Easy Gluten Free and Vegan Christmas Cookies

I have such fond childhood memories of Christmas cookies–making them and eating them.  Since we’ve been gluten and dairy free in our family for the last few years, I’m ashamed to say that we haven’t made any Christmas cookies at all.  I wanted things to change this year and started looking for recipes that weren’t too sweet or difficult to make.  I didn’t have to look very far!  On the back of my bag of Honeyville almond flour was a simple and yummy recipe for chocolate chip cookies.  They were SIMPLE to make and I swear they are the best gluten free, vegan chocolate chip cookies that I’ve ever had!  (I’ll post their recipe later)  I started thinking that I could use the same base recipe and come up with QUICK gluten free and vegan Christmas cookies!

I first made classic thumbprint jam cookies.  By trial and error, I found the cookies looked better when I baked them almost all of the way and then added the jam in the last few minutes in the oven.  I also found that raspberry jam looked better than strawberry jam because it was a brighter and more clear red color.

 

And then I used the same base dough to make simple star cookies.  I’ve tried to make gluten free sugar cookies before and I found it very difficult to roll out and cut out.  Gluten free doughs are very fragile (no gluten to keep everything together) and even chilled, the dough–for me–became one sticky mess!

Again thru trail and error, I found that by using parchment paper I could quickly pat out and cut out star cookies one at a time.  Trust me, it was really quick to do!  A quick sprinkling of sugar or thin glaze and they’re done!

 

 

In no time–around an hour I think–I had two different Christmas cookies.  And…my kids loved them!  I hope that this is the beginning of building some Christmas traditions and memories for them.  Happy Holidays!

Easy Gluten Free and Vegan Christmas Cookies

(adapted from Honeyville Farms Almond Flour recipe)

*  2  3/4 cups blanched almond flour

*  1/4 teaspoon salt

*  1/2 teaspoon baking soda

*  1/2 cup healthy oil (light olive, melted coconut, walnut, grape seed)

*  1 tablespoon vanilla

*  1/2 cup maple syrup or honey

1)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2)  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper

3)  Mix dry ingredients together well.

4)  Add wet ingredients and mix well.

For thumbprint cookies:  Roll into 1/2 balls and flatten lightly with thumb.  Bake for 7 minutes, take out of oven and press thumb firmly in the center of the cookie.  Fill with 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of raspberry jam.  Return to oven and cook for 4 minutes more or until golden brown.

For star cookies:  Pat out and individually cut out stars (or any other Christmas shape) following pictures above.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.  Sprinkle with sugar or frost with thin glaze.

 

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