Gluten Free Banana Whoopie Pies with Peanut Butter Cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

For the cookies:
In a small bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda xanthan gum, and salt with a whisk for about 90 seconds.*

Combine banana and sour cream in another bowl.

Beat butter, sugar and brown sugar on medium-high until pale, thick and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, beating until incorporated. To the creamed mixture, add half of the banana mixture, then half of the flour mixture, then repeat with remaining banana and flour.

Drop rounded tablespoons of the dough on the parchment lined sheets, spacing about an inch and half apart. The spacing is actually important on these, they tend to spread and flatten while baking.

Bake for 12-14 minutes until a finger gently pressed in the center bounces back. It has been my experience that gluten-free flours don’t tend to brown as well as all purpose flour. Cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes before sandwiching.

For the filling:
In a medium bowl, beat the peanut butter and butter together until smooth. Slowly add in confectioner’s sugar until blended and smooth, adding heavy cream by the teaspoon until the frosting is smooth and at a piping consistency. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a large tip.

Once the cookies are cooled, pipe a good amount of the peanut butter frosting on the bottoms of half of the cookies. Starting in the center of the cookie, pipe the frosting in an outward circle, making sure to get the frosting to the edge of the cookie. Sandwich the remaining half of the cookies on top of the frosting to create a sandwich. Then dig in!

*I’m neurotic about the flours being mixed properly. The experts say to make sure they are blended really well, so I set the kitchen timer for 90 seconds and whisk, whisk, whisk.