Healthy Easter treat roundup - [No-refined sugar] sugar cookies

There are three types of cookies I love most in this word.

1) A classic chocolate chip cookie (specifically the one in the 1986 Joy of Baking cookbook)

2) A melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookie

3) A sweet sugar cookie.

If I had to choose anything for dessert, it would likely be a cookie. I don't know what it is about cookies, but I love them!!! Something so small but packed with so much sugar that I'm bound to get a little bit jittery afterward.

This sparked my mission to create the best damn 'no-refined sugar' sugar cookie recipe I could. I tested the shit out of different flour combinations, different sugars, flavours etc. over the weekend and I'm happy to report that I NAILED IT!

I used coconut sugar, so they look a bit darker than your typical sugar cookie. The great thing about coconut sugar is that you can just sub it 1:1 with white sugar, so it was nice and easy with no math involved. I really didn't want to start a science experiment trying to figure out ratios of erythritol or stevia, etc. I also didn't even want to attempt using a liquid sugar because you want your dough to be dry - when you add too much moisture your dough is going to spread when you start the baking process and your cute little shapes are going to look more like big ugly blobs. So that said, out of pure laziness, I didn't test this with any other natural sweetener alternative, but if you want to, you've been warned about math, science and liquid sweeteners.

I like my cookies plain, so I didn't add any icing or sprinkles on top. But by all means, you can definitely decorate these things as you wish - they would look super cute if you did. I had plans on making these prettier, but after all that dough testing, I said "fuck it"!

When these hit my tongue, I needed my husband to pinch me. I seriously was in sugar cookie heaven. They are everything I dreamed of and more - soooo much more flavourful than actual sugar cookies, I couldn't even believe it!

But don't take my word for it...try them yourself!

Ingredients

1 cup almond flour
1 cup tapioca starch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup grass fed butter
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Whisk the almond flour, tapioca starch, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.

2. Combine the coconut sugar with the butter - I use my fingers to make sure it's well incorporated.

3. Add the egg and mix until combined with handheld mixer. Then, add your dry ingredients, water and vanilla and mix until a dough forms.

4. Knead the dough on the counter a few times, then wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

5. When you're ready to take out your dough, preheat the oven to 325F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

6. Unwrap your dough and let it sit at room temp for 10 - 15 mins.

7. Sprinkle some tapioca starch on a rolling pin and your counter and roll out the dough so it's about 1/4 inch thick.

8. Take your cookie cutter shapes, cut to your heart's content and place on your baking sheet about 1 inch apart.

9. Bake until the cookies are set. I made 2 inch cookies and they took about 6 mins.

10. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cook completely.

NOTE: if you have 2 pans, place one in the oven at a time. Once your first pan is full of cookies, pop it in the oven to cook and re-roll your scraps of dough to start filling the second pan with cookies. If you only have one pan, wait for it to cool completely after taking it out of the oven before putting your raw dough on it - you don't want them to start baking them on the warm pan before you put it in the oven.