I had a cookie or a cake to bake in my mind but I had to use the pumpkin also. There was enough flour, eggs, some chocolate and butter for a rich cake or a toothsome cookie but what should I do with the pumpkin afterwards? Accepting the fact that I have no magical powers to turn the pumpkin into a brand new car, it should fit in somewhere in this baking process. Here are the keywords: cake, cookie, and pumpkin. After some time spent to look around food magazines and cookbooks suddenly the answer rushed into my mind. Whoopie! Yes, I was happy to find a way to utilize everything but this was not my reaction, it was the answer’s itself: whoopie pie.

Whoopie pie is neither a cake nor a cookie but lies somewhere in between, we may call it a soft cookie. Moreover, I found a recipe of pumpkin whoopie pie and it is from the favorite bakery of Brooklyn dwellers, ”Baked”. As one of my friends living there praised their desserts some years ago before they became that famous so I had a positive expectation about their recipe too.

You may wonder why whoopie pie is called whoopie pie as I do. In order to satisfy our curiosity, the story of whoopee pies originated in Pennsylvania as an amish tradition. In early days around 1920s, Amish women used to bake these soft cookie sandwiches with a creamy frosting in the middle and put them in their husbands’ lunch boxes who worked in agricultural labour. Imagine a farmer making his lunch break after hours of heavy work and finding one of these sweet sandwiches as a dessert in his lunch box. Any guesses on how he yells at this instance? Whoopie! This is where the name of whoopie pie comes from according to food historians.

As for the recipe I adapted from Matt Lewis, co-owner of Baked bakery turned out to be a real treat however I tried a different frosting rather than the one with cream cheese and butter he gave. The one I prepared has no cream cheese in it but it has a different flavor thanks to elderberry syrup I used. You may also use alternate fillings like vanilla flavored buttercream or simply your favorite jam or some melted chocolate whipped with heavy cream. If that first bite from your whoopie pies makes you say ”whoopie!” out loud then you’re done.

Ingredients (for 16 pieces)

For Whoopie Pie Shells

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground cloves
• 2 cups firmly packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Elderberry Flavored Filling

• 2 egg whites
• 100g (3.5 oz) sugar
• 200g (7 oz) butter at room temperature
• 2 1/2 tablespoons elderberry syrup

Instructions

As most of the good things tend to end unexpectedly, mild and spring like weather in Istanbul ran away from the city all of a sudden and left a freezing cold and lots of snow in its place. Just a week before we were enjoying long strolls along the coastline and in the twinkle of an eye we found ourselves hardly going out of homes even for a grocery shopping in the neighbourhood. Such desperate times require desperate measures, such as buying new DVD’s, taking your blanket out of the closet, refilling your corn kernel reserves to make fresh popcorn, and for sure having a bowl of hot soup that will warm you from inside.

I like eating almost all kind of soup as a starter, however when I feel really cold I eat the first bowl as a starter whereas the second bowl makes my main dish. A hot and tasty soup embraces various feelings like tenderness of your mom when you are sick or the nearness of a companion in a cold winter day making you feel warm.

All these in my mind, I wanted to make a soup to enjoy while watching the snow covering all over the place as if everything on the street like cars, trees, and apartments were dusted with confectioner’s sugar. No one on earth could take me out of my house for shopping so I need to make the soup of the day with the ingredients in hand. Considering the situation, I was ready to go experimental and to try something like a red Mexican bean soup with fresh herbs and chili powder. Then I realized the bowl on the refrigerator’s rack full of pumpkin slices waiting for my better half to make a traditional pumpkin dessert out of them which feature another post in the coming weeks by the way.

Pumpkin is also one of these “all purpose” stuff from which you can make savory foods, desserts, tart fillings, garnishes and so on. Even the seed of this great colored Halloween icon, also known as pepita, is a popular snack. Interesting thing is that unlike most of the other snacks, pumpkin seeds are full of fatty acids that are beneficial to maintain healthy blood vessels and nerves. So, do not feel guilty if you cannot stop yourself cracking a handful of these seeds while watching your favorite TV show.

This heart-warming and healthy soup I prepared became one of my mellow recipes for this winter. Its enriched flavor with a touch of roasted mustard and coriander seeds along with grated nutmeg will make your day in a snowy winter afternoon. Taking the widespread winter laziness into account, using a large bowl to decrease the number of refill trips to the kitchen is highly recommended. Enjoy!

Ingredients (makes 8 servings)

• 650 g (22.9 oz) chopped pumpkin (very hard outer parts should be taken out by a knife at first, watch your fingers while doing that)
• 160 g (5.6 oz) onion, finely diced
• 100g (3.5 oz) carrot, chopped
• 150g (5.3 oz) potato, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup milk
• 4 ½ cups water
• 1 teaspoon mustard seed
• 1 teaspoon coriander seed
• ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Sea salt

Instructions