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!
Tools & Supplies to Make Halloween Whoopie Pies
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.
Halloween Whoopie Pies Recipe Tips
Use room temperature ingredients
To create a perfect, cakey texture in the chocolate cookies, be sure all the chilled ingredients are at room temperature. This will allow the butter to cream with the sugars easily, the egg to combine well with the creamed butter, and the milk to easily and fully absorb the dry ingredients. Another key to creating the best texture in the cookies is to not overmix the batter. The batter is done once all the ingredients are combined and smooth.
Bake perfect whoopie pie cookies
To bake uniform, round cookies, I recommend using a large cookie scoop which contains 3 tablespoons of batter. The cookie scoop will ensure the same amount of batter is in every cookie and will help you create round cookies. Once the cookies come out of the oven, immediately use the back of a spoon to gently push in the edges to create perfectly round cookies if they are slightly misshapen. Cool the cookies for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Gel food coloring
As I mentioned above, if you are tinting buttercream frosting, gel food coloring is the way to go! Gel food coloring has a high concentration of pigment so a little goes a long way. It will not change the texture or taste of the buttercream. For these whoopie pies, I used a combination of orange and yellow to get a vibrant, Halloween orange color. Some other fun Halloween colors could be bright yellow, vibrant purple, and lime green!
Storing and serving
Store the whoopie pies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days. The whoopie pies are best enjoyed at room temperature. Remove the whoopie pies from the refrigerator at least one hour before serving to soften the buttercream frosting.
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Halloween Whoopie Pies
Equipment
- Stand mixer with a paddle and whisk attachment or electric hand mixer
Ingredients
Chocolate Whoopie Pie Cookies
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup dark cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup milk room temperature
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 ½ cups powdered sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 2-3 drops orange and yellow gel food coloring
Decoration
- ¼ – ½ cup Halloween sprinkle blend
Instructions
Chocolate Whoopie Pie Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line baking sheet pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or in a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer, cream together unsalted butter, granulated sugar, and light brown sugar for several minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in egg and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed until the mixture is smooth.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, dark cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add in ⅓ of the flour mixture to the creamed butter and mix on low speed until just combined. Pour in ½ of the milk and mix on low speed until combined. Repeat this process with the next ⅓ flour mixture, ½ of the milk, and end with the remaining ⅓ flour mixture. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix for a few seconds until everything is well combined and smooth.
- Portion the cookie batter onto the prepared baking pans using a large cookie scoop. Allow space in between each cookie for spreading.
- Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes until the cookies are puffed up and will bounce back when gently touched.
- Remove from the oven. If the cookies are slightly misshapen, you can use the back of a spoon to gently press the sides of the cookies to create a round shape immediately when they come out of the oven. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for a minute or two before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add in room temperature unsalted butter. Whip the butter for 5 minutes on medium-high speed, scraping down the sides occasionally. The butter will be light, fluffy, and pale in color.
- Add the powdered sugar and mix on the lowest speed setting until fully combined.
- Add vanilla extract and salt and mix on low until combined.
- Slowly drizzle in the heavy cream while mixing on low speed. Add a few drops of orange and yellow gel food coloring to tint the buttercream until you have reached your desired color.
- Once the heavy cream is added, turn the speed on the mixer to medium-high and whip for an additional 3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally to ensure the frosting is well mixed.
Assembling the Halloween Whoopie Pies
- The vanilla buttercream can be spread onto the whoopie pies using a knife or offset spatula or piped onto the cookies using a piping bag and piping tip. For these whoopie pies, I used an Ateco 826 piping tip.
- Invert a cookie so the bottom is facing up. Spread or pipe a generous amount of frosting onto the bottom of the cookie. Top with another cookie to create a sandwich cookie.
- Pour the Halloween sprinkle blend onto a small plate. Roll the exposed buttercream in the sprinkles so they stick to the sides of the cookies. You can also use your fingers to sprinkle the sprinkles into the buttercream if preferred.
Notes
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Comments & Reviews
I used the large scoop and they were big and flat and I got 9 1/2. I didn’t have enough frosting for them all either. Next time, I’ll stick to the medium snoop. The sprinkles were ridiculously expensive so I for went those. Otherwise, delicious as always and I will make them again! Thanks for all you do, Court! Love you and your recipes!l
Thanks for trying out the recipe! I’m wondering if the large cookie scoop is slightly larger than 3 tbsp…Frosting amounts tend to be tough because everyone uses different amounts to fill the whoopie pies! I so appreciate the feedback and bringing this to my awareness. 🙂
Hi! Does this recipe make 10 cookies = 5 whoopie pies? Or 20 cookies = 10 whoopie pies?
About 10 whoopie pies if using a large cookie scoop 🙂
Ok thank you. Mine also came out very flat. My baking soda is good sand I used the dark (Dutch processed) cocoa so I’m not sure why. Taste delicious though!