Family Reunion Cookies

OMG, you have to make these cookies.
I’m really not kidding!

We just got back from a week-long family reunion with Ryn’s family, which was absolutely fantastic! As part of the fun, we all headed out to Wells Beach, Maine, where they always went as kids for vacations. Part of the tradition was whoopie pies, known in the Midura family as “yo-yo’s”. It wouldn’t be going to the beach without them, but the problem is, half the family is gluten-free now, and can’t eat them. So Mary sent me her recipe and I started playing with it to see if I couldn’t come up with a gluten free, casein free (and paleo while I was at it!) version. Here for you now: the amazingly delicious results!

The cookie part is super tasty just as a cookie all by itself. As a portion of a whoopie pie, it’s a little flatter than the gluteny versions, but still completely functional (and did I mention tasty?). Unless you go crazy and add chocolate chips, the cookies are super paleo: the whole batch only has half a cup of honey, and making them with ground almonds instead of grain flour removes most of the carbs there. Of course, if you’re going to add white fluffy frosting in the middle, that’ll pull them right out of paleo-ville, but once in a while that’s not a problem. We made a bunch with jam or nut butter instead though, and those were great too!

Cookie part:

1 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups almond meal
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
3 eggs
vanilla
salt
1 tablespoon baking soda

Mix all ingredients, the result will be a thick batter. Spoon onto a greased cookie sheet or pyrex pan and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes depending on your oven.

When making these for whoopie pies, just let them cool, then stuff them with the following frosting recipe. When you’re making them just to eat as chocolate cookies, feel free to go crazy and add stuff – we’ve done various combinations of macademia nuts, chocolate chips, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne, and they were all great!

Frosting filling:

a few tablespoons of non-hydrogenated palm oil shortening
powdered sugar (to taste. a few tablespoons at least)
a pinch of salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon

Whisk like crazy till it’s smooth and creamy. If it’s not sweet enough, put in more powdered sugar – this is totally an “eye-ball it” kind of process.

Spread the frosting over the flat side of one of the cookies, then make a sandwich with a second cookie. We particularly like the combination of some frosting and some cherry or raspberry jam!

Enjoy!