Star Cookies
Ingredients
- 2½ cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted
- 5 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon
- In a small bowl, mix together coconut oil, agave, and vanilla
- Mix wet ingredients into dry
- Roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper until ¼ inch thick
- Refrigerate for 1 hour
- Remove top piece of parchment paper and dust dough with almond flour
- Cut out cookies with a small star cutter
- Using a metal spatula, place stars on a parchment lined baking sheet
- Bake at 350°F until lightly browned around the edges, 5-8 minutes
- Cool completely prior to handling cookies
Prep Time 10 minutes
Refrigerate 1 hour
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Tried this recipe?Mention @elanaspantry or tag #elanaspantry!
So, what is a gluten-free mom to do for a wheat-filled, sugar laden holiday celebration? I devised a holiday dessert recipe for the parents who had volunteered to bake star cookies. Then I assembled bags with the recipe, parchment paper, a cookie cutter and the ingredients.
The children dressed up in white robes and spent the entire day serving star cookies to everyone from ‘kindergarteners’ to high school seniors. And the five gluten-free kids in my son’s class? They were able to eat the cookies that they gave to others and break bread with the entire school. Now that’s Lucia magic.
My White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting recipe is amazing on these Star Cookies!
Here are some of my other healthy Christmas cookie recipes:
Scarlet says
I made these at our Thanksgiving party and made some variations: I put in 2 egg whites, used 1/4 cup coconut oil and only 3 TBSP of agave, I also added an extra TBSP of vanilla :)
They were DELICIOUS! In my husband’s words “the best cookies, ever”.
Cheers!
Scarlet
Elana says
Thanks Scarlet!
Claire says
Hi there – for any other UK dwellers you may have tapping into your wonderful blog – we have ‘baking powder’ which sometimes contains wheat flour (so just check the label, I’ve not found a supermarket that doesnt have a choice), and ‘bicarbonate of soda’ which doesnt. From what I can make out ‘baking powder’ = ‘baking soda’. If anyone else has some clarity on that I’m very happy to be corrected as it is a bit confusing!! :o) Claire
Rachel, Michigan says
Claire – In the U.S. baking powder is a mixture of baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) cornstarch, and either or both calcium phosphate or sodium phosphate.
A says
And here I thought my family was one of the only ones in the US which celebrates Santa Lucia…
Brandy says
Elana,
These cookies are WONDERFUL! I LOOOOVE all the recipes I have tried from your website!! Zucchini Carpaccio, kale, etc. I can’t wait to try them all. I will enjoy these cookies by the fire during the expected blizzard in Boulder tomorrow. :-)
Thank You SO MUCH for posting all your wonderful recipes!
Happy Holidays,
Brandy
april says
i made these and the pecan shortbread cookies last night for dessert. only one word comes to mind…YUM!
Emily says
That made me laugh :-)
I couldn’t agree more! I wish these companies would cut it out because when I see products that are naturally gluten free labeled as such, it puts doubt into my mind; “wait?! this could have gluten in it? I didn’t think it could!?” and then I worry. Because as you know, the pain of eating gluten is just NOT worth it.
I know shopping at Whole Foods isn’t exactly the best choice either but so far my area hasn’t really taken to the idea of organic and healthy so it’s usually the only store (and I drive 40 minutes to the nearest one!) I can find things I can eat. I hope one day we can move to a climate (and have a yard!) where I can grow my own food!! Oh the options would be endless.
Anyway, thank you!
Christy says
Hi! I’m about to try these with my kids. I, too, live in a small town that has very few options in the gluten free/natural realm. Only 1 store carries anything organic. I find myself ordering a lot of dry goods from Amazon. Free 2 day shipping with prime, bulk is cheaper than a lot of stores like whole food, and I avoid driving an hour each way to a store that might have what I need, not to mention toting 3 kids on that hour long drive & the gas used by my minivan. Now for the cookies!
elana says
Emily,
Thanks for your comment and question. Great question, by the way.
I have my box of (oh so cheap) Arm & Hammer baking soda sitting in front of me. The only ingredient listed on the label is sodium bicarbonate. I think that the folks at Bob’s are just good marketers, like the ones at Whole Foods. Next thing you know, we’ll find apples labeled “gluten-free” in the produce aisle.
Have fun with the cookies.
Elana
Emily says
Hello Miss Elana and friends!
So- since going gluten free, I haven’t done any baking what so ever (because of other allergies I didn’t think it was possible). After discovering almond flour (thank you Elana!) I am so anxious to bake everything imaginable! Including some cookies! Please forgive me if this is naive, but can baking soda possibly contain gluten?
I was under the impression it does not, but at Whole Foods today I found 3 different brands. One was called Pure Baking Soda, Arm and Hammer’s brand, and Bob’s Red Mill. Bob’s Red Mill was 3 dollars more than the other 2 brands but it was labeled aluminum and gluten free. This confused me!! I purchased the least expensive “Pure Baking Soda” but am wondering if I should be concerned it could have aluminum and gluten in it?!
What do you use?
Thank you for helping me with this!
elana says
Tracee,
Thanks for your sweet words. I really appreciate that you shared your substitutions with us; my favorite part of your comment was, “They are not too sweet so I let him have three.”
Thanks Again!
Elana
Tracee says
My 3 year old and I made these last night. I used butter instead of coconut oil (due to a food allergy)and honey in place of agave (to stick to the SCDiet). They came out lovely. Trying to tranfer the cut out dough with a metal spatula just wasn’t working. So I rolled a golf ball sized dough between two 6″ x 6″ pieces of wax paper, peeled the top sheet off, cut out the cookie, flipped it onto the parchment lined cookie sheet, and then peeled off the other sheet. They were adorable. The theme this semester in my child’s Kindermusik class is “milk and cookies” so he was excited to make cookies. He enjoyed picking out the shapes, so we had airplanes and stars. When he took a bite of the first one he said “mmmmm”. They are not too sweet so I let him have three.