To forget my troubles, I’ve recently had some excellent pumpkin filled weekends . . . . . but for this post I’m forgoing the excellent. Oftentimes, I’m quick to post about the really awful pumpkin finds or the really awesome pumpkin finds. The mediocre ones get pushed to the side and forgotten. Not this time! This is my mediocre pumpkin post.

First off….

Name: Jack’s Pumpkin Whoopie
Purchased At: West Coast Whoopies in Calimesa, CA
Price: $2.50
Availability: Year Round

From the first moment I was told about Whoopies I’ve wanted to try them. The one thing I possibly love almost as much as pumpkins are cupcakes and since Whoopies are a variation on the cupcake I was totally excited to hear about them. A Whoopie is like a crème-filled cookie but it’s more like if you took the tops off two cupcakes and used them for the cookies but put the frosting in the middle, which sounds great. The only thing wrong with cupcakes are the wrappers and this eliminates that step.

We set out to get ourselves a Whoopie and when we pulled up to the shop I noticed the sign outside read PUMPKIN Whoopies. Yea! We got one pumpkin and one chocolate with peanut butter frosting. I took a bite of the chocolate one right outside of the shop but was unimpressed. They seemed dry and ordinary. The pumpkin Whoopies are frozen so we decided to take them home and have them later in the day.

I was hoping that my patience would be rewarded but it wasn’t. They aren’t horrible but they’re nothing special. They made the classic mistake of using a vanilla cream cheese frosting, which I have bemoaned frequently on this blog, and the cake was dry and uneventful.

Yawn, we probably won’t be going back but it did spawn the idea that if I’m going to ask the bakers of the world to STOP using cream cheese frosting then I have to come up with an alternative. Keep watching because I’m going to try out a variety of frosting recipes until I come up with the perfect one for pumpkin cupcakes.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Name: Phenomenal Pumpkin Spice Cookie
Purchased At: Nearly Every Independent Coffee Shop in Southern California
Price: $3.00ish
Availability: Year Round

I buy the “Phenomenal Pumpkin Spice” (their use of the term “phenomenal,” not mine) cookies made buy the Alternative Baking Company too often. I see them year round and I’m always thinking that I really should blog about them but they’re just too boring to say much about. The taste is decently pumpkinish but the cookie ends up feeling like a ball of lead in my stomach. It’s probably because it’s vegan but the texture is Dense with a capital “D.” Another mark against it is that one cookie has 440 calories and it is sooo not worth it.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Name: Mini Pumpkin Pie
Purchased At: Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
Price: $2.25
Availability: Seasonal

The mini pumpkin pie at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf looked cute in the pastry case but was a yawner. It’s mostly crust and the dollop of whipped cream is rubbery and artificial.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Name: Pumpkin Latte
Purchased At: Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
Price: $3.75
Availability: Seasonal

It tasted better than the Starbucks’ version but not by much.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Name: Pumpkin Loaf
Purchased At: Starbucks
Price: Forgotten
Availability: Seasonal

There is nothing new at Starbucks in the way of pumpkin treats. It’s all the same old stuff that they’ve had for the past few years. Maybe they think they can trick us into thinking the pumpkin loaf is new because this year because they put crushed pumpkin seeds on top instead of the cream cheese frosting with the tiny candied ginger pieces like every other year but it’s soo not new. I prefer it the old way.

Blah, Blah, Blah . . . it’s fine but boring.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Wow! I’m kind of caught up now. I’ve also made some great pumpkin finds and I’ll post them soon. Hopefully you are still awake after all this boredom.