Can you imagine owning a business with your sibling? Well, Ted and Honey, a cozy café in Brooklyn, is just that. This sister/brother duo used childhood nicknames (their real names are Michelle and Chris) to namesake their dream café two years ago. But this family tie isn’t the only thing that makes Ted and Honey special: ingredients for their pastries and other goodies are locally-sourced and everything is made in house—even the vanilla syrup that goes in your coffee.
Since Thanksgiving is a time for family, we asked Ted and Honey to create a fun and easy holiday treat. Watch Ted and Honey talk business and show us how to make Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (recipe below)!
-Lilly LeClair, Editor
-Deborah Asseraf, Video Editor
Pumpkin Whoopie Pies!
Cookie recipe:
2 cups AP flour
1 ¼ tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Cinnamon, ground
½ tsp. Ginger, ground
¼ tsp. Allspice, ground
½ tsp. Salt
• Sift all dry ingredients together and whisk to combine, put aside until later.
2 large Whole eggs, room temperature
1 ¼ cups Light brown sugar
½ cup Canola or any vegetable oil
1 tsp. Pure vanilla extract
1 cup Pumpkin puree
• In the bowl of an electric mixer or hand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the eggs and brown sugar until doubled in volume, about 2 minutes on medium high speed.
• Add oil, vanilla and mix an additional 1 minute.
• Fold in pumpkin puree.
• Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and fold until just incorporated; do not over mix at this point.
• Either use an ice cream scoop (1oz.) or a piping bag (you can use a Ziploc bag as a piping bag if you don’t have one) and scoop or pipe out 1 oz. (2 inch rounds) onto a parchment lined sheet tray.
• Bake in a preheated 350* degree oven until edges are lightly browned and springy to the touch, about 10-12 minutes depending on oven (convection works best if you have that option on your oven).
• Let cool until ready to use.
These can either be used as regular pumpkin cookies and you can add some of the cream cheese frosting/filling to the top for a garnish, or fold in some toasted nuts or chocolate chips and candied ginger for a fuller cookie.
Cream Cheese Filling:
16 oz. Cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup Confectioners sugar
½ tsp. Pure vanilla extract
• Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in mixer or with hand mixer with a paddle attachment until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes on medium high speed.
• Either put in a piping bag or use a large spoon to scoop out about 2 tablespoons of mixture onto the flat sides of half the cookies.
• Then sandwich the other half on top to form your whoopie pie!
• In an airtight container under refrigeration, cookies should last up to 4 days.
