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!
Stephanie says
What a beautiful and delicious photo!
Question about the agave…I and many some of those I work with follow a low-FODMAP diet, which eliminates this sweetener. Would you suggest maple syrup or another to replace in this recipe?
Jean T. Nichol says
For your twinkles can I use regular olive oil sub agave. Coconut flour thank you
JOHN says
my one year anniversary is today and we saved our top layer of our wedding cake. to bad the power went out a couple monthes back and we were forced to eat it back then. before paleo living :) i want to suprise my wife with a yummy wedding cake-like creation.
i bake creative cakes for other people and i make them with flour, butter and sugar, but if i eat that now i get terrible tummy aches.
so a thought crossed my mind. how about a multi-layer toasted merigue twinkie cake???? twinkies are supposed to be spongie and moist and im sure elena has concocted her recipe to imatate that mouth feel, so why not make a tall cake and layer it with the merigue frosting and then torch it with whispy peaks???? ill make it tonight and it will give me a reason to break out the burlee torch!!!!!
Janina Locascio says
This recipe looks great! I was at dinner tonight with my parents, when my dad mentioned something about wanting a Twinkie. I literally haven’t heard the word “Twinkie” in about ten years, especially after all the bad rep they’ve gotten for their (obvious) poor ingredient list. Anyways – that immediately sparked my interest to make a homemade (& healthy!) twinkie. I’ll be using the bulk of your recipe and will let you know how the twinkies turn out :) This was my first time to your site – and it’s great. I also run a food blog – just recently launched – and am always looking for some fun new recipes! Thanks
Arlee says
I just made these today and I used the muffin tins and they came out awesome! I did do the filling different from a link someone posted in one of the above comments. Thanks!!!
Cathy says
Ok, that twinkie college store makes me want to hurl! So gross that it was still there 15 years later! One more reason to believe that they are not actually food….!!!!! thanks for making a good alternative. :)
AnnMarie Deis says
I’m having some trouble getting the filling inside the cakes. I made the recommended egg white filling, but it didn’t “penetrate” the cake. I then tried a more substantial frosting (coconut frosting also by Elana), but that doesn’t penetrate, either. Anyone have suggestions??? I’m fairly certain that the only substitution that I made was butter for the grapeseed oil. I can’t imagine that that would cause a problem, could it????? They taste out of this world, though!!!!! Maybe I’ll just need to do them as cupcakes instead . . . . . :)
JOHN says
you need to use a pastry piping tip. it is a 2-3″ long metal pastry tip that you push all the way into the cake and then while providing even pressure to your piping bag, you retract the tip from the cake, thus filling the cake. you should hold the twinkie firmly in one hand and feel the filling pushing the cake outwards. if you fill to much in one spot then you will get a blow out!!! :)
AnnMarie Deis says
PLEASE disregard my prior post about yield. The number of Twinkies was obscured by a blob of almond batter. LOL!
AnnMarie Deis says
Would you have any idea how many twinkies this recipe makes? I’m planning to make them for my son’s preschool snack tomorrow and there are 15 kids in his class. :)
Connor says
great recipe. i used to really love twinkies before i found out i was gluten intolerant. thx, i can’t wait to try them!
Andrea says
My 40th birthday is in November and I am hosting a dinner party in which the birthday girl (me) wants Tiramisu… I have been eating completely grain free for several months now which really cut out a lot of my gluten free recipes…In my search for a Tiramisu recipe I came across one made with Twinkies (ick!) but it sparked my memory of this Twinkie post and the quest to make gluten/grain free ladyfinger cookies began!!! I ordered an eclair/ladyfinger pan from amazon and it arrived yesterday in the mail…today…sweet success on the first try. This recipe was perfect for the spongy ladyfinger cookies that I will use for my Tiramisu. Thank you so much for this versitile recipe. Today I used the “trial” batch for a wonderful fresh berry and whip cream shortcake…also awesome!!!
Ruth J. Hirsch says
Hi,
I know it has been a while– nonetheless, could I please please have the Tiramisu recipe?
Ruth
partner-in-healing at earthlink.net