Snickerdoodle Cookies
Inspired by Sweet Laurel's grain-free snickerdoodle
Yield: 2 dozen cookies · Active: 15 min · Total: 25 min · Year-round · Cuisine: American, grain-free, vegan-optional · Best eaten: as a lunchbox and tea-time cookie, or warm with a glass of cold raw milk
Snickerdoodles are the classic American cinnamon-sugar cookie: soft, slightly chewy, with the cinnamon-sugar coating that's defined the cookie since the late 19th century. This grain-free version keeps all that childhood nostalgia and rebuilds it on almond flour, coconut oil, and maple syrup. Make them with coconut oil and they're fully vegan.
Ingredients
3 cups blanched almond flour (or 2¾ cups for slightly chewier)
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
½ cup coconut oil, melted (or grass-fed butter)
½ cup pure maple syrup, at room temperature
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
Topping
¼ cup date sugar (or coconut sugar)
2 tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
Method
Preheat the oven to 350°F with the rack in the middle. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Stir together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk together all the wet ingredients in a separate bowl and stir them into the dry. If your maple syrup is cold from the fridge, let it come to room temperature first, or the coconut oil will seize into little clumps.
Roll the dough into 1½-inch balls (about a heaping tablespoon each), set them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets, and press each one down lightly.
Sprinkle with the date sugar and cinnamon mixture. For the classic look, roll the balls in the mixture before pressing them down.
Bake 8–10 minutes, until just golden brown around the edges. They'll still look soft in the middle, and that's exactly right.
Let them cool on the pan for 5 minutes, since almond flour cookies are fragile when hot, then move them to a rack to finish cooling.
Storage
Keep in an airtight container at room temperature up to 4 days, in the fridge up to 1 week, or frozen up to 3 months.
Turn Them into Ice Cream Crumbles
Bake the cookies you plan to crumble 1–2 minutes longer so they stay crisp, then break them into ½-inch pieces. Fold them into the Pumpkin Spice ice cream from my Homemade Ice Cream, the Nourishing Way, or scatter them over any scoop.
Nourishment Notes
Almond flour delivers vitamin E and magnesium, coconut oil contributes medium-chain triglycerides, and pure maple syrup brings manganese and zinc. Cinnamon contributes chromium and polyphenols that help moderate the post-cookie blood sugar response, which matters for a sweet treat. Date sugar (preferred over coconut sugar) is a true whole food: dried, ground dates retaining the original fiber and minerals, plus a slight caramel character that pairs perfectly with cinnamon. Coconut sugar keeps some of its minerals too.
— Anna aka Food Marshall