Category Archives: Cookies

Paleo “Sugar” Cookies with Cinnamon Maple Frosting (plus options!)

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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.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~

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!

~~~~~~~~~~

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.

Macadamia Thumbprint Cookies (No Bake!)

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(Grain free/Paleo)

I love making no bake cookies with my kids.  They can really get elbow deep in it from start to finish, without the long wait time of baking and cooling.  In case you haven’t heard, patience is not a star quality in most 10 and 6 year olds.

We tried these out over the weekend and they were a bit hit!  My youngest can’t eat nuts so we made a version with roasted, salted sunflower seed kernels.  It was good and made her happy, but if you can tolerate nuts, go with the Macadamias – so decadent!!

 

No Bake Macadamia
Thumbprints

1 C Roasted, salted macadamia nuts
1 C Unsweetened, shredded coconut flakes
1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
¼ C Coconut oil, melted
½ tsp Orange zest (optional)
1 TBSP Maple syrup

1)     In a food processor, grind macadamias into a coarse meal.  Don’t process too long or it will turn into butter.
2)     Add coconut, vanilla, oil, zest and syrup.  Process until combined, about 30 seconds.
3)     Scoop into small balls and place on wax paper lined baking sheets.  Press your thumb into each ball to create a well.
4)     Fill each cookie well with filling of your choice.  We used a whipped chocolate
ganache (see recipe below), but your favorite no-sugar jam/jelly would be great
too!
5)     Refrigerate for about an hour, until very firm.  Enjoy!
6)     Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

 

 Whipped Chocolate Ganache:

3 TBSP Coconut Oil, Melted
2 TBSP Maple Syrup
1 TBSP Cocoa Powder
2 TBSP Palm Shortening
2 tsp Arrowroot Starch

1)     Combine all ingredients in a small bowl.
2)     Whip with a hand mixer until smooth and fluffy.
3)     Store in the fridge.  Soften at room temperature before using.

 

 

A Make-Ahead Afternoon

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I spent yesterday afternoon with a wonderful girlfriend of mine who is revamping some of the eating habits of her family.  This change was sparked by her daughter’s recent results of an allergy test.  The culprits?  Wheat, gluten and eggs.  Hmmm, sound familiar to anyone out there?  Maybe a few hundred thousand or so, right?  Well, after being told that these foods are hurting you and you must eliminate them from your diet, most folks certainly feel alone, not at all like part of an ever growing club.  But I’m here to tell you – YOU ARE NOT ALONE!  First things first…don’t panic!

One of the best things you can do once diagnosed with an allergy/intolerance is seek help, friendship and knowledge.  Any of those things will start you feeling like you can take this on, because you will know you’re not alone.  Another thing that will help, especially when dealing with changing you’re child’s eating habits, is to seek help from those who have already found tricks and recipes that work for them and their kids.  Never, ever start from square one.  There are literally thousands and thousands of people who have already handled square one for you, so no need to go there.  Just move on down to square two, okay?

Yesterday, I helped my friend with square two.  Her daughter was falling into the trap of eating the same 3 or 4 things for every meal, each and every day, since the things she loved in the past were now off limits.  I believe it’s very important, especially for kids, to have some favorite foods that are recreated in the gluten free world, to help ease that transition.  Over time, that sugary GF cookie may not seem as appealing when taste buds change and palates mature.  But for the first little while, it’s ok to transition young and old alike into this new way of eating.  Tackle GF (and DF etc.) first, and worry about excess sugar a little later when you’re not so overwhelmed.

We spent our day making a few things to help my friend’s daughter feel a little less traumatized.  First up, was pancakes!  This was a favorite breakfast food that they hadn’t eaten since diagnosis, so we tackled making a few pancake mixes first.  I talk about this method in my upcoming book, The Healthy Gluten Free Life (available for pre-order now and on shelves February 21, 2012).  I showed my friend how to mix up dry ingredients, that really take up most of the time in preparing most baked type goods, and having them ready to go in her pantry and freezer for those mornings they want pancakes.  Now, all she has to do is dump the mix, some oil, nondairy milk and water and she’s got yummy, fluffy pancakes for breakfast.  Plus, it makes enough for a family to eat their hearts out and still freeze some for quick mid-week breakfasts.  You can find my favorite pancake recipe in my book, The Healthy Gluten Free Life.

Next up, our new little gluten-free’er was missing pizza so we got to work on making a batch of pizza crusts.  Nice thing about this recipe (also in The Healthy Gluten Free Life) is that you can mix up your dough and par-bake these crusts.  Then we just cooled, wrapped, and stuck them in the freezer for later.  Now when they want pizza, she just needs to remove what they need, let them thaw and then top and bake for another 15 minutes.  Seriously…it’s that easy!

Finally, we needed a sweet treat to show her daughter that all wasn’t lost in this new gluten free world.  So we whipped up a batch of chocolate chip cookies (recipe also in my book).  Instead of baking the cookies and freezing, we decided that fresh baked always beat frozen on taste, so we just placed small amounts of dough in plastic wrap, rolled them into logs, dropped them into freezer bags and placed them in the freezer.  Now when they want cookies, she simply removes a package, let’s it thaw most of the way, then slices and bakes!  Fresh baked cookies anytime, without baking an entire batch which dry out quickly.

I hear over and over again how hard it is to be gluten free because of cost and time.  Yes, you do have to cook more to oversee that what you’re eating is safe.  Yes, some of those ingredients do cost more than traditional ingredients.  But if you do things DIFFERENTLY and plan ahead, shop wisely (big bags of flour) and spend a nice afternoon gossiping with a friend while you make delicious food that you can use all month long, you will find that this new way of eating is better, not a punishment.  Life in the kitchen will never be the way it was before, but the sooner you embrace that and change with it, the happier and less stressed you’ll be.  Why don’t you start that new attitude off right and go make something you can stock your freezer with!

Christmas Sugar Cookies & Icing

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If you’ve ever wondered how to make that classic sugar cookie cut-out, but gluten free, with icing that spreads perfectly and dries a little bit hard and shiny without cracking, then look no further!  These cookies are flavorful and durable, without crumbling into a heap when you frost them.  And the frosting is subtle in flavor but gorgeous on any cookie.  I like to use natural food colorings such as beet juice for light and dark pink, turmeric mixed with a tiny amount of water for yellow, chocolate for brown, and of course, blueberry juice for blue-ish purple.  Or, you can find natural food colorings in health food stores or online (Try Nature’s Flavors).  There’s no law that they have to be green and red, and your un-hyper little ones will be grateful for the chemical reprieve!  Yes, these cookies do call for sugar, but I have not had the luck, as of yet, to make a sugar cookie without the sugar, and have it hold up to little hands frosting them.  I have not given up though, and when I finally find that perfect combination of ingredients I will post immediately.  But for me, these cookies fall under the category of a “once a year treat for the Holidays.”  They enable my family to sit down together for an afternoon and enjoy being creative during the hectic Christmas season.  So for this special occasion, I’m ok with a little sugar.

As for decorations, please don’t use what is shown in this first picture.   All those fake bright colors were simply for photography purposes and I don’t recommend consuming them.  Try using natural decorations like mini dairy free chocolate chips (Enjoy Life), shredded and flaked coconut (Let’s Do Organic), and there are all natural sprinkles by Edward and Sons, i.e. Let’s Do Organic.  You can find them at Whole Foods, or order online.

These cookies are great for about 2 days after baking, sealed in an airtight container.  After that, the flavor is still great, but they start to get a little crumbly.  Otherwise, they freeze very well right after you make them, even after being decorated!  So seal them up and freeze them for later.

Dry Ingredients:
¾ C Teff Flour
½ C Brown Rice Flour
¾ C Sorghum Flour
1 C Potato Starch
¾ C Tapioca Starch
2 tsp Xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp Baking Soda

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) Non Dairy Butter
1 C Organic Evaporated Cane Juice
2 TBSP Pure Vanilla Extract
1/8 tsp Pure Almond Extract
1 TBSP Organic Applesauce
2 TBSP Flax Meal & 1/3 C Hot Water

1)      Whisk together dry ingredients.
2)      Mix flax meal with hot water.  Set aside.
3)      In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together.
4)      Add vanilla, almond extract, applesauce and flax meal mixture.  Mix until combined.
5)      Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients a little at a time until fully incorporated.  Blend
on high for 30 seconds.
6)      If dough is too soft, refrigerate for 1 hour before rolling out.
7)      Roll dough between sheets of parchment paper (the same size as your baking
sheets).  When the dough is ¼” thick, remove the top sheet of paper.  Using cookie
cutter, cut shapes into dough.  Remove excess dough, leaving cookie shapes on
the bottom sheet of parchment.  No need to transfer cookies!  Place parchment with
cookie shapes to your baking sheet.
8)      Bake cookies in a 350° oven for 10 minutes, or until edges start to turn brown.
9)      Cool in pan for 3 minutes, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
10)    Frost with sugar cookie icing.

 

Sugar Cookie Icing

2 C Organic Powdered Sugar
2 – 3 TBSP Non Dairy Milk
1 TBSP Golden Syrup (I used Lyle’s Golden Syrup from Whole Foods)
1 TBSP Non Dairy Butter, very soft
½ tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
¼ tsp Pure Almond Extract

1)      In a medium bowl, whisk together all ingredients until it is smooth and glossy.  Start
with 2 TBSP of milk and only add more if needed.  Icing should be medium
thickness, not too thin and runny, but thin enough to be squeezed out of piping bags.
2)      Separate the frosting into 3 bowls.  Leave 1 bowl white.  Add beet juice to one for
pink.  Add turmeric mixed with a few drops water for the yellow.
3)      Scoop each into a piping bag, or zip top bag with the corner cut off and squeeze
onto cookies.

Sugar Free Coconut Macaroons – With and Without Eggs

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Most of my life I hated coconut.  It was stringy and had a funny texture that I just couldn’t get through.  Then,  years ago, I started eating and baking with Unsweetened Dehydrated Organic Coconut.  Wow what a difference!  I realized that I didn’t hate coconut at all…what I hated was the over-processed, over-sugared, stringy “candy” they like to call coconut in the regular supermarkets.  Now, I simply can’t get enough REAL coconut!  Coconut flakes, shredded coconut, coconut milk, coconut oil…it’s all good.  And that’s ok because contrary to popular belief, saturated fat is not the enemy and the wonderful goodness that coconuts provide are heart healthy, energy promoting and medium chain fatty acid filled bites of deliciousness!  Don’t believe me?  Check it out here…and here… or Google it…you’ll see.  So give these macaroons a try.  I love them because they are coconut-y.  I love them because they are one bowl and one spoon easy.  And I especially love them because I can make them with pastured organic eggs (for me since I want the extra protein) or without for the members of the Maniac household that can’t tolerate eggs.  Oh, and to make it even better, they freeze well so make a bunch!  Give them away at a cookie exchange and keep the rest for later in the freezer.  Simply thaw to room temperature and enjoy!

Macaroons
(Egg Free, Sugar Free)

Dry Ingredients:
1 TBSP Coconut Flour
2 C Shredded Coconut
1/8 tsp Sea Salt
1/8 tsp Xanthan Gum

Wet Ingredients:
1/3 C Raw Honey
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 TBSP Light Coconut Milk (canned or So Delicious brand unsweetened coconut milk beverage)

For Dipping:
½ C Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (gf, df, soy free)
1 tsp Organic Shortening (Spectrum)

1)      In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
2)      Add honey, vanilla and coconut milk to dry ingredients.  Mix with a spoon until
combined.
3)      Scoop golf ball size-ish (a little smaller) balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
Make sure the mixture is packed in the scoop fairly well to help them stick together
while baking.
4)      Bake in a 350° oven for 13-15 minutes or until bottoms are golden and tops start to
get toasty brown spots.
5)      Cool on baking sheets, placed on top of wire racks for 5 minutes.
6)      Remove parchment paper with cookies still on it to the cooling rack to finish cooling
completely.
7)      Meanwhile, melt the chocolate by placing chocolate chips and shortening in a small
microwave safe bowl and heating in 10 second increments in the microwave,
stirring after each time.  Do this until chocolate is almost completely melted.  Stir
again until all chocolate is melted and is smooth.
8)      Dip bottoms of cookies in chocolate and place upside down on racks until chocolate
hardens.  Or, simply spoon chocolate over the tops of each cookie.

 

Macaroons
(With eggs, Sugar Free)

4 Egg Whites
1/8 tsp Sea Salt
1/3 C Raw Honey
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
2 C Coconut
¼ C Coconut Flour

1)      With a whisk attachment in a stand mixer, beat egg whites with salt until stiff.
2)      Gently fold in remaining ingredients until combined.
3)      Scoop into golf ball size-ish balls ( a little smaller than that) and place on parchment
lined baking sheets.
4)      Bake in a 350° oven for 13-16 minutes or until bottoms are golden and tops start to
brown slightly.
5)      Cool completely on wire racks.
6)      Dip cookies in chocolate or drizzle tops with chocolate, if desired.  See recipe for
chocolate drizzle above.