whoopie pies

this weekend one of my bestest friends is getting married! i can't even believe the day is almost here and what a whirlwind the past few months have been. i am over the moon excited and so so happy to be a part of becky and blaine's special day! at the reception, they opted to have a sweet table in lieu of a traditional wedding cake - many (many) of their favourite baked goods and candy will be beautifully covering the spread. Becky asked if i might be able to help with a gluten-free option, and given that i recently acquired a vegan/ gluten-free dessert cookbook - babycakes covers the classics by erin mckenna (such an amazing book- highly recommend it!) - i was much too excited to help out!

sorry for the poor quality pictures - i was in a huge rush to get these made so just shot pictures with my phone

i picked their whoopie pie recipe (with one slight modification) and let me just say, these were some of the best cookies i have ever made- EVER! you would NEVER be able to tell they were vegan OR gluten-free and they blew all of my past attempts at (conventional) whoopie pies completely out of the water! again, highly recommended!

whoopie pies by babycakes

:: ingredients ::
- cookies -
1.5 cups bob's red mill all-purpose gluten-free baking flour (found on amazon or at most natural food stores) (NOTE: after making these many many times, i have found this recipe almost always requires a full extra 1/4 cup of flour to make them the right consistence to keep their shape while baking. if your batter looks and feels too runny, add more flour a little bit at a time until its stiffened up)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup arrowroot
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup melted coconut oil or organic canola oil
2/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 unsweetened apple sauce
2 tablespoons vanilla extract

* in the book it says for the filling of the whoopie pies to use 2.25 cups of Susanne's Specialities Ricemellow Creme - i had no luck finding it locally, so made icing instead.

- icing -
(not babycake approved as it uses soy and refined sugar- sorry)
1/2 cup earth balance vegan buttery spread (original flavour)
2 cups icing sugar (organic, fair-trade makes me feel slightly better about using it)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla
2 tablespoons soy, coconut, or almond milk

:: directions ::
preheat oven to 325 degrees and line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper
in a medium bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. add all the wet ingredients and mix together with a spatula until mixture forms a smooth dough
drop dough by the teaspoonful onto prepared baking sheets - about 1.5 inches apart
bake for 7 minutes, rotate and bake another 7-ish minutes until nice and golden
let cool for 15 minutes on the baking sheet
* my cookies went a touch flat (i got a little wild with the apple sauce...) so i used a circular cookie cutter to cut the cookies into symmetrical shapes once cooled.
for icing, add all ingredients together and blend with a mixer for 5-8 minutes until light and fluffy.
spoon into the bottom of one cookie and sandwich with a second cookie. repeat until all cookies are used.

yields about 12 whoopie pies\ more if you make them mini

enjoy! xo