There's this book, and it's all about The Whoopie Pie. It's called … Whoopie Pies: Dozen of Mix 'em, Match 'em, Eat 'em Up Recipes. I bought it. I kinda like it.
They even have a gluten-free whoopie pie recipe, but it uses a bean flour blend, and, well, no thanks, man. So I adapted their recipe for “Classic Chocolate Whoopie” instead.
I halved the recipe since I felt that 2 dozen assembled pies {read: 48 cookies} was just too many, and worked some Jedi mind trick magic with some ingredients, you know. I adapted it. It turned out really nice, too. So I thought I'd share it with you.
I even learned a few important, Shoestring-Friendly things from this book. Among them: you do NOT need a special pan for whoopie pies. Ever see those “whoopie pie” pans? They have a bunch of shallow, round wells. Well, you don't need 'em.
Sorry, whoopie-pan-making-companies. You're selling a bill of goods. I never really understood those types of pans anyway. Unless you're making pancakes, your batter is not going to be a pourable liquid. So how are you supposed to fill those wells all nice and neat? You're not. It's just plain silly.
You'll notice that I did not include a recipe for a frosting or filling. You really can use whatever you like. I made a vanilla buttercream, but you know what I think would work nice? The recipe from my GF Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, reprinted (with permission, of course) by the New York Daily News when they did a story about me in March of this year.
Whoopie pies are different than Oreo-type cookies, by the by, in a few very important ways. They are puffy and cakey, unlike Oreos, which are snappy and wafer-like {just realizing now that in my better dreams I am described as snappy and wafer-like}.
How to make classic gluten free whoopie pies
Classic Gluten Free Whoopie Pies
Equipment
- Piping bag with open tip
Ingredients
- â…ž cup (123 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I use Better Batter; click thru for appropriate blends)
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- â…“ cup (27 g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (109 g) packed light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 2 tablespoons (24 g) non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening (I like Spectrum brand)
- 1 (50 g (weighed out of shell)) egg at room temperature, beaten
- ¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 10 tablespoons (5 fluid ounces) milk at room temperature
- 1 recipe Sandwich Cookie Filling
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. Whisk to combine, working out the lumps in the brown sugar.
- Add the butter and shortening, and mix with a fork until crumbly and lumpy. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix to combine. Add the milk, and mix until uniformly smooth.
- Place the batter in a piping bag fitted with a plain open piping tip about 1/2-inch in diameter. Pipe batter in rounds about 1 1/2 inches in diameter onto the prepared baking sheets, at least an inch apart. They will spread a bit while baking.
- Place one baking sheet at a time into the center of the preheated oven and bake until they spring back when pressed gently in the center, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow the cakes to cool for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- When removing the cakes from the parchment paper, it is best to peel away the parchment paper from the back of the cake, rather than attempting to lift the cake right off the paper.
- Once the cookies are completely cool, pair the cookies that appear the most like one another (a memory game!).
- Add about a tablespoon of filling either with a pastry bag fitted with a star tip or with a spoon or knife, and close. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
