I’ve been on a quest this week for gluten-free, dairy-free healthy Twinkies and after several attempts (make that 7) I seem to have come up with a good approximation of this infamous Hostess treat.
Whenever the subject of Twinkies comes up in our house a certain Twinkie vandalism story is told (of which I was not a part!). My husband likes to talk about the time (in his college days) when he and a buddy were coming home from a night out. His friend had the munchies and procured a Twinkie. Apparently his friend was feeling artistic/vandalistic/Keith Harringesque, and using his Twinkie wrote the initials “JS + NA” inside a heart on the outside wall of a building on campus.
Fast forward a decade and a half to their 15th college reunion. The initials written in Twinkie were still there 15 years later.
Gluten-Free Twinkies
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs, separated
- ¼ cup grapeseed oil or palm shortening
- ¼ cup agave nectar or honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 6 tablespoons coconut flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whip egg whites to stiff peaks, then set aside
- In a medium bowl, whip egg yolks until pale yellow, then whip in grapeseed oil and agave
- Whip vanilla and lemon juice into egg yolk mixture
- In a medium bowl combine coconut flour, baking soda and salt
- Blend flour mixture into egg yolk mixture, then whip ingredients together until smooth
- Gently fold egg whites into yolk-flour mixture
- Spoon batter into Twinkie molds until they are half full (you will get 8 Twinkies)
- Bake at 350°F for 11-12 minutes
- Remove from oven and allow Twinkies to cool
Dairy-Free Twinkie Filling
Ingredients
- 2 egg whites
- ¼ cup agave nectar or honey
Instructions
- Whip egg whites to stiff peaks
- Blend in agave and re-whip until stiff peaks form again
- Place filling in Twinkie filling injector
- Place cooled Twinkie flat side up and inject filling into Twinkie in 3 spots on its flat (bottom) side
- Serve
Yes, this filling recipe includes raw egg whites and yes, my family and I eat raw egg on a fairly regular basis. If that’s not your thing, then you could fill the Twinkies with agave sweetened whip cream, which I think would taste delicious.
Be sure to fill your Twinkies just before eating. Why? The sponginess of the Twinkie cakes quickly absorbs the filling. When I left mine over night, all of the filling was absorbed into the cake.
Disclaimer: it is challenging to get a ton of filling into the Twinkie. If you are striving to obtain the amount of filling in the photo above, please don’t. That photo is food-styled (by me) with extra Twinkie cream. In any event, happy Twinkie time!
…And now for the winner of last weeks Friday Freebie (an Elana’s Pantry tote bag made of 100% recycled cotton)…merav! Congratulations!
Anita Z says
I love these cookies…I had to do some substitutions because I did not have all the ingredients…almond meal + rice flour but they turned out great. Your website and book have really inspired me. thanks
Jenna says
These are amazing! Others were asking so I thought I would inform that I tried these as cupcakes with the filling on top. They certainly worked! I followed the recipe exactly but instead of putting the cupcake batter into a Twinkie mold I spooned the batter into a well oiled (with Grapeseed Oil) muffin pan. I put about 1 1/2 TBSP of batter into each of the eight muffin pan cups. Baked for 12 minutes at 350 and let cool then spread the yummy filling on top! They are to die for! The trouble is, they are so light, fluffy and delicious that you could eat all eight in one sitting! Watch out! :)
Sophie says
Could I use canola oil instead? I’m sensitive to most oils/allergic to sesame oil and haven’t tried grape seed oil before, are they similar?
elana says
Sophie,
Please see my faq’s regarding your question about substituting ingredients.
Thanks,
Elana
Debbie says
LOL, what a fun recipe. Of course I could never make it as is, since it contains deadly agave, probably the worst sweetener on the market in terms of heart health (containing upwards of 90% fructose, the worst sugar for your body to metabolize, causing your liver to flood the blood stream with triglycerides). But I might forward it to my sister who is always looking for gluten-free treats – though I wonder if there is a way to substiture something healthier for the agave?
elana says
Debbie, I seem to do ok on small amounts of agave, though it sounds like the jury might not be out on this ingredient anymore. Thanks for your comment!
elana says
Thanks Debbie, for your sweet comment :-)
Debbie says
Hi Elana, Just made these for Memorial Day. They were tasty. Not a twinkie, but my kids never had a real twinkie anyhow. I used whipped cream as the filling. I will make them again but as another poster mentioned, I will fill them with a frosting to make them mad sweet! Thanks. Who else but you would think of making a twinkie. One of the most unhealthy snacks…now good fer ya.
Sam Sotiropoulos says
LOL! I very much enjoyed seeing this recipe on your blog. I look forward to perusing the rest. Nice photos, clean layout, great style. I’m liking your blog very much. :-) Glad to have found you through Twitter!
elana says
Thanks Sam! I love your blog and tweets too xoxo
LSG says
I had the idea while reading the recipe and comments that 7-minute icing might make a good filling. It’s essentially the filling that Elana has listed, cooked (at least partially) in a double boiler. I searched under “7 minute icing agave” and found 2 recipes that might work as guides: http://www.dadamo.com/typebase4/recipedepictor7x.cgi?794 and http://farmtophilly.com/index.php/site/C34/
I haven’t been doing that well with sweet things lately, so, unfortunately, I won’t be able to test it. (In fact, I realized that I hadn’t commented in a really long time since I’ve not been able to try out many recipes lately.) Even though I haven’t been experimenting with the recipes, I always enjoy reading your posts Elana!
elana says
LSG, Thanks so much for your comment and what a great suggestion for folks that want to avoid the raw egg situation!
Debbie says
I have used the 7 minute icing recipe (your 1st link) on a cake. My arm really got tired holding my mixer for that long! As a topping it tended to dissolve or evaporate over time, but using as a filling like you suggested might be best. Good idea!
elana says
Gabrielle -Happy Birthday! I hope it was a great one for you. I will keep your donut request in mind, it’s such a good idea –thanks.
Kimi -Thanks girlfriend, love your site.
Kim -I’m going to be coming up with some eggless, almondless recipes just for you :-)
Meagan -Thanks so much for the award!!!
sandy -I was thinking about that myself. I bet it would work really well.
Lilly -Happy experimenting :-)
Carol -That sounds like a great idea –though I don’t have any jelly roll pans myself and wonder exactly what they are. Time for a search.
Jessica -If you go to my sidebar and look at the ingredients tag cloud, click stevia and you will be taken to all of the recipes that use this ingredient. Some will have other sweeteners that you are avoiding, some will use stevia only.
Hannah -Thanks so much. Thin mints, now there’s another idea for a fun gluten free recipe!
CoconutGal -Hey there, friend. Nope, we didn’t get tired of eating the test batches. They were good, just not perfect and I sent some to my Dad in California.
merav -Thanks and I hope you enjoy the bag :-)
Vickie -You are so sweet, thanks for your wonderful comment.
Shenan -Love your story about American cuisine, thanks so much for leaving your comment!
Deb -Sounds like an experiment is coming up :-)
Meghan -Thanks!
Jodie -Thanks for your comment and by the way, your combinations and additions to the recipes sound delicious.
Katie -Happy belated birthday!
Rosy -The shredded coconut sounds super yummy!
Kimberly -Awww, thanks.
Debbie -You are just too funny :-)
Cheryl -I couldn’t agree with you more, isn’t it great when that happens?!
zebe912 -Nice to see you here again. Thanks for the tip on the egg whites, that will help a lot of people.
alison -Yup, who would’ve “thunk” it?!
Paulette -Hope you’ll let us know how the flax sub turns out; I would also suggest trying out some coconut milk, though not sure if that would work either. Good luck and happy adventuring in the kitchen.
LK -That is a really cute comment. Thanks.
Lauren B -Thanks and happy end of semester. Great idea on the shortening/coconut oil, by the way!
Savor -Hope you all enjoy!
Shirley -I think ho ho’s might be next on my list…
Diane -They were delicious along the way. I bet you could just use cupcake tins instead of investing in a cake pan. Happy Birthday to your son.
Donna -I’m so glad you and your daughters liked them!!! And that they had twinkies…that’s so cool.
Donna says
My gluten free daughters were just saying they were sad that they would never get a chance to eat a Twinkie. I was so excited to see this recipe. We just made them and they were delicious. Your recipes are a huge blessing. Thank you!