Mini Sweet Potato Whoopie Pies with Maple Marshmallow Frosting

One of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes is mashed sweet potatoes. Whipped into oblivion, lightly sweetened with maple syrup and brown sugar, and heavily spiced with cinnamon & nutmeg, a simple sweet potato mash is more appealing to me than a mini-marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole as an accompaniment to succulent roast turkey and all the trimmings.

The combination of sweet potato and marshmallow definitely seems like more of a dessert to me. Therein lies the inspiration for these mini whoopie pies.

Although pumpkin whoopie pies have been taking the foodie blogosphere by storm lately, I wanted to introduce a different seasonal flavor. I started with a pumpkin whoopie pie recipe from Real Simple and subbed in sweet potato puree, as well as putting my own healthier spin on the cookies.

The moist cookies are like little pillows of spiced sweet potato cake. I like them so much I might make another batch with some add-ins such as chocolate chips, chopped pecans, and/or dried cranberries.

The frosting is comprised of all-natural marshmallow cream, a touch of butter for creaminess, and a double dose of maple. I will warn you that the frosting is a bit runny, so take care to dab just a bit in between each whoopie pie. I went a little way overboard while frosting the first set of cookies, and the marshmallow mixture dripped all over the place! Be sure to check out my note following the recipe on alternate ways to frost the cookies.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup + 3 Tbsp sweet potato puree (preferably freshly made –  bake sweet potatoes for 1 hour at 400 degrees or until super soft, puree flesh in food processor until smooth)
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp Sucanat or brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp pure maple extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt

Maple Marshmallow Frosting-

• 2 oz all-natural marshmallow creme (such as Tiny Trapeze or Ricemellow)
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1/4 tsp pure maple extract

Directions

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.

Beat the sweet potato puree, maple syrup, and brown sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add in both extracts and egg, and beat until well combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk together both of the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir until fully incorporated.

Using a mini ice cream scoop or a small spoon, scoop batter onto prepared cookie sheet (the cookies don’t spread out, but they do puff up). You should have 20-24 scoops of batter. Bake until cookies have puffed up and are dry to the touch, about 8-10 minutes. Let cookies rest on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely (if you try to frost the still-warm cookies, the marshmallow cream mixture will melt all over the place).

Meanwhile, prepare the maple marshmallow frosting. Clean the beaters, then beat the marshmallow creme, butter, maple syrup, and maple extract until smooth.

Spoon about 1 tsp of the marshmallow mixture into the center of half of the cooled cookies. Top with remaining cookies, gently pressing down to create a whoopie pie. Chill assembled whoopie pies until filling has set.

*NOTE: the marshmallow frosting is a bit on the runny side. Be sure to add just a dab of frosting in between each cookie for the whoopie pies. Alternately, you can frost the cookies as illustrated below.

For these guys, I just dipped the tines of a fork into the frosting and drizzled it over the top of the cookies:

For a few others, I simply dunked the top of the cookies into the marshmallow mixture. No matter how you frost the cookies, they taste great. For aesthetic variety, you might even want to use all three frosting techniques:

Estimated Nutrition Per Serving (2 mini whoopie pies)

• Calories: Approximately 220 calories
• Total Fat: 10g
• Saturated Fat: 6g
• Cholesterol: 35mg
• Sodium: 160mg
• Total Carbohydrates: 32g
• Dietary Fiber: 1g
• Sugars: 20g
• Protein: 2g