Vegan Vanilla-Mint Chocolate Whoopie Pies!

I knew I was making progress when my husband tasted one and said, "I can't even tell there is no dairy in these!"

The key to success in dairy-free baking with icing is fake butter. I am currently using Earth Balance products. They do make a soy-free version as well. Found it at Whole Foods, it has red on the label. While I was there, I also found baking sticks, which makes it MUCH easier to measure (but has soy). So far, I have substituted it for butter in some of my favorite icing recipes and no one can tell the difference!

I needed to go to the store the other day, but was craving sweets in a major way. So I browsed my cupboard, and looked up some recipes on Go Dairy Free. I came across these Fudgy Chip Vegan Cookies and made them immediately! I had everything but the chocolate chips and nuts. So, I made a basic chocolate cookie. Scooped them out in a mini scoop, pressed down before baking with a spatula, and baked for 12 min. Key to a successful, moist cookie? Fight every urge inside of you and pull them out before they look done!

From there I decided they were too plain, so why not make them into mini whoopie pies? Lets take it up a notch and make some vanilla mint buttercream icing!

Dairy-Free Vanilla-Mint Whoopie Pie Frosting:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup dairy-free butter alternative
1 tsp mint extract
1 tsp bourbon vanilla paste
2 tbs almond milk (or other dairy-free milk substitute)

Mix all ingredients except for the almond milk together and beat until creamy. Add milk until you reach desired consistency.

Add a dollop of icing to cooled cookies and make sandwiches! Remember, it takes 2 cookies for one whoopie pie so don't be disappointed when your numbers are cut in half. Make a double recipe of cookies if needed!