Gluten-Free Vegan Whoopie Pies

Whoopie Pies are portable cupcakes with the icing on the inside. Delicious in and of itself, with this gluten-free and vegan version, even those with dietary restrictions can enjoy.

The Story:
There’s much debate about the origin of the Whoopie Pie. Most claim the dessert comes from the Amish women who reserved a bit of cake batter to make individual mini cakes (pies) to give their husbands and sons who had to have their lunches away from home. Philip and I recently went down to Amish country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and sure enough, we’d just missed a Whoopie Pie Festival. Because L.V. Anderson already gave Pennsylvania the Banana Split in her United Sweets of America, the Whoopie Pie had to go to some other state, so she chose New Hampshire.

The State- New Hampshire
Joined the Union- June 21, 1788
Capital- Concord
State Flower- Purple Lilac
State Tree- White Birch
State Bird- Purple Finch
Nickname- The Granite State

Gather your tools. You’ll need:

1. measuring cups 2. measuring spoons 3. mixing bowls 4. spoon 5. handmixer 6. cookie sheets 7. cooling racks

Gather your ingredients. You’ll need:

1. Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Gluten-Free Flour 2. cocoa powder 3. baking soda 4. sea salt 5. cashew milk 6. vanilla extract 7. coconut oil 8. brown sugar 9. banana 10. powdered sugar 11. vegan marshmellow fluff

Gluten-Free Vegan Whoopie Pies
adapted from epicurious

Ingredients
Pie

2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 and 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/4 cup unsweetened cashew milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup coconut oil
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 ripe banana, mashed

Filling
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 and 1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 cups marshmellow cream or fluff
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets.

Stir together dry ingredients of pies (flour through salt) in a medium-sized bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix together milk and vanilla. In your largest bowl, cream together brown sugar and coconut oil with a handmixer for about two to three minutes. Alternating between dry ingredients and wet ingredients, add to coconut oil and brown sugar mixture until well-combined. Using an ice cream scoop or two tablespoons of dough, spoon 16 portions of dough onto greased cookie sheet, spacing about 1 and 1/2 to 2 inches apart. As gluten-free flour is gooey, shaped into circles as best you can with fingers.

Place one cookie sheet in upper rack of oven and the other in lower rack. Bake for 15-17 minutes, switching positions of cookie sheets about half way through. Once done, immediately remove from oven and take pies off of cookie sheet, transferring to cooling racks to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make filling. Using handmixer, mix together all ingredients in a bowl.

Once pies are completely cool, assemble them by spreading marshmellow cream filling on flat side of one pie and then pressing second one (flat side down) onto filling.

Note: As coconut oil has a high melting point and is difficult to measure out when at room temperature, you can heat it up until it is liquid, pour into measuring cup and then put into freezer until resolidified. Do not use melted coconut oil to make recipe, however.

If pies (or your kitchen) are too warm when assembling the pies, the coconut oil in your filling will be too oily to stay together. You can assemble them and then stick in the fridge or freezer and then the pies will hold together.