Grain-Free Sugar Cookies

I will preface this recipe by saying that grain-free, or paleo, baking is so not the same as regular baking. It is tricky to duplicate the buttery, sugary texture and taste of a regular sugar cookie. That being said, Charlie-girl and I had a blast rolling out the dough and cutting out cookies and that is more the point to me anyway- she has hardly ever, if ever, had a "real" sugar cookie and doesn't know that these aren't them. She doesn't need the overly sweetened buttery cookie to be happy- that's me. :) So we cut them out and watched them bake and then she dipped hers in her yogurt which was probably a good plan- I ate mine with coffee because they are a little dry, not going to lie, next time we will frost them!

I often get asked if I make mistakes or recipes don't turn out... yes, and these cookies are an example of that! The first time I tried to make a sugar cookie the dough so so sticky it was useless, the second time they were super dry and puffed up like biscuits... this is my final attempt and was good enough for me!
Fail....puffy cookies....

These nut-free, grain-free cookies are more like a sugar cookie in the sense that you roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter than anything. The dough is VERY sticky so putting it in the fridge overnight, or the freezer for at least 30 minutes is a must before you roll them out. I also used a lot of coconut flour in my rolling out process to keep it from sticking to the counter.

Grain-Free Sugar Cookies

(Printable Version)

- 2 Cups Raw Sunflower Seeds

- 1/4 Cup Maple Syrup
- 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil (or butter), melted
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Lemon Juice
- 1 Tbsp Cinnamon
- 1 Egg
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- Coconut Flour (for dusting)
- Coconut Sugar (for on top of the cookies)

1. In a high-powdered blender pulse the sunflower seeds until they are a powder (like flour). I stop occasionally and stir to make sure I don't make seed butter on the bottom of the blender. (Yields about 2.5 cups flour)

2. Mix all of the ingredients, aside from the coconut sugar and flour with a hand mixture, or your strong arm. If the dough is really runny, add a tablespoon or two of coconut flour and mix- don't add more than that or your cookies will be dry!

3. Form the dough into a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill overnight in the fridge, or in the freezer for an hour.

When you are ready to bake...
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Dust the counter, or use parchment paper, with coconut flour... flip the dough over a few times- it can be VERY sticky, rubbing coconut flour on it. Dust your rolling pin and roll it out about 1/4 inch thick. Use whatever cookie cutters you want and put the cookies on a cookie sheet. Rub a little water on each one and sprinkle with coconut sugar. Bake 10-12 minutes. Let them cool completely and decorate! There are a lot of good frosting recipes out there, we just ate ours plain!