Oatmeal Pumpkin Creme Pies

It's such a winter-y, icky day for so many of us today, I thought I'd post a recipe to help cheer you up. I made these on Sunday, but I had a lot of leftover batter, so I baked up a fresh batch to share with the class.

I read about these creme pies here and here. I love how people make recipes their own. Beloved Green tweaked the original and I tweaked it too, to suit my taste and on-hand ingredients. This recipe makes A LOT of creme pies. The original said 12, but I can't see how that's possible unless a serving is 5 pies. I made 16 pies (32 cookies) on Sunday and didn't even use half of what the recipe made in batter and filling. I used parchment paper on my cookie sheets, per the original recipe. I read you can use no stick cooking spray, but I can't confirm that.

Oatmeal Pumpkin Creme Pies

For the cookie:

1 c brown sugar
1/2 Splenda
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 c apple sauce
1 can pumpkin (15 oz.)
2 whole eggs (I was out of Egg Beaters)
1 t vanilla
1 c ground oatmeal (I put in the blender to grind)
1 c white whole wheat flour
1 c AP flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 T ground cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
1/2 t freshly grated nutmeg
1/4+ t ground cloves (I love these, so I used 1/2 t)
1/2 t salt

Filling:

1 package of low fat cream cheese, softened (8 oz. box)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
16 oz. powdered sugar (half the regular sized bag)
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 ground cinnamon
1 t milk

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat together the brown sugar, sugar, oil, apple sauce and pumpkin. When that's mixed well, add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Add in the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Slowly add the dry mixture to the pumpkin mixture until combined.

Cut off parchment paper, if using, to fit your cookie sheet. If not using, spray your cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Spoon the batter into a large zip top plastic bag. Smush down (like my technical term?) until the batter is in the corner. Snip of a small corner of the bag. Starting in the middle of your cookie, squeeze the batter into concentric circles until it's about 2-3 inches big. Repeat until your cookie sheet is filled. Try and do even numbers of cookies so you don't have an odd cookie out. Or don't worry and eat the odd cookie!

Bake for 12-14 mintes. I tried the 11 minutes the original recipe called for, but it wasn't enough in my oven. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Now for the filling! In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter. Add in the powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.

Frost the bottom cookie in the sandwich and pop the top on.

If you were impatient, like me, and the cookies are still warm, it may get a little messy!

Enjoy!