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These Almond Flour Sugar Cookies are pillowy-soft with a melt-in-your-mouth icing on top. With a hint of almond extract, I’m totally hooked!
Now that my son is old enough to be aware of cookies, I wanted to make a cookie that wouldn’t leave him bouncing off the walls. As a two-year-old, he does enough of that without any added sugar!
These cookies are my solution– they’re naturally sweetened with maple syrup and are made with almond meal for a protein-rich cookie that actually leaves you feeling full after you’ve had one or two. (Because if I’m being honest, I usually eat two at a time…)
I love how soft they stay in the middle, but if you want a firmer cookie you can always bake them longer than suggested below.
Refrigerator Sugar Cookie Dough
I also tried rolling the dough up in parchment paper for a slice-and-bake cookie that you’d find in your grocer’s refrigerated section, and these work great that way, too!
I love having some cookie dough on hand around this time of the year, so I hope it’s a convenient option for you, too.
Vegan Iced Sugar Cookies
For a vegan cookie, use this Coconut Sugar Icing instead of the Honey Buttercream mentioned below.
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 1/2 cups almond meal
- 1/4 cup arrowroot or tapioca starch
- 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
- 5 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of sea salt
Honey Buttercream:
- 1 tablespoon Nutiva red palm oil shortening
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil (not melted)
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot or tapioca starch
- 2 tablespoons (thick) raw honey
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl stir together the almond meal and tapioca starch, then add in the rest of the ingredients. Stir well until a sticky, uniform dough is formed.
- At this point, you can drop the dough by tablespoons onto the pan and flatten them with your fingers. (The dough is very sticky, so you might want to wet your hands with water to easily press the dough.) These cookies spread just a little bit, not a lot, so try to shape them into the size you want them to turn out.
- Alternatively, you can freeze the dough for 30 minutes and then roll it out on parchment paper to create cookie-cutter shapes. Sprinkle the dough with extra arrowroot to help prevent sticking to your rolling pin, and dip the cookie cutters in arrowroot, too. Roll the dough into 1/4-inch thickness for cookies that are firm on the outside and soft in the middle. The thicker your dough, the softer the cookie will be in the center.
- Bake the cookies at 350F for 12 to 14 minutes, until the edges are dry to the touch. The browner the edges get, the crispier the cookies will be, so I pull mine out before the edges brown at all. (But, I like mine pretty soft in the center.) You can play around with your baking time to get your desired texture, but keep in mind that these cookies will firm up even more as they cool. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan completely before frosting, at least 30 minutes.
- To make the Honey Buttercream, combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and squish them together with a spatula. This frosting will not harden like traditional sugar cookie icing, but it should spread easily and not melt at room temperature, thanks to the use of shortening and arrowroot. Spread the frosting on the cooled cookies, or use an icing bag with a decorating tip to pipe it around the edges. I also used a few naturally-dyed red sprinkles (this company uses beet juice for coloring!) to bring these festive cookies to a holiday party last night. They were a total hit!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Per Serving: Calories: 168, Fat: 11g, Carbohydrates: 14g, Fiber: 2g, Protein: 4g
Recipe Notes:
- For a vegan frosting, use this Coconut Sugar Icing instead.
As always, if you experiment with any substitutions please leave a comment below letting us know how it worked for you.
Enjoy!
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Reader Feedback: How do you like your cookies– soft or crispy?
Love this receipe ❤️! So simple and tasty. I made a half batch just to make sure we all liked them, and they were a hit! We didn’t make the frosting but decided to use just the powdered sugar and vegan butter frosting we normally use. We don’t like things all that sweet so I even left some without any frosting. Everyone in the house loved them. I cooked mine the full time and they came out krispy and a touch drier but still So delicious! Next time I’m going to cook them a little less and see how it goes. I used the tapioca starch.
One of my favorite recipes to make with my 4 year old and I feel zero guilt watching her eat them!
This is our new family staple for cut out cookies. Christmas and my daughters 2nd birthday have benefitted from it. Thank you so much for your reliable recipes.
Amazing! Just be sure to triple the recipe if you plan on giving them away! They dont have the traditional sugar cookie texture to me but i think they taste better! They are chewy, slightly sweet, and moist! So delightful to make and eat!! Btw, some comments on here complained about the dough being to sticky, so what i did is just refrigerate over night in Saran wrap and roll it out while it was still in the saran wrap so it wouldn’t stick! Thank you for the recipe! Making another batch right now! Oh also, you dont have to have almond extract! Vanilla was good enough!
Delicious! My go to holiday cookie!
I am going to try this.
I use convected oven and they were crispy after 8 minutes.
Thanks for sharing that!
These are perfect! Thank you for posting this recipe, and for being one of the most trustworthy food bloggers around!
Thank you for this wonder recipe. I used almond flour and they were super awesome according to my 6 year old niece. My two nieces used little hearts and starts and cookies came out delicious. I will be making this regularly, very little sugar and easy to make.
Thank you very much.
Just made these for Valentine’s Day and they turned out amazing! Very almondy and perfectly gooey inside. Really reminded me of authentic Italian almond cookies but GF. Thank you! I’m definitely saving this recipe! P.S. Loved the icing too, used couple drops of beet water for blush pink color.