1. If you’re making homemade apple butter make this the day before. Try my Naturally Sweetened Instant Pot Apple Butter recipe.
2. Heat oven to 375°F.
3. Make your flax eggs by combining the flaxseed meal and water and letting it sit for a few minutes until it “gels up”.
4. In a large bowl, beat the butter, nut/seed butter, vanilla, and coconut sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed, scraping the bowl occasionally, until well blended.
5. Beat in the apple butter and flax eggs until well mixed.
6. On low speed, beat in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice and salt.
7. Lay out your macaron baking mats (if using) onto baking sheets (you’ll need 2).
8. Fill a pastry bag with the cookie dough fitted with a 0.7″ round piping tip and pipe the cookie dough to fill the outer circle.
   **Note: you don’t want the batter to be too thin, so I like to keep the piping tip in the middle and make tiny movements while piping the batter until the circle is full
9. Once all the batter is piped onto the mats, bake 10 minutes and cool for about 15-20 minutes before filling with frosting.

For the frosting:

1. In a stand mixer (alternatively you can do this with your hand blender/mixer) cream the butter, bourbon and vanilla on medium speed. Slowly add in the powdered sugar and keep blending until it thickens.

Making the Whoopie Pies:

1. When the cookies are cool, pipe the bottom of one cookie with the buttercream frosting, leaving a small border around the edge.
2. Spread some apple butter on the other cookie and then place on top of the buttercream cookie to make a “sandwich”.

   Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, alternatively you can freeze them too!

   **NOTE: if you use sunflower seed butter, your cookies will likely turn green as they cool. Google why this happens!