Valentine Sugar Cookies (gluten-free, vegan)
I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect sugar cookie. I’ve learned some things. For one, low-fat sugar cookies may not be worth making. I’ve tried using oat flour instead of almond flour, and applesauce instead of coconut oil, and they were sticky and moist and didn’t have that sugar cookie flavor. This recipe from detoxinista.com was the best one I tried. They were like real butter-and-white sugar sugar cookies! I have the recipe below with my notes and adaptations, but feel free to just click that link for the original recipe!
Sugar cookies are a special-occasion recipe as it is, so I feel fine using 1 tablespoon coconut oil since it made such a big difference in the results. I will say though that my kids loved the lower-fat version, so if your family isn’t used to traditional sugar cookies, you can probably get away with my lower-fat alterations in the recipe notes. If nothing else, this is a small batch (about 12 small cookies), so you can have the fun of making cookies without overdoing it on sugar and fat.
I made these for friends and neighbors, so I wanted them to be as normal-tasting as possible while still not using butter, eggs or white sugar. They were perfect in that regard!
I have several frosting ideas listed in the recipe card. Have fun!
This sugar cookie recipe from Detoxinista.com is yummy and healthier than the traditional sugar cookie. I have notes here on making them oil-free.
- 1.5 cups blanched almond flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot starch or cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 TBSP melted coconut oil (or applesauce for lower fat and less chewy results)
- 5 TBSP maple syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Whisk the dry ingredients together, breaking up any clumps. Stir in the melted coconut oil (or applesauce), maple syrup and extracts.
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Either chill the dough and prepare later, or make into cookies now.
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Circle cookies (highly recommended): Roll into balls and flatten slightly on the cookie sheet.
For shaped cookies: Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick directly on a cookie sheet (so you don't have to transfer them) lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Peel the surrounding dough off. Dough is fragile, so you may need to re-shape the cookies on the pan a bit.
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Bake 8 minutes for soft and chewy cookies, or 10 minutes for more crispy cookies. Let cool on the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack or plate to frost.
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Pink: Thaw out 2 frozen strawberries in the microwave. Put into a small blender with 1 cup powdered sugar for a pink strawberry icing.
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Although I haven't tried it for lack of access to coconut butter, I've seen this idea several times as an excellent frosting:
3/4 cup melted coconut butter (blended up coconut)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup plant milk
Freeze dried berries crushed into powder for color and flavor
Stir together.
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Look up cashew frosting recipes (Minimalist Baker has a delicious one).
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Simple frosting: Stir together 2 cups powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon plant milk, dash of salt and drop of almond or vanilla extract.
You can swap 1/2 cup of the almond flour for oat flour for lower fat (so 1 cup almond flour and 1/2 cup oat flour). Texture isn't quite as good but we still enjoyed them.
Applesauce makes the dough more sticky and less of a sugar cookie texture, but also still good!
These were delish!!! I did sub out some oat flour for almond and EVERYONE loved them, WFPB or not. I’m going to try it again with the applesauce next to lower the fat even more. Thank you!!!
These were awesome! Loved the almond flavor and smell. The texture was great. We added a tad bit of cream cheese to the frosting since we eat dairy.