making gobs of whoopie pies

I've moved a lot in my life (4 states in 10 years of marriage) and I'm always enthralled by the local or regional cuisine with each move. We now live in the greater Pittsburgh area. Most notable among the cuisine here is the dentency to put french fries ON things... sandwhiches, salads, etc. It is rather good. The other day I got a sandwich with french fries on it and was given the option of a side with it. I of course picked the onions thus giving me onion rings and french fries... MWAHAHAHAAHA! Anyway, another culinary treat around here is the gob or even gob cake. Also, there are mini gobs. Gobs seem to be whoopie pies which are rather trendy right now. Only, they have never gone out of style in NW Pennsylvania. Reminds me of when Lenny served at a church in Detroit and I was helping to put out the table signs for their "Harvest Dinner" and I remarked and how chic and retro the signs were. Picture a drawing of a 1950's lady with a waistline so narrow Blondie would be jealous serving a whole turkey to her pipe smoking, arm-chair-seated husband. My comment meet with blank stares and a giggle from someone in my age group who grew up in that church. She explained to me that they were not chic and retro, these table signs were original from the 1950's. We had a good laugh at that. Ah, it all comes back around, no?

Anyway,gob cake is a thick rectagular layer cake with frosting only on the inside which is cut into squares. I have never seen a round one, yet. There is a burnt sugar gob that is wonderful. I think that was my first gob cake that I tried when we moved here. Gobs are 2-3 inch cake-like-cookies sandwiched with frosting in the middle. They are fabulous. Mini-gobs are the same as gobs but are a bite size 1 inch version. Here is my first attempt at gobs or whoopie pies if you prefer. (I do prefer whoopie pie to gob. Whoopie pie is just cuter and these are stupid cute.) These are pumpkin with a cream cheese maple filling. I plan to put chocolate chips in some of the filling when I serve these at a women's meeting tomorrow night.



Here's the recipe I used -
Pumpkin Gobs

2 cups brown sugar 2 eggs
2 cups pumpkin 1 tsp cloves, cinnamon, ginger, salt
3 cups flour baking soda, baking powder
1 cup oil and vanilla


Cream together sugar, oil, eggs, and pumpkin. Add vanilla, then add dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly and drop by tablespoons onto lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 12 to 15 minutes. Fill when cool.

For the cream cheese filling -
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons of maple syrup

In a mixer, fitted with a paddle, add the cream cheese. Beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the powdered sugar until smooth. Add vanilla, lemon juice and maple syrup. Beat until smooth.