These gluten free vegan holiday cookies are a fun project for Hanukkah, Christmas and Santa Lucia.

Last week, the boys’ Waldorf school, Shining Mountain had a Santa Lucia celebration. What is Santa Lucia, you ask – a pre-Christian feature of modern day Catholicism; a mid-winter festival of light on one of the longest nights of the year. Lucia translates to Lucy, which means light, as in lucid. She is the saint of radiant clarity.

Anyway, let me not digress into religious history and away from the most important aspect, to me at least, of any festival or holiday – food!

Star Cookies

• 2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
• ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ cup coconut oil, melted
• 5 tablespoons agave nectar or honey
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon
2. In a smaller bowl, mix together coconut oil, agave and vanilla
3. Mix wet ingredients into dry, then chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour
4. Roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper until ¼ inch thick
5. Remove top piece of parchment paper and dust dough with almond flour
6. Cut out cookies with a small star cutter
7. Using a metal spatula, place stars on a parchment lined baking sheet
8. Bake at 350° until lightly browned around the edges, 5-8 minutes
9. Cool completely prior to handling cookies

Makes 32 cookies

So, what is a gluten-free mom to do for a wheat-filled, sugar laden holiday celebration? I devised a holiday dessert recipe for the parents who had volunteered to bake star cookies. Then I assembled bags with the recipe, parchment paper, a cookie cutter and the ingredients.

The children dressed up in white robes and spent the entire day serving star cookies to everyone from ‘kindergarteners’ to high school seniors. And the five gluten-free kids in my son’s class? They were able to eat the cookies that they gave to others and break bread with the entire school. Now that’s Lucia magic.