Healthy, light in sugar, gluten-free and grain-free vegan Christmas cookies! A healthy buttery sugar cookie Christmas recipe for this holiday season or any day of the year!
I am starting to have an obsession over vegan desserts lately. After all a plant based diet is the path for more sustainable energy and glowing skin. And yes, you read that first sentence correct! Healthy + light in sugar + grain-free + gluten-free + vegan AND hardly any sugar in these healthy cashew and almond meal cookies! The healthiest most delicious Christmas treat!
During the holidays my mom was endless in the kitchen. She was always in the kitchen and that for-sure is a trait that has been passed down to me. At Christmas our house was filled with the smells of rich chocolate crinkle cookies, buttery chocolate chip cookies, spritz Christmas tree cookies, and Pizzelle's (think I need this Pizzelle maker in the near future so I can make my own!).
Our house was always the one you wish you'd lived at during the holidays, or at least next store so you can grab a few. After my mamas warm Christmas cookies came out of the oven each was carefully wrapped with wax paper and packaged into a large tin container. Then they were stored in our cool garage until Christmas. The round tin containers were always left-over wafer cookie containers or buttery shortbread cookie containers. So we knew directly how to find them hidden in the garage by what the outside looked like! I think I have mentioned this before that my siblings and I would sit in the freezing cold garage sneaking those cookies until our bellies were round and plump! Too full to budge or argue when the lights flickered on to my mama standing at the top of 4 stairs staring at us with crumbs all over our evident ridden faces.
Now that I have children Karma has hit the fan and they do the same exact thing to me! The words "did you eat a cookie?" ends up with heads shaking "no" and faces full of chocolaty drips from the edges of their mouths. A scene far too familiar to me. That is one thing my little tribe can not get away with! Only now they are trying this act with my "healthy cookies". By that I mean my boys ask for cookies a lot because I am a cookie rookie and am always making a healthier version. When I say no they try again with the signature "what about a mama healthy cookie"? These vegan sugar cookies do fit into that category but let's try to save them for snack-time or dessert, boys.
At a friends dinner party one evening I made this paleo pie crust recipe only I did not have as much almond meal needed so I used extra cashews instead. It turned out so delicious and kinda resembled a sugar cookie taste and texture!
So I decided to try that recipe out and tweak it into vegan sugar cookies. The dough is simply so delicious you might have to be careful because you will want to eat the entire batter. It is so creamy and flavorful!
Making vegan cutout cookies is simple. At first I was afraid the batter would stick to the cookie cutters because there is no flour to prevent sticking. But the oils from the nuts did just the trick. Each cookie comes out of the cookie cutters with just a little shake and press from the fingers.
Why make these Vegan Sugar Cookies
This batch of cookies uses 2 cups of almond meal and one cup of cashew nuts and makes about 15 large cookies (Christmas Tree Cookies). Keep the thickness about ¼ inch to ½ inch thick. The thicker the cookie the better in my opinion! They are crispy, crunchy and naturally sweetened from cashews and tapioca flour. Therefore, not much sugar needs to be added. Plus all that icing is enough sugar on the cake... if you know what I mean!
These are the BEST Vegan Sugar Cookies that are gluten-free, grain-free, vegan, low in sugar and totally delicious! Happy Holidays Friends! xo
More healthy recipes
- Healthy Christmas Sugar Cookies
- Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies
- Frozen Hot Chocolate Smoothie
- Gluten-Free Almond Butter Cookies
- Avocado Crust Pesto Pizza (Vegan & Grain-Free)
Vegan Christmas Cookies (Grain Free)
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Ingredients
Christmas Cookies
- 2 cups raw cashews
- 1 cup almond meal flour
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- 4 tablespoons coconut oil melted
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- ½ teaspoon Himalayan salt
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot flour
- ½ cup confectioners sugar (or Swerve powdered sugar made of monk fruit for a sugar-free version)
- 3 tablespoons milk or any plant based milk
Cookie icing
- 1 cup confectioners sugar (or Swerve powdered sugar made of monk fruit for a sugar-free version)
- 2-3 tablespoons milk cashew milk or almond milk
- sprinkles optional
Instructions
- Soak the cashew nuts in water for about 30 minutes. Drain the water.
- In a food processor add the cashews, almond meal, melted coconut oil, vanilla and cashew milk. Blend until smooth. If needed add a bit more milk till the mixture is smooth but thick. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the tapioca flour, salt, arrowroot flour and confectioners sugar. Blend until it forms a dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap to form a ball. Refrigerate for about 1 hour to seal the flavors together and slightly harden.
- Meanwhile make the icing by mixing together 1 cup of confectioners sugar with 2-3 Tablespoons of confectioners sugar. Put in a plastic baggy and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Using wax paper place the dough on one sheet and then add another large piece of wax paper on top. Roll out the dough )in-between the wax paper) to form about ¼-1/2 inch thick. Remove the top sheet of wax paper and cut out into desired shapes. If sticky at all just dip the cutter into tapioca flour before cutting out shapes for easy removal. Roll extra dough into a ball and repeat rolling out and cutting out until all the dough is used.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until slightly browned. Let cool completely before adding the icing.
- Once cookies are cooled cut a slight slit in the corner of the icing baggy and decorate the cookies. Add sprinkles immediately. Let the icing harden about 30 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
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