A whoopie pie is a great treat for anyone who likes cake and frosting, and portability. These are easy to stash in a lunch bag or wrap up for later. They even taste great right out of the refrigerator. Here are two recipes for the whoopie cake, spiced and chocolate, and two frosting recipes as well – marshmallow and creamy.
Whoopie pies are a New England and Amish tradition, but in all my years growing up on the East Coast and living in the Boston area, I never had one. How could that be? There’s even a Whoopie Pie Festival.
They remind me a bit of Ring Dings and Twinkies, probably because of the cake and fluffy sweet filling partnership, and because that’s the closest I’ve come to having one. According to the legend, if Amish children had one of these treats in their lunch box, they yelled “whoooooopie.”
This blog entry is created especially for the blog series, Go Ahead Honey, it’s Gluten Free! – and is a momentary break from the Thanksgiving planning list. I admire all the food bloggers who post on a regular basis, especially since I have a challenging time just keeping up with cooking/baking/shopping/work/etc. on a daily basis, let alone offering up great recipes to share on a schedule. And Naomi Devlin’s blog has a soft spot in my heart, partly because I love Maurice Sendak’s work.
Notes The spiced version is legal for SCDers.Each recipe make about 6 pies.
Whoopie Pies
Chocolate whoopie pie
- 2 cups of blanched almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1/4 cup of non-sweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup of honey (or other sweetener)
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla
- 2 eggs
Spiced whoopie pie
- 2 cups of blanched almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of ginger (dried)
- 1/2 teaspoon of allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon of cloves
- 1 cup of honey (or other sweetener)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla
Preparing the whoopie pies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Blend all the dry ingredients together, and then add all the wet ingredients and blend well.
- On baking sheets covered with parchment paper or a baking mat (such as a Silpat), place heaping tablespoons (about 3 measured tablespoons) about 2 inches apart in circles, across the sheet.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool completely – at least 15 minutes – before sliding them off the mat with a spatula.
- Take one pie and spread frosting on it. Place another pie on top of the frosting. Serve.
Creamy Vanilla frosting/filling
- 4 tablespoons of shortening (I use Spectrum Naturals Organic Shortening
)
- 2 tablespoons of honey (adjust sweetness to your liking)
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
- splash of dairy-free milk (about 1 tablespoon)
- Blend all the ingredients together with a whisk, or use a mixer.
- Spread, serve, and store sealed at room temperature for a few days, or in the refrigerator for a few weeks.
Marshmallow frosting/filling
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup of honey (about 4 to 6 tablespoons is what I usually use)
- 2 egg whites
- 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice or vinegar (optional; helps it to stay fluffy)
- 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla (optional)
- Bring the honey to a steady boil in a small saucepan. You want to bring the temperature of the honey to around 250 degrees F. Boil for about 5-10 minutes, or until it is starting to darken (almost bringing it to the edge of burning). You’ll know when it’s ready if it forms a ball when you drop some of it in a cold water.
- Whisk the egg whites until you have stiff peaks forming when you lift the whisk out of the mixture. Try not to stop whipping the egg whites, and slowly add honey and vanilla to the egg whites while you continue whisking. Some of the honey may spray a bit, so try to drizzle it down the side of the bowl, away from the whisk.
- Spread, serve, and store in the refrigerator. You can re-whisk the mixture if it begins to separate.
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These look like they would be great for lunch boxes. I’m always looking for good lunch box recipes.
Yum! The marshmallow filling is calling to me.
Stunning! I love the flavours in these – they look fantastic =D.
Oh my! I’ve never had a whoopie pie before… must try, but don’t have access to almond flour
( Maybe use coconut flour? Found you through Elana’s Pantry!
Ooooh whoopie pies!!! They look like they came out beautifully!!
Marillyn – I haven’t tried coconut flour yet, but these were pretty easy to make, so I’m sure it would work in some ratio.
Mmmmmmm. Those look delicious! I will have to add them to my “to bake” list
Whoopie! These look amazing.
MMMmm, these look awesome. I am so happy to have found your site
I am going on SCD starting in January, I can’t wait to try your recipes!
Gorgeous! Those certainl make for a comfy belly.
I’ve made whoopie pies before, but I love that you made these using almond flour and honey–much healthier. 
Thanks,
Shirley
I just stumbled across your website while researching gluten-free recipes. The woopie pies recipe was the first one I noticed. I love whoopie pies and can’t wait to try these. I haven’t tried any almond flour yet but plan to eventually. I want to be sure that gluten is really my issue. Would this recipe work with any other gluten free flours? (rice flour etc.) Thanks!
Hi Deb,
I haven’t tried any other flours yet, but I bet they work – some suggestions, if you’re feeling lucky, are coconut and other nut flours. Quinoa is one I’m curious about but I haven’t tried yet. Let us know if you try any others.
You have no idea how happy I am to find this whoopie pie recipe!!! My husband was researching almond flour recipes and information last night and found your website. When I saw this recipe I KNEW I was going to have make it a priority to read your whole blog!
My nutritionist has had me on a no gluten, no sugar, low carb diet for six months now and I figured there was no way I’d be able to eat a whoopie pie again!!! YAY!!! I’m going to try substituting vegetable glycerin for the honey, so I hope it works!
Thanks, Tracy! I’d be really curious to know if the vegetable glycerin works.
I LOVE WHOOPIE PIES! I had them as a child from the amish farmer’s market, and found them again as an adult at my Alexandia farmer’s market. Then I found out I had Celiac disease and I was so sad to say goodbye to whoopie pies. I will make these tonight, I’m so excited to eat these again!
I thought cocoa is SCD illegal…if it’s not I’ll be one happy gal!
Heather, cocoa is not SCD legal, but the spiced pie is legal. Sorry!!
Wow, as a child I ate whoopie pies every single day! Back then you could only buy banana or chocolate. What a treat to make your own & have new flavor combinations, thanks!
is shortening legal on scd diet
Ok I just made this recipe and it looks NOTHING like yours..lol..my pies where grainy and hard. I use stevia instead of the honey. Could that be the difference? My batter didnt look as moist as yours..HELP!!
Joan- yes, shortening is legal.
Christina – so sorry, but yes, this recipe would require something like honey to add moisture and help hold the flour together. I’m not sure how stevia would work exactly, but it sounds like it didn’t work well at all.
Does the Marshmallow filling taste like marshmallow??? is it good??
Erica,
I thought it was time to post another comment letting you know I finally “mastered” (for my taste) your whoopie pie recipe using vegetable glycerin and liquid stevia!
For the pies: instead of honey I use 1/3 cup vegetable glycerin, 30 drops of liquid stevia, and 2 tbsp water. Mine come out thicker than what your picture shows, so I just put the creamy vanilla frosting/filling (or peanut butter) on it and eat them one at a time instead of putting two together like a “pie.” It is still possible, however, to make them smaller, and flatten them on the cookie sheet, in order to eat them as pies.
I tried to make the pies with only vegetable glycerin but, in my opinion, it tastes better with the combination glycerin and stevia.
For the creamy vanilla frosting/filling I make a big batch using 1 cup Spectrum Organic shortening, 2 tbsp vegetable glycerin, 30 drops liquid stevia, and 1/2 tsp vanilla.
Thank you so much for giving me a simple recipe to play with and find something so YUMMY!!!
Tracy – thanks for sharing your results. I’m sure it will help folks who are using those ingredients!
I’m wondering if you can use Stevia in the raw as a sub for honey in this recipe and/or the chocolate biscotti recipe’s? I am not able to eat any honey, and would love to make these whoopie pies and the chocolate biscotti.
Sorry, I don’t know since I haven’t tried it. I know lots of folks use a combo of stevia and glycerin to sub for honey and agave.
I have made this recipe twice now and both times the batter is like soup. Are you sure that it is 2 cups of almond flour to 1 cup of honey? Do you refrigerate the batter before baking? Any advice would be appreciated. I have tried having all ingredients at room temp. – doesn’t make a difference. Thanks
Yes, it is not a stiff batter. If it’s soupy, it should be a very thick soup. I haven’t made these in a while. My memory is that the batter kind of pours out a bit, so you make small circular piles on the baking sheet. If your batter is very soupy, you can try adding a bit more flour (to thicken it up). One other trick is to put the batter in the refrigerator or freezer for several minutes. Or use less honey, of course. Hope that helps.
Made these, they taste great but absolutely would not come off the Silpat…so another wasted recipe for me. I think it needs some butter/oil etc in the recipe otherwise they totally stick to the pan!?
Not sure what to say – I never have a problem with them – or getting anything else off of a Silpat mat.
I would like to make your sugar cookies and use one of these frosting recipes. I don’t like to use shortening, so I was wondering if I can substitute butter for the vanilla frosting recipe…would it hold up outside the refrigerator?
I think it would ok. Another option is to look at the butter cream frosting in this post: http://comfybelly.com/2011/06/chocolate-chocolate-chip-cupcakes/
Would it be possible to pipe the marshmallow filling in order to decorate cookies?
Sure – I don’t see why not. Also see “ghostly meringues” for a marshmallow recipe.
OMG, I am DYING as I eat these. SOO delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
Even though this is an old post of yours, I wanted to stop by to comment anyway. For Valentine’s Day, I wanted to make my kiddos a special treat and decide to pair your chocolate variation of whoopie pies with The Urban Poser’s Strawberry/Raspberry Frosting. The combination was absolutely to die for and a perfect pink treat for V-Day. Thank you so much for providing a recipe I would be proud to serve to anyone, including people without dietary restrictions.
The Urban Poser’s frosting:
http://urbanposer.blogspot.com/2013/02/strawberry-or-raspberry-whipped-not.html
Great idea! Thanks!
Hi! I was really excited when I found this recipe. I recently got engaged, and my fiancee and I are thinking about having paleo whoopie pies as the dessert. However, we just tried the recipe and the pies baked into a big sheet. Any ideas to what may have gone wrong?
hmmm. Not sure. Are you substituting anything?
I was wondering if by any chance that either can be made into a vanilla whoopie pie? And i can not wait to try both of these recipes.
For vanilla whoopie pies, I would use one of the yellow cake recipes on this site or from my SCD book.