Halloween Whoopie Pies

Halloween whoopie pies are the perfect way to celebrate spooky season! Moist, cakey dark chocolate cookies filled with vanilla buttercream frosting tinted orange and rolled in festive Halloween sprinkles! No tricks, all treats!

Ingredients for Halloween Whoopie Pies

Chocolate Cookies

• Unsalted butter – Room temperature for easy creaming.
• Granulated sugar – Adds sweetness to the cookies.
• Brown sugar – Light brown sugar adds a bit more sweetness and chewiness.
• Egg – Large egg, room temperature.
• Vanilla extract – Vanilla extract adds great flavor to the cookies.
• All-purpose flour – Be sure to fluff the flour and level the measuring cups to measure the flour correctly.
• Baking soda – Leavening agent that helps the cookies spread and puff up when baking.
• Salt – Enhances the flavor of the cookies and contrasts the sweetness.
• Dark cocoa powder – Dark cocoa powder adds deep chocolate flavor and makes the cookies have a dark chocolate appearance. You can also use black cocoa powder which will make the cookies appear black.
• Milk – Room temperature. You can use milk or buttermilk.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

• Unsalted butter – Room temperature for easy creaming.
• Powdered sugar – Also known as confectioners’ sugar or icing sugar. No need to sift unless it is lumpy.
• Salt – To add a bit of contrast to the sweetness of the frosting.
• Vanilla extract – Pure vanilla extract adds amazing vanilla flavor to the frosting.
• Heavy cream – Heavy cream or heavy whipping cream helps the buttercream whip up to be smooth and creamy
• Orange & yellow gel food coloring – To give the buttercream a fun Halloween color, a combination of a few drops of orange and yellow gel food coloring will do the trick. Feel free to add whatever colors you would like!

Decoration

• Halloween sprinkles – Colorful Halloween sprinkles give these whoopie pies fun color!

How to Make the Components of Halloween Whoopie Pies

Chocolate Whoopie Pie Cookies

To make the chocolate cookies, you can use an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare baking sheet pans with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Cream unsalted butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar for several minutes until light and creamy. Add in egg and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.

In a separate mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients (all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and dark cocoa powder).

Alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk to the creamed butter and sugars. Start and end with dry ingredients. Here’s the breakdown: add 1/3 of the dry ingredients, 1/2 of the milk, 1/3 of the dry ingredients, 1/2 the milk, and then end with the remaining dry ingredients. After each addition of the flour mixture and mix, mix the batter on low speed until combined.

Portion the batter using a large cookie scoop and place the batter on the prepared baking pan, allowing room for spreading.

Bake the cookies for approximately 10-12 minutes until the cookies are puffed up.

Remove the pan from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the pan for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

The vanilla buttercream frosting in this recipe is my go-to vanilla buttercream recipe. Be sure to check out my blog post on how to make it and tips and tricks to making the best buttercream.

To give this buttercream a fun twist for Halloween, add a bit of orange and yellow gel food coloring. Gel food coloring is the best option for tinting buttercream because it is highly pigmented and does not change the flavor or texture of the frosting. A few drops of each color will do! Try a few drops at a time until you reach your desired color after you have added the heavy cream.

Assembling the Halloween Whoopie Pies

To assemble the whoopie pies, we are essentially making a sandwich cookie with two cookies and buttercream filling.

To fill the whoopie pies, you can use a piping bag fitted with a piping tip. For these whoopie pies, I used an Ateco 826 piping tip. Swirl on the orange buttercream frosting covering the entire surface of the bottom of one of the chocolate cookies. You can also spread the frosting onto the bottom of the cookies with a small offset spatula. Don’t be shy with the buttercream! Add another chocolate cookie to the top of the buttercream to create a sandwich cookie.

Pour Halloween sprinkles onto a small plate. Press the sides of the whoopie pies where the buttercream is exposed into the sprinkles. If you prefer, you could sprinkle the sprinkles on the exposed buttercream with your fingers.