Gluten Free Twinkies
I've been on a quest this week for gluten-free dairy-free 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.
3 eggs, separated
¼ cup grapeseed oil
¼ cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice
6 tablespoons coconut flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 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° for 11-12 minutes
- Remove from oven and allow Twinkies to cool
2 egg whites
¼ cup agave nectar
- 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!
Posted on May 15, 2009 in desserts by Elana
other entries you may like: Chocolate Walnut Torte
or Cream Cheese Frosting
or Flourless Chocolate Banana Cake
subscribe to my site feed get recipes by email
print this post
email to a friend
47 comments
Hey! I've just recently started reading your blog and have become addicted to reading it. My mom who has celiac's as well is using me as the test subject to try some of your stuff. ^.^
Anyway, this twinkie made me want a donut. I know that's weird, but I was thinking of those amazing little chocolate donuts that are always sitting next to the twinkies in the store. The only gluten free donuts I've ever seen is from kinnikinnick. Have you come up with a recipe or know of one?
It's my birthday today so I'm gunna make myself a treat! ^.^
Oh, my! You topped it off today, as I have to admit that even I never thought of trying to reinvent twinkies! You go, girl! These look delish!
I can't eat eggs or almonds, so most of your recipes don't work for me - but I always LOVE seeing what you come up with! Great inspiration. This is fantastic, admirable work! Twinkies have texture and flavor all their own, I'm impressed with your ingenuity, as always. Thanks for sharing!
Kim - affairsofliving.blogspot.com
What a brilliant idea. I think of Twinkies every once and a while, and about how bad they are for you! I loved your story. Another great recipe Elena!
Yummy, looks great. Makes me wonder if I can use to same filling recipe to put into chocolate cupcakes to try the whole "hostess cupcake" thing???
Brilliant. I can't wait to try. Back before i found I was gluten intolerant, I used to love these wonderful "Hostess" cupcakes from a bakery in Brooklyn...Now I want to experiment!
This sounds like an awesome treat. I read a suggestion that to avoid the expense of buying a twinkie form and injector a person could use a jelly roll pan for the cake, then spread the filling on top and top that with another layer, cutting them in smaller portions than the usual cake serving, of course. Can anyone tell me what size jelly roll pan the batter might fill?
HA what an awesome and disturbing story. I'm dying for sweets but can only have stevia right now and no agave as I'm on the candida diet. Are there any recipes with stevia as the only sweetener?
Thanks! I always enjoy your blog!
Hello! I am diabetic & have had a lot of success with Elana's recipes by substituting the agave with liquid stevia to taste and a variety of liquid-replacing ingredients.
For example, in the Pumpkin Pie Muffins, I simply used another 1/2 cup of pumpkin. In the pancakes, I used yogurt to replace the agave liquid.
The trick is to figure out what the agave liquid is doing in the recipe, other than adding sweetness. Is it just for wetness, or is it helping the ingredients to bind together? Also, your substitution should flow well flavor-wise with the rest of the recipe.
I am going to try her chocolate chip cookies today using eggs to replace the agave, with stevia to taste, because I think the agave in that recipe is a binder.
For this twinkie recipe, I would probably try substituting yogurt + stevia to taste for the agave in the cake, since the acid in the yogurt would help it be even fluffier. Not sure about the filling... I haven't tried my trick with frosting or fillings yet, but I will give it a whirl and get back to you.
Wow...I didn't see this recipe coming! Congrats. Hehee. I saw a thin mints recipe on 101 Cookbooks which I thought was clever--this is really neat.
:)
Holy moly!! You have outdone yourself Elana.
And after 7 tries, are you sick of them yet?!
These sound so tasty and it just goes to show what the original Twinkie is made of if it's still on the wall today... yuck!
ooh those look yummy! and oh gosh! i never win anything! thanks so much! what should i do now?
I "just happened" to stumble across your website when I was looking for astraya stevia. Your recipes are perfect for my husband who has gluten, dairy, and sugar sensitivities, and for me with my hypoglycemia. Thank you SO much for sharing your recipes with us so that we can enjoy foods we've missed for a long time. You are a blessing!
I think there is something Hostess in the stars this week. I'm in Denmark and just this Tuesday a classmate in my dance class told me that she loves the U.S. and has always had the simple wish of eating a Twinkie. I was a bit horrified at that representation of American cuisine, but I understood. So my sister-in-law is visiting next week and importing a package of the golden cakes for this 30-something Dane to finally experience. Thank you Elana for giving me this option if I want to take a trip down memory lane with my classmate. ;-)
I wonder if those powdered egg whites (just whites, I think) would work instead of the raw egg for folks who are adverse to using it.
Elana this is brilliant! You have such an amazing talent and devising these recipes. How you can top this creation I have no idea, but look forward to seeing what comes next!
Thank you again for this great site. I discovered it about 2 weeks ago now and already have made your Pumkin muffins (fantastic, I added currents, goji berries and carrot to some and turned out great). I have also made the banana choc. cake, wow is all I can say. We put a little smear of strawberry preserves and whipped cream on top to go along with your banana split idea and it was amazing 2 people wrote down the recipe and asked for your site. Then we also made the orange cake (we have had lots of spring celebrations lately). The cake is great, I think I may have overbaked it a tiny bit but it is still lovely. We made a cream cheese frosting, but I think a little drizzle of lemon and sugar would have been better.
My next task is your bread 2.0. And I am trying to get my hands on the coconut flour too.
Thanks again.
Elana, these look delicious!! How funny that I actually asked for and received a twinkie pan for my birthday a few weeks ago. You must have read my mind. :) I can't wait to try these. I'm especially excited they are made with coconut flour, as I'm mildly allergic to almonds. Thank you for all of your hard work on these, and thank you for sharing all of your delicious looking recipes. :)
Mmmm coconut twinkies! I have a Sunday afternoon adventure for my kitchen! I might have to add some shredded coconut goodness to the filling!
OMG! Who would have EVER dreamed that you could make gluten free, grain free twinkies. You are amazing!:)
If my kids see this post, I'm in trouble!
These are a must make! Gluten and dairy free makes them even better as I don't have to play around with substitutions. Thank you for all the fantastic recipes. I love trying them out on my family. They are leary of my gluten free foods and I love it when they eat something and rave about it not knowing I made it for myself!
I think I might try these but in a muffin tin format instead of buying yet another pan.
It really grosses me out that Twinkie Filling could last 15 years on an exterior wall. Really?
Oh, and someone asked about using Just Whites. I think as long as the directions on the can are followed, they should work just fine.
These look delicious! I love that you are using coconut flour. And I had no idea there were Twinkie molds! :)
Elana,
Those twinkies look delicious. I'd love to try them. Has anyone made them without eggs? I can't have eggs so I'll try using some ground flax seed and water. I may add a pinch of baking powder and see how they turn out. One never knows until one tries!! Have a great week.
whaaaa? you are awesome. genius. seriously.
So excited about your cookbook, Elana! As soon as my textbooks sell on half.com, I'm preordering it. The twinkie looks scrumptious! I bet you could make a buttercream with nonhydrogenated shortening or coconut oil, so it wouldn't melt away. Who knew coconut flour could be this sexy? :)
I've left you a little Blog Award along with my out of tune singing of praises. http://meghantelpnerblog.com/2009/05/17/life-loving-blogstresses/
This looks like a fantastic attempt. Although I do not have coconut flour I bet my friend does (her son has celiac) so I will forward the recipe to her.
Elana--I have to admit when I heard about the twinkie molds a few years ago, I thought they were was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard of. But, now that you've made a healthy version, I might change my mind ... well, enough to eat one for sure--got any left? LOL
Now what can you do as far as a gf Hostess Ho-Ho? ;-)
Shirley
i second that last question!
about the gf ho-ho's :-)
Wow, those look so good. My son would love to make and eat these. He's not supposed to eat egg yolks so I wonder if egg replacer would work for the cakes. The filling would be fine. I've never seen a twinkie pan. Very inventive. I'm guessing this will be on his birthday list. Thanks for all the experiments. I hope they at least tasted good along the way.
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!
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.
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!
LSG, Thanks so much for your comment and what a great suggestion for folks that want to avoid the raw egg situation!
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!
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!
Thanks Sam! I love your blog and tweets too xoxo
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.
Thanks Debbie, for your sweet comment :-)
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?
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!
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?
Sophie,
Please see my faq's regarding your question about substituting ingredients.
Thanks,
Elana
[...] soon as I saw Elana’s post on Gluten Free Twinkies I knew my son and I would be making these. This month I’ve adopted Elana’s from [...]
[...] end to find out what an 11-year-old Twinkie looks like! And if you’re on a gluten-free diet, Elena’s Pantry’s got a gluten-free Twinks recipe for you [...]
[...] find recipes to bake gluten free substitutes for your favorite foods.Yes, you can bake your very own gluten free twinkies. YUM.—————————–Nancy Reyes is a retired [...]
[...] finally from Elana’s Pantry–wrong or right–an almost-Primal twinkie recipe (just be careful with the agave [...]
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! :)