Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

Recently a colleague of mine approached me about donating some of my treats to a silent auction.  It took me a long time to try and figure out what exactly was worth a bid, and would hopefully garner a decent price (it IS charity after all).  I scoured my recipe books, my pantry, and my refrigerator trying to come up with a great idea.  


Now is a good time to confess my undying love for all things Starbucks (don't worry I'm not straying from how I got inspiration).  I'm there a few times a week to fuel my caffeine sibilation, and am always pining after their treats.  Today my husband happened to buy himself one of their peanut butter chocolate mini-cupcakes.  Eureka!  


I came home and tried to find a way to incorporate peanut butter and chocolate into a recipe.  Enter the Whoopie Pie.  My recipe is of course tweaked from a different version, which I will now bestow upon you.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies (Gluten Free & Milk Free)


1 1/2 Cups Bob's Red Mill All - Purpose Gluten Free Baking Flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
1 cup melted coconut oil
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 tbsp vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 325º.  Combine the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt.  Mix the dry ingredients very well before adding in the coconut oil, agave, apple sauce and vanilla.  Stir all the ingredients together until they are very well mixed, a spatula works best for this.  Drop batter by the teaspoon full onto 2 parchment paper lined baking sheets.
With your hand or the flat bottom of a glass flatten each of the cookies. 
Either bake both trays for 7 minutes before rotating positions (baking for another 7 minutes), or bake each sheet separately for 14 minutes on the middle rack.  Let cool thoroughly before adding the icing.


Peanut Butter Icing


2/3 cup peanut butter
1 stick (8 tbsps) butter
3/4 cup fine confectioners sugar


Cream the butter and peanut butter together.  Add the sugar and whip until fully incorporated.