Paleo Cut-Out Cinnamon Maple Sugar Cookies (Gluten-Free)
Paleo Cut-Out Cinnamon Maple Sugar Cookies recipe. Soft yet crisp sweet cookies, made using maple sugar and grain-free flours. They can easily be made into shapes and decorated (or taste amazing plain).
I don’t think a year goes by that I don’t decorate sugar cookies during the holidays. It’s a festive and delicious tradition that everyone in my family looks forward to.
We all sit at the table, choose our favorite cookies and spend an hour or more decorating cookies, eating cookies, and getting them ready for Santa.
I usually make my Rustic Sablés Sugar Cookie recipe… and every year I attempt to make a Paleo version of these cookies but nothing has ever seemed good enough… until now!
These Paleo Cut-Out Cinnamon Maple Sugar Cookies are exactly what I have been looking for! Soft yet crisp sweet cookies, that can easily be made into shapes, that taste delicious undecorated but that also taste amazing decorated as well.
I am seriously so so happy that this year we will be making these Paleo Cut-Out Cinnamon Maple Sugar Cookies!
As I mentioned, I have attempted to make a Paleo cut-out sugar cookie recipe for years now! It’s hard to make sugar cookies without refined white sugar, white flour, and butter.
I had almost given up but I figured why not try again this year… especially since I get a little bit better at Paleo baking each year.
I know that some Paleo cookie recipes use butter or ghee, but I can’t eat any dairy at the moment… and I’m still on the fence regarding whether butter or ghee works in my and my husbands diets anyways.
I experimented with coconut oil and olive oil and with lots of different paleo flours. I finally got the proportions right with these Paleo Cut-Out Cinnamon Maple Sugar Cookies.
Ingredients needed to make these Paleo Cut-Out Cinnamon Maple Sugar Cookies:
- coconut oil
- maple sugar
- egg
- vanila
- almond flour
- tapioca flour
- coconut flour
- cream of tartar
- baking soda
- cinnamon
Tips for making these Paleo Cut-Out Sugar Cookies:
Tip #1 – use softened coconut oil!
Now it is very important for this recipe that the coconut oil be softened. For me, this meant scooping up hardened coconut oil and putting it into a bowl and heating it up in the microwave for 10 seconds.
You have to make sure that your coconut oil isn’t melted. It can’t be in a clear pool at the bottom of your bowl. And it can’t be too rock hard solid. Basically if you can easily scoop it out of the jar in large clumps, then thats perfect.
In the summer, my coconut oil is always in a softened state in my house but it’s been colder recently so it’s been harder.
Tip #2- use maple sugar!
Maple sugar is much more rich in taste than coconut sugar. I find that it melts better into the cookies while baking as well.
I also just love the flavor of maple with everything! I used it to make the two different frostings that I used in these photos too.
I always have a 3-5 pound box of maple sugar on hand at all times… and I am always so happy to have it.
How to make these Paleo Cut-Out Cinnamon Maple Sugar Cookies:
To make these cookies, you will need to cream the softened coconut oil with the maple sugar. Then you’ll add the egg and vanilla.
Next, you need to mix all of your dry ingredients together…almond flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and cinnamon.
Then you add 1 cup of the flour mixture into the creamed maple sugar mixture and beat it using your stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. You’ll repeat the process until all of the flour mixture is gone.
Once you make the dough for these Paleo Cut-Out Cinnamon Maple Sugar Cookies and it has been refrigerated, it is time to roll it out and cut shapes out into it.
I personally like thick soft sugar cookies that remind me of a thick pie crust. So I roll my dough out to be in between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch thick. Then I cook it for only 8 minutes at 350 degrees.
Some people, like my father, prefer when the cookies are more crisp, so in that case I recommend you rolling your dough out thinner and cooking it for 10 minutes. BUT I would keep an eye on them because they will brown much more quickly.
Once the cookies have cooled down, it is time to decorate them!
Two cinnamon maple sugar frosting options:
One- The first one is a blueberry flavored frosting. It is made with maple sugar, tapioca flour, blueberry powder, water and vanilla. You mix everything in the food processor and it should be good to go.
Note: you don’t have to use blueberry powder, you can use any freeze-dried fruit powder. You can also make your own powder by putting some freeze dried fruit into a food processor and mixing it until it forms into a powder. I just had blueberry powder on hand.
Two- The second frosting is a cinnamon maple sugar frosting… it’s my favorite one! It is made with maple sugar, tapioca flour, water, vanilla, and cinnamon. This frosting uses more tapioca flour than the blueberry one, but it remains very similar in texture. ( I’m not sure why haha)
Both frostings do harden eventually but it takes a few hours.
I also really loved decorating these cookies with dairy-free mini chocolate chips. It complimented the taste of everything really well. 🙂
Feel free to ask me any questions that you have when it comes to these Paleo Cut-Out Cinnamon Maple Sugar Cookies! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
Other holiday cookies you may enjoy:
Paleo Almond Flour Gingerbread Men Cookies
Gluten-free Sugar Cookies by Meaningful Eats. They look like the perfect sugar cookies to decorate for the holidays.
Paleo Cut-Out Cinnamon Maple Sugar Cookies (GF)
Ingredients
Cookie Ingredients:
- ¾ cup softened coconut oil ( make sure it isn’t too hard or melted)
- 1/2 cup maple sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tbs vanilla
- 1 ½ cups almond flour
- 3/4 cup tapioca flour
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Maple blueberry frosting ingredients:
- ½ cup maple sugar
- 1 Tbs tapioca flour
- 1 tsp blueberry powder
- 3 tsp water
- 1 tsp vanilla
Maple cinnamon frosting ingredients:
- ½ cup maple sugar
- 4 Tbs tapioca flour
- 3 tsp water
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Instructions
Cookie instructions:
- In a large bowl, beat the softened coconut oil and maple sugar together with an electric hand-held mixer or in a stand mixer. **Note: the coconut oil needs to be softened, not too hard and not melted. It was cold in my house so it was hard. 10 seconds in the microwave was perfect to soften it. In the summer, though, when its warmer out, my coconut oil is always in a softened state.
- Add the egg and vanilla to the bowl and beat until well mixed.
- In a separate bowl, mix the almond flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and cinnamon together.
- Add 1 cup of the flour mixture to the wet mixture and beat until blended. Add another cup of the flour mixture and beat until well blended. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until just blended. Take everything out of the bowl and form one big ball of dough with your hands.
- Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and roll each piece into smaller balls in your hands. Put each piece into a separate plastic bag and refrigerate the dough in the fridge for 45 minutes-1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Take one of the balls of dough out of the fridge. Kneed it in between your hands to warm it up and make it easier to roll out. Place the dough in between 2 pieces of parchment paper, and push the ball down. Roll the dough with a rolling pin until you get the dough to your desired thickness, between 1/8 of an inch to 1/4 of an inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut the dough into shapes using cookie cutters.
- **Note: if you like softer thicker cookies, roll the dough out thicker. If you want harder crispier cookies, roll the dough out thinner.
- Roll the scraps of the dough into a ball and roll out again in between the parchment paper and cut the dough into shapes using cookie cutters. Put the remaining dough back into the fridge.
- Take the next ball of dough out of the fridge and repeat the process of kneading it, rolling it out and cutting it into shapes with cookies cutters.
- Eventually combine all of the scraps and cut the dough into shapes with cookie cutters until there is no dough left.
- Place the cookies onto a covered cookie sheet ( silicone liner or parchment paper) and bake for 8-10 minutes. Only put one cookie sheet into the oven at a time. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes and then place them on a wire rack to cool further.
- **Note: Cook them for 8 minutes for softer cookies, 10 for crispier cookies. I cooked mine for 8 because I like softer cookies.
- **Note: You’ll probably fill up a cookie sheet with cookie shapes prior to using up all of the dough. Bake the cookies when one cookie sheet is filled up and continue cutting the rest of the dough into shapes in the process.
Frosting Instructions:
- For the maple blueberry frosting: add ½ cup of maple sugar, 1 Tbs tapioca flour, ½ tsp blueberry powder, 3 tsp water, and 1 tsp vanilla to a food processor and mix until smooth.
- For the maple cinnamon frosting: add ½ cup of maple sugar, 1 Tbs tapioca flour, 3 tsp water, 1 tsp vanilla, and ½ tsp cinnamon to a food processor and mix until smooth. Then add 1 Tbs of tapioca flour and mix again. Add another Tbs of tapioca flour and mix again. Add the last Tbs of tapioca flour and mix again.
- **Note: the frosting will harden on the cookies eventually, but this doesn’t happen right away.
- ** Note: feel free to use a different fruit powder if you do not want blueberry powder. You can make your own by putting freeze-dried fruit into a food processor.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no cost to you.
