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:
Marie says
Made today with my son. They came out wonderful. This was the first time making cut out cookies for both of us. Used maple syrup instead of honey. I wonder ifbthere might be a way to make with stevia.
Elana says
Marie, thanks for letting me know these were wonderful! Here’s a link to my Keto Diet Recipes page for you if you are trying to cut back on high-glycemic sweeteners these recipes will help:
https://elanaspantry.com/diets/keto/
Enjoy!
Elana
Abi Averitt says
Elana- I am thinking of having a few neighbor kids over to decorate cookies and wonder if you have any suggestions for frosting and decorations. I would love to make it fun and not a totally sugar driven event but that is half the fun. I went to my first gingerbread house party a few weeks ago and the kids had a blast. I thought decorating just cookies would be a fine substitute and within the realm of possibility for me. I imagine these cookies would work well but I am unfortunately avoiding almond flour since it seems our youngest has a sensitivity/allergy to nuts. It will probably mean i will need to substitute gluten free in another sugar cookie recipe but if you have any recommendations let me know! Thanks so much and Happy Holiday-
Abi
Elana says
Abi, here’s a link to my Buttercream Frosting recipe for you!
https://elanaspantry.com/white-chocolate-buttercream-frosting/
Enjoy!
Elana
Rosita Thibodeaux says
Elana I just wanted to wish you and your family a wonderful Holiday Season and to thank you so much for your time and effort and great recipes you generously share with us. I pray for your good health and happiness for many years to come.
God Bless You,
Rosita
Elana says
Thanks Rosita!
Mary Jo Epperson says
I’m so happy to see someone setting the record straight for our beloved Santa Lucia!
More facts: she was Sicilian (as are we, not Swedish).
She wore lighted candles or torches on her head to light her way up to the caves where hiding, persecuted Christians were starving; Her hands were needed to carry the food!
Trisha says
I made these today w my bigger kids (4 & 6) & they turned out really great. I subbed pure maple syrup for the agave & almond extract bc I was out of vanilla. The cutting was a little tricky but I remembered reading another gal had rolled & cut them individually which actually worked much better. I ended up splitting the dough & keeping one half in the fridge while I rolled & cut each cookie from the other half of dough. Cutting each one indivdually lets you just peel them off the parchment instead of trying to scrape them up w the spatula. They baked up great & if I wasn’t trying to save them for Santa, I’d let the kids eat more of them!
Elana says
Trisha, I’m so happy to hear these were great :-)
Paige G. says
Just made these after trying 2 other sugar cookie recipes for heart shaped cookies…they worked! I’m still scratching my head about what went wrong with the other two but these are great! we just ate one still warm from the oven and holy cow delish! thanks Elana! You saved Valentines for us!
Elana says
Paige, thanks for letting us know that this recipe worked when other folks’ didn’t!
Lisa Stafford says
My daughter and I made these yesterday for Christmas cutout cookies. I used butter in place of coconut oil and left out the cinnamon. I doubled the vanilla. I used half the agave called for because I knew we were going to frost them with a sweet frosting.
I refrigerated the dough, and rolled out a little more than enough dough for one cookie between wax paper. Each time I placed some dough on waxed paper, I put the bowl back in the refrigerator. I took the unused dough from the wax paper and put it back in the bowl and flattened it to the side, to chill faster. The chilled dough is easier to work with.
I peeled off the top sheet of waxed paper, removed the unused dough, and flipped the waxed paper over onto the silicone baking sheet that I use instead of parchment paper. Thanks to Tracee, above, for this idea. : )
Once the cookie sheet was full, I placed the cookie sheet in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. This step is crucial when using butter, because it firms the dough back up and keeps the cookies from spreading and losing their shape.
Today, we made Royal Icing and frosted the cookies and decorated them. They turned out beautifully, and are delicious too.
Elana says
Lisa, thanks for letting me know these turned out beautifully!
elana says
Yes, exactly in the way you describe above. Doesn’t hold together, turns into a big blob and oh so many other problems that I won’t even go into right now –like to stay focused on what does work :-)
KarenL says
Thanks, Elena. I just wanted to make sure the symptoms I was having was actually from the flour and not some other error I might have made. Altho, reading below, it sounds like this could’ve worked for me, too. I, too, used butter (my family does NOT appreciate good coconut oil) and I would take half the dough to roll out. The outer edges would hold together OK but by the time I got to the middle, it was “goo-ing” out… Perhaps I just expected too much from the butter. The taste was good; i’d highly recommend keeping the cinnamon in.
Bridgett says
Hi Elana,
I ordered natural almond flour from Honeyville and not until I re-read your almond flour information (after a failed try at a bread recipe) did I realize I had made a mistake by not ordering blanched almond flour. Is this 5lb bag destined to stay on my pantry shelf, or is there a way to salvage?
Thank you.
Bridgett
Lisa Stafford says
You can use the natural almond flour to bread chicken tenders or pork chops, or to make salmon patties, for example. The blanched works best in baked items. Hope that helps.
Christy says
I use whole almond flour in most of my baking recipes – like pumpkin whoopie pies and chocolate chip cookies, even muffins – with no problem. I can see that it probably wouldn’t work for “sugar” cookies, but I’ve had lots of success in other things
Jessica says
Hi elana, thank you so much for this cookie recipe! I love your ideas and creations and love recreating them in my own kitchen. I am allergic to eggs as well as gluten, so I was thrilled that these don´t call for eggs! Have a wonderful day and thanks again!
Elana says
Jessica, you’re welcome, I’m so happy to help! Here’s a link to my Egg-Free Recipes page for you:
https://elanaspantry.com/diets/egg-free/
Enjoy!
Elana