have one each season, and I am an expert in dosing my insulin to cover the one I do have.”
My mom’s pumpkin whoopie pies are more than just a treat everyone’s parents make for after the soccer game. My mom spends hours on end baking whoopie pies that she can’t even eat in order to make her kids and our friends happy. Eating one of her pumpkin whoopie pies takes me back to my high school soccer field, and being with my old teammates after a tough game. They instantly make me think of fall, and the chilly nights that are approaching. Most importantly though, eating a pumpkin whoopie pie makes me think of my mom, and how grateful I am for her and everything that she does for me.
~Pumpkin Whoopie Pie Recipe~
(or at least the version my mom will share with friends)
Ingredients
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets.
- Combine the oil and brown sugar. Mix in the pumpkin and eggs, beating well. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, 1 teaspoon vanilla, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix well.
- Drop dough by heaping teaspoons onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cookies cool then make sandwiches from two cookies filled with whoopie pie filling.
- To make whoopie pie filling: Beat egg white and mix with the milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1 cup of the confectioners’ sugar. Mix well then beat in the shortening and the remaining cup of confectioners’ sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.
