Gluten-Free Whoopie Pies - a deliciously decadent indulgence

This article in the New York Times got me thinking about Whoopie Pies again. I hadn't given much thought to the Whoopie Pie since a week-long trip to Maine last summer, where the highlight of my day was a drive to a nearby farm where I'd pick up just-picked produce and just-baked Whoopie Pies, those chocolately little cakes filled with oozy buttercream.

So I started to wonder: are there any good Whoopie Pie recipes out there for those of us who don't do the gluten or the potato or the corn? I did a quick perusal of the web and found a few recipes, but none of them made the cut. If it wasn't the ingredients, it was the photograph accompanying the recipe. I wanted to make something that looked and tasted great, not something that looked like a rock and was merely adequate.

Before I started on my own recipe, I decided to take a tour of the wheaten Whoopie Pie world, including the New York Times recipe. I eventually tried a Menonite recipe which worked well, so I decided to base my gluten-free recipe on it. After a few tweaks here and there, I came up with a formula that worked for me. I tried a version using Guar Gum (which is derived from a legume) and it had nice rise and didn't spread too much. The version I made without gum also worked well, was a little more tender, but spead out considerably.

A quick explanation of my flour choices for first timers to Cake & Commerce: in my gluten-free cooking and baking, I do not ever use potato, corn, or sorghum flour. I don't use potato because I don't like the flavor; I don't use corn because it makes me ill; I don't use sorghum because even though it is fairly versatile, wet-cooked sorghum (baking etc) does not eliminate two proteins in sorghum that people cannot easily digest - the results will catch up with you in 8 hours (fermentation makes it easier to digest). I use rice flour sparingly and only in certain applications - in baked goods in large quantities it is usually too grainy. I do not use pre-made baking mixes. Ever.

So I tend to use a lot of LIGHT buckwheat and tapioca in my baking. Sometimes I use certified gluten-free oat flour, but the flavor is pretty strong so its uses are limited. Lately I've been playing with whole ground Teff Flour (the basis for Ethopian Injera fermented bread) and have liked the result. I also like arrowroot as a thickener and garbanzo flour - but only in small quantities. I never use quinoa flour because of its strong aftertaste. This post shows what happened when I used it. without any understanding of its strong flavor.

Cake & Commerce's Whoopie Pies

Makes approximately 12 filled Pies

• 4 oz (1 stick) butter
• 1 Cup Sugar


• 1 Egg + 1 Egg yolk
• 1 C Buttermilk
• 1 t Vanilla extract

• 2 t guar gum (optional - if you don't use it, your pies will spread out more)
• 3/4 t Salt
• 1-1/2 t Baking Powder
• 1/2 t Baking Soda
• 1/4 C + 2 T Tapioca flour
• 1-1/2 C light buckwheat flour
• 1/2 C Cocoa
• 1/2 C Almond flour (as fresh as possible - grind your own if possible)
• 2 T Rice Flour

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350 F. 

Sift all dry ingredients together.

Mix sugar and butter until fluffy. Add eggs and mix until combined. Alternate additions of dry ingredients and wet ingredients, until everything is in the mixing bowl. Mix briefly, until all ingredients are evenly and thoroughly combined. Make sure dough is fairly firm - it should not be wet or gooey at all.

It should look like this. If it doesn't add a little more flour.

Using an ice cream scoop (I use a smaller size - remember, it spreads!), scoop out balls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Make sure there is space for the cookie to spread. Here's what it will look like in the oven when the cookies are done baking:

Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry or the top of the cookie does not retain a mark when touched with your finger. I prefer the pies a little more fudgy and less dry, so if you want a slightly more fudgy cake, pull it out of the oven before the top feels hard.

Allow to cool completely before icing. When ready to ice, use a pastry bag fitted with a star tip or a round tip to create a pretty pattern or just spread a dollop of icing on the cookie with an offset spatula or anything handy you happen to have around your kitchen.

When you are done, if you wrap the whoopie pie in plastic, it will start softening up. In my opinion, Whoopie Pies taste best when they are softer after they've sat in plastic for a day.

Basic Vanilla Filling for Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Yield: enough to ice your Whoopie Pies and your cupcakes, if you have them. So halve the recipe if you don't have an overwhelming need for a surplus of icing.

• 8 oz Butter (2 sticks)
• 6-8 C Confectioners Sugar
• 1/2 C Buttermilk
• 1/2 t salt (dissolve in buttermilk, if possible)
• 1-2 t vanilla extract (depending on how much vanilla flavor you want)

Procedure:

Combine butter and 4 cups of the confectioners sugar and mix until it resembles corn meal. If it combines completely, that's okay. Add the buttermilk with the salt and the vanilla. Mix until completely incorporated. Add 2 more cups of confectioners sugar. Mix again. If the mixture is still wet, add another cup or two of sugar. When it is spreadable but holds its shape, it is done.

For chocolate icing, I use the icing recipe here

Enjoy!

By the way, after I made this batch, I tasted the cake side-by-side with the full-gluten recipe. It wasn't quite the same, but with a healthy dollop of icing, the two were nearly indistinguishable. My mom ate nearly half of one before she realized it was gluten-free and kept eating it even after learning that. I found myself unable to stop eating the cake once I started. It was rather gluttonous of me. Is it any surprise I've gone up a size this winter?

And you can see the results in this video:

Comments

[Becks]

Wow! These are gorgeous! I read that article too and I have been mulling over a GF recipe in my head for the past couple of days.

Question - have you ever worked with sweet rice flour or brown rice flour? I agree with you about the graininess when it comes to white rice flour, but I have found those to be pretty soft.

[Melissa]

Those look delightful. I've never made anything gluten free before, but I like the sound of those. I know somewhere I'm storing a recipe that calls for garbanzo flour so I will need to find that too. Thanks!

[Erin]

Fascinating. I've never really done any gluten-free baking, but these look absolutely perfect! I just wonder what I'd think of the flavor difference.

[Veggie Wedgie]

These look incredibly good.

[Cake and Commerce]

When work with rice flour, it is exclusively brown rice flour.

I worked with brown rice flour when I was doing ratios for my gluten-free scones and I didn't like the results. I ended up using a minute quantity in it, just for a little texture.

I just want to avoid the mistakes of this bakery in Chicago that made everything with rice flour. I could always taste the grainy rice texture.

If you take a look at my pasta recipe you'll see that I used brown rice flour there - mostly because the qualities that make it so nasty in baked goods make it great for pasta making.

Once you get your ricey recipe down, give me a shout. I'd love to see the results.

[Cake and Commerce]

If you don't have the flour (you can find it at whole foods) you can substitute 2 T of Almond flour.

The hardest ingredient to find will be the light buckwheat flour - do seek it out, though. Its flavor alone - very mild - makes it a perfect gluten-free flour.

[Cake and Commerce]

As I pointed out in my post, with the icing you don't taste a huge difference. The whoopie pie is pretty decadent - I didn't make my version particularly healthy, just devoid of wheat. My mom, who doesn't usually like gluten-free, kept munching long after I told her what she was eating.

[Cake and Commerce]

Thanks! If only there were healthy!

[RecipeGirl]

These look absolutely amazing!! Fun pictures too :)

[Jeanine]

Oh my, oh my, oh my...wow. Those cookies look FANTASTIC! I've added these to my "must try" list. Thanks! :)

[Patti Anastasia]

These look AMAZING! Thanks. I find Acadian Light Buckwheat (from Bouchard Family Farm in Maine) at my local Hannaford. It's in the baking aisle with the flours.

[Cake and Commerce]

Thanks so much! I had a little whoopie pie snack today- day 3 of shelf life - and they were still good. Praise moisture migration!

[Cake and Commerce]

Let me know how they turn out, okay?

[Cake and Commerce]

How lucky are you that you have local buckwheat in your conventional supermarket? I have to make a 1 hr round trip to get it here. I need to stockpile it a little more.

I'm trying to local local Maine wheat for a friend. Do you know where it can be purchased (ahhh, heresy!)?

[gfe--gluten free easily]

Found your whoopie pies and blog via tastespotting. :-) I used to make whoopie pies before going gluten free, but haven't attempted them since. Your pics are very inspiring though and I love to bake so I might give them a try soon.

We all have such different preferences regarding flour. I don't care for the bean flours myself. And, I have issues with tapioca starch. I can still eat corn so I usually use a GF flour mix made from Asian white rice flour and cornstarch. It works for me for most baked goods. Sometimes I use buckwheat.

Thanks,
Shirley

[Cake and Commerce]

The flour thing is the one big issue in GF baking - every recipe I read I need to adapt to my particular weird requirements. And I change flour ratios depending on the recipe, which can lead to some pretty iffy results.

Remember how easy it was back when we could eat wheat? Not much thinking there. Just follow a recipe. And buy the best flour possible.

Ah sweet nostalgia!

[tara greco]

Hi Linsey,

Thanks for sharing your recipe for gluten-free whoopie pies. Would you be interested in doing a video of this recipe for how2heroes.com? There is NO cost for the video. Your video and recipe with featured on the site.

Please contact me if you would like to learn more. Thanks!

Tara Greco
Director of Marketing
how2heroes.com

[Kasey]

I am not gluten free, but am particularly interested in different kinds of flours (I think Heidi of 101Cookbooks got me started). Just bought some buckwheat flour and am trying to figure out what I'm going to do with it (besides making crepes).

[Cake and Commerce]

Kasey --

Buckwheat flour is great but you'll want to blend it in baked goods - it does have a strong flavor. I favor light buckwheat - the color is a little more pleasing and it has a slightly milder flavor. You can do anything with it, really - just combine it with a few other flours for balance in flavor, fat, and protein.

[StuffCooksWant]

Wow! These look fantastic!!

[Karina]

Gorgeous looking whoopie pies. (Quinoa flour is an acquired taste; works well with strong flavors like dark chocolate and espresso.) Looks like you've come up with a lovely combo. I shared this link on Twitter via Nicole at Pinch My Salt.

[Cake and Commerce]

Thanks so much, Karina! I was wondering why I was suddenly getting a lot of traffic directed to this post! Thank you thank you!

Though I wish I could for the sake of versatility, I'll probably never go back to quinoa flour - it did, in fact, ruin the eating of quinoa for me, which is something I've always adored. The astringency and bitterness is something I can't get past, as my palate is very sensitive to bitter flavors.

[Cake and Commerce]

Thanks! I ate them for about 4 days after I made them - though the dryer ones became progressively more dry as days went on (although the moist ones were perfect).

[cynthia ambrose]

I would love to see your pasta recipe. Do you have a recipe for gluten free ravioli? They are so expensive to buy!!

[Natalie]

Linseycakes, this looks wonderful! You know my crew is not GF but we're going to be trying these out (and not tell Husband, either)

[light]

They look wonderfull... If only it would be no Almond flour there... A lot of people who allergic to weat also allergic to nuts. Could Almond be switched with something else?

[Cake and Commerce]

Not everyone with celiac has a nut allergy, but for those who do there's coconut flour or any other GF flour, really. I like the almond for the flavor, but you can use your favorite GF flour as a replacement. It shouldn't make any difference at all in the result, just a minor difference in the flavor.

Good luck!

[glutenfree]

I just made this recipe tonight and it came out great! I didnt use the almond flour or buckwheat flour, for those I used a mixture that I have. And I changed the milk since I am lactose intolerant, but I have never had whoopie pies come out so perfect and delicious, even before going gluten free! Thank you so much!

[Cake and Commerce]

I am so happy to hear that! I'm glad the recipe could be adapted to fit your needs - and still tasted great. Thank you for sharing!