Valentine’s Day Cookies
We have been working away on our Valentine’s cookies this week. The ones pictured above are my younger son’s.
This recipe for heart shaped sugar cookies is gluten and dairy free, Paleo/primal friendly and does not use refined sugar. Further, this cookie recipe uses coconut oil, of which I am a big fan.
My older son did not want to give out paper valentines, so he made cookie valentines, as pictured above. Because the children in his class have a myriad of food allergies, this recipe is gluten-free, sugar-free and dairy-free. Even without those ingredients, my son claims the children in his class still say, “yum.”
Valentine’s Day Cookies
- 3 cups blanched almond flour
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- ½ cup coconut oil
, melted
- 1 ¼ cup ¼ cup agave nectar
- 1 tablespoon orange rind
- In a large bowl combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and nutmeg
- In a smaller bowl, mix together coconut oil, agave and orange rind
- Mix wet ingredients into dry
- Separate dough into 2 balls and place each on a piece of parchment paper
- Cover each ball of dough with another piece of parchment paper and roll out to ⅛ inch thickness
- Place in freezer for 30 minutes
- Use heart shaped cookie cutters
to cut out cookies
- Bake at 350° for 5-7 minutes
- Cool and serve
Makes 32 cookies
Valentine’s Day craft: colored paper hearts
Update: Thanks to lisa’s comment below, I found that there was a typo in this recipe, these cookies require ¼ cup of agave, not 1 ¼. My apologies and my disaster, not hers. Thanks lisa for catching this error.
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OK, I am saving this recipe for when I get more almond flour! Yum!
Susan :)
first i want to say that i really enjoy your blog and have enjoyed several of the recipes you have posted.
i don’t quite know what happened this time, but i tried to make these cookies this weekend and it was a disaster. i followed the simple instructions very closely, but found the consistency of the dough to be too liquidy from all of the agave nectar that was added. so i added an additional cup of almond flour and froze the dough. once frozen and rolled out i was able to cut the heart shapes out, but the minute they went into the oven they turned into puddles on my cookie sheet. i am bummed out about the results because they sounded so delicious and i have really enjoyed some of your other recipes. is there a typo in the recipe for the quantities?
thank you, elana. i can’t wait to try them over :) i was able to salvage a good part of the dough i had left by adding all-purpose gluten-free flour and transforming the dough into a raspberry thumbprint recipe. thanks for all of your hard work in the kitchen!!!
Susan -Thanks
Lisa -I came home a little early from our 3 day weekend and headed straight to the kitchen to test these cookies. You are correct. There is a typo in the recipe. Upon testing it, I found that the batter is like a cake batter, not at all like anything that would work for a cookie. So, I went back and dug up my original scrap of paper and found that this recipe calls for ¼ cup of agave, not 1 ¼.
I am now going to add some eggs to this soupy batter and try to make a cake out of it –maybe some chocolate chips or dried fruit as well, in order to interest my children.
Thanks again for your kind comment and for delicately pointing out this glaring error.
I’m so glad you were able to salvage!
Ah, sweet delicious orange-flavoured archives, how I love you!
Laura, Thanks for your sweet, orange flavored comment!
This may be a silly question, however I am new to gluten-free baking and I want to be especially thorough as I am taking part in a “cookie exchange” and baking for a person on a gluten-free and dairy-free diet. I already have some sorghum flour on hand in my pantry, and I was curious to know, how easily can I substitute sorghum flour for almond flour?
Stephanie–
I was just reading your comment and realize this is nearly a year after you posted, but in case you (or someone else!) is wondering, sorghum flour is high-protein, just like almond flour. I have used this substitution in the past for people with nut allergies and the recipes turn out great (but a different texture–more gritty).
Hi, Elana,
Many thanks for your wonderful writing– today, licorice, and it tempted me to retrospect some of your recent blogs.
I am not clear re: coconut oil: when do you use refined and when virgin? Would you consider including that detail in your recipes?
Many thanks,
best wishes for a good weekend and a Gut Shabbos,
Ruth
Dear Ruth,
All of the recipes that I write using coconut oil use virgin, unrefined coconut oil.
Elana
Thank you, Elana!
So they all have some coconut-y flavor?
Elana,
First I want to thank you for your website….Lately my granddaughter(shes 3) has been having headaches and now we are on the search for what may be wrong…they have just been to frequent…My son thinks it could be her blood sugar as it runs in our family….Anyway we are watching and of course trying your recipes in hopes something will help. Today she and I made your awesome orange cookies.. she took a box of them home to share and anyone we encountered on the way home she shared with them also…Thank you again they were so yummy…..
Elana – What is your recommendation for icing for these cookies?
Can these be made into snickerdoodles? Any ideas?
Hi Elana!
I am wondering what I could add to this recipe to make the cookies firmer and/or thicker. I made these today for children with allergies and the cookies are so fragile I am unsure how to transport them to school. I also only had luck cutting them out with open-topped cookie cutters and had to work fast as the dough would start to melt, but all in all, they worked!
Thank you for coming up with a recipe without so many allergens! I needed to meet the requirement of no dairy, eggs, soy, peanuts and gluten-free. Thanks to you–there is a cookie!! Also came up with a coconut oil, sugar and vanilla frosting that tastes good too!
And, my kids and I have to say that the raw cookie dough tastes delicious!!
Best regards,
Christine
Hi Elana:
I’m just wondering if soaking the almonds overnight and dehydrating them for 12 hrs. has the same results as blanching them?
Thanks,
Heidi
Heidi,
I believe the blanching in this case refers to the removal of the brown outer skin of the almonds before they are turned into flour.
If you intend to grind your own unblanched almonds into flour, I imagine you could do that. The resulting flour is higher in fiber, and of course has brown flecks in it.
Actually, read Elana’s post on Almond Flour here – it is very helpful!
I love the valentine cookie idea!!…what do you use to give them the different colors?
Might be able to naturally color them with some strawberries or blueberries pureed and then mixed with some home made whipped cream or cream cheese frosting. I know that adds in dairy, but for those not allergic, it’s a thought. Think that’s what I’m going to try!
She has lots of icing ideas in her cupcake cook book:)
Thank you! This will be perfect for a party I’m going to in April :)
Thank you for this fabulous recipe! I made them last night for Valentine’s Day today. I was way behind schedule and didn’t want to roll and cut, so I rolled each half into a loggish shape and put it in the crook of a folded piece of cardboard (to make the bottom of the heart), then I dented the top with another piece of folded cardboard (to make the top of the heart). I left it in the bottom piece of cardboard and stuck it in the fridge for about half an hour. Took it out of the cardboard, and Voila! just cut off little heart shaped cookie dough! Also, for an extra treat for my kids, I dipped some of them in a mixture of 80% chocolate and coconut oil and stuck them in the freezer. So good! Raves all around!
We made these today, except I used melted butter and honey instead of agave. And I didn’t have oranges, so I just used a little extra fresh-grated nutmeg. I put them in the freezer for a little over an hour, and they rolled out nicely on waxed paper with my french rolling pin. Thank you for the recipe!
I’m making these cookies this evening and made them according to the recipe, aside from using honey instead of agave (1:1). The mix came out very crumbly, unable to stick together really at all and I am baffled. Has anyone else experienced this? I don’t think it’s the honey because I sub it for agave in all recipes and have not had an issue. I went ahead and added an egg, which seems to have done the trick. I expect, given how good they smell in the oven right now, that they’ll be fantastic.
Valentine’s coming up I might just make these for my fam and me of course ;) lol Jk ( Just Kidding )
Hi everyone, thanks for the great suggestions. I need a nut-free flour — has anyone used Bob’s GF flour or arrowroot flour?
Thanks!
Pat