My oldest daughter recently turned six.
Six! Where has the time gone?! My youngest is set to turn four this week, and all I’m seeing is the time left before both are 18 years old and out on their own. The glass is always half empty around here, donchaknow? 🙂
While the future weeping ball of goo in me is dreading their eventual adulthood, the cool, calm, and collected Lauren is grateful now for their advancement, as it allows us all to do many more activities together.
What used to be a three-ring circus in the kitchen has slowly evolved into a semi-fun adventure, complete with two little girls learning to chop mushrooms, stir pots, and roll out cookie dough.
One of my most poignant (and cherished) memories as a child is helping my own mom make the annual batch of Christmas cookies!
My mom would make the dough and then haul it over to our dining room table, where we would sit for hours, rolling, cookie cutting, frosting, and sprinkling, with a few hundred taste tests in between. It was such a blast and a tradition I wanted to share with my own kids.
This recipe has literally taken me a dozen tries, with various amounts of coconut flour, but I think the method I’ve outlined below is a solid one. The recipe is great if you or your children have allergies to gluten, grains, or nuts, and I’ve added only a minute amount of sugar to the cookie, as it will typically be topped with some type of sweet glaze and copious amounts of sprinkles. 🙂
- 6-8 T. coconut flour (see Notes)
- 1 t. arrowroot
- 1-4 T. natural granulated sugar (see Notes)
- ½ t. baking powder
- ⅛ t. sea salt
- ¼ c. coconut oil, melted
- 1 egg
- 1 t. vanilla
- Start with room temperature ingredients.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix the dry ingredients (flour, arrowroot, sugar, baking powder, salt), beginning with six tablespoons of coconut flour.
- Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl (oil, egg, vanilla).
- Mix all.
- If your dough is still sticky to the touch, add in more coconut flour, a tiny bit at a time, until the dough is moist, but not sticky.
- Place your ball of dough onto a piece of parchment paper.
- Top with a piece of wax paper and roll out to about ⅛ inch in thickness.
- You may need to work with the dough a bit if holes form (see below collage)!
- Use cookie cutters to make your desired shapes.
- Slide the parchment paper onto a baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes until golden.
- Ball up remaining scrap dough and repeat process until dough is gone.
- Cool cookies and frost!
Adapted from this recipe
Notes:
Coconut flours vary in absorbancy, so for your reference, this is the brand I use most. I only need six tablespoons of flour using this brand.
I created this recipe last year when my ‘sweet teeth’ weren’t quite as trained as they are now, and I originally used 1/4 cup of natural granulated sugar to create these. This year, I’m down to one tablespoon, so use your best judgment. Remember, if you frost them, that will add a lot of sweetness!
I typically use mini cookie cutters, which work well with this recipe, so I get about 20 small cookies, give or take.
As you can see, the dough isn’t like working with a gluten-based variety, but once baked, the cookies hold together very well!
My daughters had fun frosting and eating them…
While I attempted to create a healthier frosting, in the end, I didn’t like it well enough to post, so we just buzzed some xylitol in a coffee grinder, stirred in a bit of vanilla and rice milk, and it worked great!
Anyone else feeling this way this year?…
Shared with: Allergy-Free Wednesday
Laura
We made these today and they turned out great! Thanks for making the time to share the recipe! I’m saving it for next year, too.
Lauren
Thanks Laura, I’m so happy you liked them!
Vivian
Wow! These are so cute and look delicious! Definitely going to try it out. Thanks so much!
Meeta
Thank you for such awesome recipe at this time of the year ? Happy Holidays ?
Lauren
Thanks Meeta, I hope you have a great holiday as well! 🙂