With Christmas fast approaching, I wanted to give my wonderful readers an early present…a sneak preview of not one, but TWO recipes from my latest book, Paleo Indulgences!! 

That first Christmas after switching to a Paleo lifestyle, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to make sugar cookies with my daughters, which had been a tradition for almost a decade.  (Started with my oldest, before my youngest was even around!)  So I went to work to find a suitable sugar cookie cut-out with no gluten, grains, dairy, soy or cane sugar.  After a few attempts, we were oh-so-happy with the results!  The final recipe created a cookie that was so versatile, I could make a simple drop cookie out of it, or roll it into a log and slice the cookies if we were lazy that year, but best of all, we could  roll it out and use our beloved cookie cutters!!  Not only that, the cookies stay together nicely and don’t fall apart while we decorate them!  Our tradition was saved!

Now, I must confess, that I also make a small batch of my original Sugar Cookie Cut-Outs (with modifications) for my youngest, because she can’t have nuts, and a full coconut flour cookie, or one with ground seeds, just hasn’t passed our taste tests yet.  For this small batch, I use maple syrup instead of sugar, and coconut oil and palm shortening instead of non-dairy butter.  It’s not Paleo because of the GF grains, but it’s the best choice for us since nuts leave her feeling awful, and missing out on the tradition would leave her feeling even worse.  Nope, not on this Mama’s watch!

What are your family’s Holiday traditions, and how have you adapted them to fit your gluten free and/or Paleo lifestyle?  Whatever they are, I hope you enjoy this recipe with your family and create some wonderful memories along the way!

 

Paleo “Sugar” Cookies
Grain Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free*, Soy Free, Cane Sugar Free

Dry Ingredients:

1 C Almond flour
¼ C Coconut flour
2 TBSP Arrowroot starch
½ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp sea salt

(~Option – for chocolate sugar cookies, add in 2 TBSP organic unsweetened cocoa powder~)

Wet ingredients:

1 egg (*for an egg free option, you can use 1 TBSP flax meal mixed with 3 TBSP hot water)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp pure almond extract
1/3 C pure maple syrup
2 TBSP coconut oil, melted

1)     Preheat oven to 350°.

2)     In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.

3)     Add wet ingredients to the dry, except for the coconut oil, and blend with a hand
mixer.

4)     With mixer on low, slowly add coconut oil to the bowl and mix well.

5)     For a soft cookie, you can scoop and bake now for 11-13 minutes

6)     For a crispier cookie, roll the dough in plastic wrap into a log.  Place in the freezer
for 2 hours (or more, until very firm).  Remove and slice into ¼” slices.  Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake 13-15 minutes.

7)     For cutouts, shape dough into a disc and refrigerate for 3 hours (or more).  The longer you keep them in the fridge, the easier they are to work with.

8)     Using a fine dusting of arrowroot powder to prevent sticking, dust two sheets of parchment paper and the dough.  Roll dough between two sheets of parchment paper to about 1/4″ thickness.

9)     Remove top piece of parchment and cut out cookies with cookie cutters. *Tip* – dip your cookie cutters in some arrowroot or cocoa powder (for chocolate cookies) to keep them from sticking to the dough.  Remove excess dough from around cutout shapes.  *Tip* -  If your dough is still soft and not easy to peel off the parchment, knead a small amount of arrowroot starch (or cocoa powder for the chocolate cookies) into the dough until it’s a little less sticky, then re-roll.

10)    Place bottom sheet of parchment with cookie shapes (no scraping cookies and transferring to another sheet!) onto a baking sheet and bake 13-15 minutes or until edges are browned and center is firm to the touch.

11)    Cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

12)    Frost with your favorite icing or my Cinnamon Maple Frosting (below)!

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Cinnamon Maple Frosting

½ C Palm Shortening

1/3 C pure maple syrup

Pinch sea salt

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 TBSP Arrowroot starch

2 tsp Coconut flour (sifted)

2 TBSP Coconut oil, melted

 

1)     In a medium bowl with a hand mixer, blend all ingredients except coconut oil until fully combined.

2)     With mixer on low, slowly add in coconut oil.  Blend well and there are no lumps.

3)     If frosting is a bit too soft, refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

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Candy Cane Sugar Cookies

For a Holiday party variation, I bake small circles of the sugar cookies, both chocolate and vanilla.  After the cookies cool completely, melt dark chocolate, unsweetened dark chocolate and a little peppermint extract together and stir until smooth.  (The unsweetened chocolate helps cut the sugar a bit since I use less of the dark chocolate this way.)  Then drizzle the minty chocolate over the cookies.  Next, crush organic (read: no artificial colors, flavors or corn syrup) gluten free candy canes and sprinkle them on top!  They’ll be a hit at your next Christmas Cookie Exchange Party!

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Oh, and one last suggestion…sometimes, when I’m in a Naughty List kinda mood, I like to dip half of a BIG sugar cookie in melted dark chocolate.  Yep.  I’ll just leave it at that.