A few years after closing her cafe — Just Joan’s — in the Mr. Paperback on Lisbon Street in Lewiston, Joan Pelletier’s baked goods are still remembered by many in town. Her brownies, cookies and whoopee pies used to fly out of her bakery displays, she said. Now they fly off the shelves at Runway Variety in Auburn, or are special ordered on her website or by phone.

Not wanting to retire her oven mitts, Pelletier established a licensed, state-inspected kitchen in her home a little over a year ago and calls her new business Joan’s Cookies. Although she works full-time as a breakfast cook at Proctor & Gamble in Auburn, she still finds the time to bake up a storm. By “storm” we mean on average of nine batches of cookies, whoopee pies or brownies a week. One of her “batches” is big, making anywhere from three to five dozen pieces.

Her website promotes one of her favorite mottoes: “A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand!”

Pelletier offers pumpkin-based items year-round, which tend to be slightly more popular in the fall. She has recently perfected a pumpkin cream roll recipe, which she was happy to share with us, along with her standard pumpkin-chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Pelletier thanks the Sun Spots column in the Sun Journal for printing the original recipe behind her pumpkin whoopee pies. Her basic chocolate whoopee pie recipe came from her mom, and possibly from her grandmother. Pelletier explained how her whoopee pies are different from others she has seen: Her top and bottom are made more like a cookie, versus the more typical cake batter. Because of that, she said, hers are “less cakey in texture, and are quite tender.” She also pointed out they are soft enough to eat fresh out of the freezer: “You don’t even need to wait for it to thaw!” Ah, good to know the next time you have a whoopee pie fix!

Over the years, she has tweaked some of the recipes a bit, she said, to make them “better.” She said she experiments with her family, working to make sure the product meets both her standards and theirs. She currently makes three kinds of whoopee pies: Fluffernutter (with a layer of peanut butter spread inside along with the cream filling), pumpkin and the standard chocolate with regular cream filling.

Her list of cookie flavors remains quite lengthy, including your standard chocolate chip, a chocolate-chocolate chip, ginger molasses, mint-chocolate chip, oatmeal, oatmeal-chocolate chip, peanut butter, pumpkin-chocolate chip, snickerdoodle and a basic sugar cookie. Her best seller has remained the peanut butter-chocolate chip over the years, with her regular peanut butter cookie coming in second.

Brownies include double-chocolate (which has melted chocolate chips mixed in along with cocoa) and a chocolate brownie with a peanut butter and cream cheese filling marbleized throughout the batter.    

To order, go to www.joanscookies.com or call 783-8795. Within the area, she even delivers.

Joan’s Pumpkin Pinwheel Roll

Serves 10

3/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup 100% pumpkin

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly roll pan. Line with waxed paper or parchment paper. Grease and flour paper. Trim wax paper close to the batter to avoid burning.

Sprinkle a thin cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar.

Combine all dry ingredients except sugar into a small bowl.

Beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin and stir in dry ingredients. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts if desired.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched.

Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel and carefully peel off the waxed paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end.

Cool on wire rack.

Filling

8 ounces cream cheese

1 cup confectionery sugar

6 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla in a small mixing bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake and remove towel. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake and carefully reroll. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Joan’s Favorite Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yields 12 to 14 cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine together in a large bowl:

1 cup 100% pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

Dissolve 1 teaspoon baking soda into 1 teaspoon milk

Combine in a separate bowl:

2 cups flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix together all dry ingredients with wet ingredients. Add 1 cup chocolate chips and mix together. Scoop using a 2-ounce scoop, keeping the balls of batter separated. Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

Recipe from Paula Deen

Talking to Joan Pelletier about pumpkin-based baked goods led me to search out the recipe for one of the best fall desserts I’ve ever tasted. This could be a fabulous option for topping off your upcoming Thanksgiving dinner . . . especially if you’re not so keen on traditional pumpkin pie.

Ingredients

2 (14-ounce) packages gingerbread mix

1 (5.1-ounce) box cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix

1 (30-ounce) can 100% pumpkin pie filling

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon

1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

1/2 cup gingersnaps, optional

Directions

Bake the gingerbread, in two batches, according to the package directions; cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare the pudding and set aside to cool. Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar and cardamom into the pudding. Crumble 1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl. Pour 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and whipped topping. Sprinkle the top with crushed gingersnaps, if desired. Refrigerate overnight. Trifle can be layered in a punch bowl.

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