Soft Sugar Cookies (paleo, grain-free, refined sugar-free)

The Christmas season just isn’t complete without decorated sugar cookies.

I shared my recipe for standard Super Soft Sugar Cookies with you a few years back (and it’s one of the best, folks – makes amazing sugar cookies). This year I want to share a recipe that is more in line with the way I usually eat. A paleo version of the classic soft sugar cookie.

These cookies are a little different from the standard sugar cookie, of course, seeing as they’re made with coconut palm sugar instead of refined white sugar. They bake up the color of light brown sugar and have a bit of a caramel-like flavor, which, though different, is pretty delicious.

I don’t list a recipe for frosting – when I frost cookies as pictured I generally just make a big batch of Royal Icing, this recipe always works well for me. Feel free to decorate these cookies using any frosting that you like. I will say that when it comes to eating them a good old fashioned buttercream frosting tastes much better than the royal icing.

A few tips I always employ when making soft sugar cookies:

*don’t roll the dough too thin – I roll it to about a thickness of 1/2 inch – never any thinner. Thick cookies mean soft cookies – thin cookies will dry out fast in the oven!

*Don’t overcook the cookies – they should not get to the point that the edges turn golden. Cook them just until they are set, but are still pale. The cookies are going to continue cooking a little bit, even after you remove them from the oven, so if they are taken out when they are almost just a tad  undercooked you’ll end up with a perfectly soft cookie once they’ve cooled.

*Once the cookies have been out of the oven for a few minutes but are not all the way cool, seal them up. Put them in a Ziploc or a covered container. This will seal the moisture into the cookie.

Soft Sugar Cookies (paleo, grain-free, refined sugar-free)

 

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Serves: 12-18 cookies

Ingredients

• ¼ cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
• ½ cup Coconut Palm Sugar
• 1 Large Egg
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1½ cups Almond Flour
• ¾ cup Tapioca Starch
• ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoon Salt

Instructions

1. Place the butter and coconut sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
2. Add the almond flour, tapioca starch, baking powder, and salt to the mixture and beat in until well combined. Dough should be thick. If dough is too sticky, stir in another tablespoon or two of almond flour.
3. Place the dough on a strip of plastic wrap. Flatten into a disc and wrap up with the plastic. Refrigerate for one hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
5. Unwrap the dough and place it between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll to a thickness of ½". Do not roll any thinner - thick dough means thick cookies which means SOFT cookies. If you roll the dough too thin it will dry out quickly.
6. Cut shapes out of the dough and place on the parchment lined baking sheet.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Watch closely - you want the cookies to be only just cooked. Don't cook them to the point of browning. They should be just set and pale in color. This will also ensure that your cookies are super soft.
8. Remove from the oven and let cool for 2 minutes. Place cookies in a large ziploc or covered container - Placing them in a sealed environment before they have cooled will help with the soft factor.
9. When cool, frost as desired!

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