Ramble On

I think Whoopie Pies must be a Pennsylvania thing, whenever I would mention them while living in other parts of the country I would be met with a blank stare. Every summer my friend's mom would make dozens of Whoopie Pies with the intention of freezing them, although not a lot o f them made it into the freezer. Oh the stomach aches we had back in those days! Here is my grain-free version of Whoopie Pies, and just a warning, you're going to get messy that is half the fun, and you can always lick your fingers when you're done!




Banana Whoopie Pies
makes 10 pies 

4 eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil, solid
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup olive oil
2 over ripe bananas
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone baking sheet. In a large bowl combine eggs, coconut oil, and honey with an electric mixer blend on medium speed until everything is well incorporated (I use my kitchen aid stand mixer for these). Add the vanilla, olive oil, and bananas, blend well. In a separate bowl combine coconut flour, ginger, sea salt and baking soda, whisk to combine. With your mixer on low add the dry to the wet ingredients and mix until all the lumps are gone.  Scoop your cookies on to your prepared baking sheet bake for 15 minutes and allow to cool completely before filling. These really are more like little cakes although I'm calling them cookies.

Marshmallow Icing - adapted from from Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall.
This frosting takes no time to make at all so don't walk away from it, and don't worry about having to done too early you cake has to cool before you frost it anyway :-) It also makes a good bit so save the rest in the fridge it will keep for a while.

1/2 cup honey
1 egg white
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a large sauce pan heat the honey over medium heat until it reaches 248 degrees (firm ball stage, if you don't have a candy thermometer this stage is when the honey will form a "firm ball" when dropped into cool water. This process takes about five minutes so watch it!). Whip your egg white until it it's frothy. Pour the hot honey into the egg white mixing on low. Increase the speed once all the honey is combined and whip until the icing is very thick and forms soft peaks. Fold in you vanilla.



How to Whoop your Pies:
After your cookies are cooled spread icing on the flat side of one of the cookie.


Press another cookie on top of this one (flat side down) and press together.

If you're going to eat these right away go ahead and pile them onto a plate if you want to save them, tightly wrap each whoopie pie in plastic wrap and store in the fridge.

The only thing I can liken these to is cheesecake. The texture is very light yet filling. The coconut flavor does come through on them, then lemon, and just a hint of ginger in the after taste. My husband ate half the batch (I ate the other half) they were gone within two days, just because we tried to pace ourselves.







 
Coconut Lemon-Ginger Cakes (gluten free, nut free, SCD legal) 
makes 12 regular-sized muffins


1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp sea salt
4 eggs
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup coconut oil melted and slightly cooled
1/2 cup honey

Line a regular sized muffin tin with papers. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the coconut flour, ginger, baking soda, and sea salt together in a small bowl, whisk together well. In a large bowl combine the eggs, lemon juice, honey, and coconut oil, blend together. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well with an electric hand mixer until all the lumps all gone. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tins dividing evenly into each cup. Bake for 23 minutes. Allow to cool completely and then refrigerate for at least four hours before eating to allow the flavors to fully develop.

Since I started SCD I always had some issues with nut flours which, I've recently discovered, was an allergic reaction. The doctor took my complaints very seriously and I am now a proud epi-pen carrying member of the nut-free club. However, now I had to go figure out how to bake again with a new flour. I chose coconut flour because, well, really, what is there other than nut flours that are allowed on this diet? Good thing coconut flour is yummy and I've found it to be cheaper than the almond flour that I was using. Don't worry, this doesn't actually taste like coconuts. It's moist, filling, and everything you'd ever want from a banana bread. 

Ingredients:
2 mashed bananas
6 large eggs
1/2 cup honey
3 tbs coconut oil melted
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. What I usually do is throw all this into a blender going in order of the ingredients (if you put the flour on the bottom it just won’t blend) as let it blend until all the lumps are gone. If you don't want to do that, combine all the wet ingredients together, mixing well. Set aside. Mix the coconut flour and baking soda together. Add the dry to the wet ingredients and really mix it well. Coconut flour tends to clump so really keep on it or use an electric hand mixer. After everything is mixed pour it into a parchment lined bread pan and bake for 50 minutes.

right out of the oven

yum