Gluten Free Sugar Cookies | Healthy Valentine’s Day Dessert

Medically reviewed by Abbey Sharp, Registered Dietitian (RD), BASc.

These Gluten Free Sugar Cookies are perfect for a healthy Valentine’s Day (or any fun holiday) dessert! They’re high in fibre, protein, and healthy fats AND much better for you than typical sugar cookies!

 Confession time: I don’t like sugar cookies. My sister used to always be obsessed with simple sugar cookies and shortbread cookies, and honestly, I could do without them all. That was all until I met these Gluten Free Sugar Cookies. As Valentine’s Day is approaching, I’m always looking for fun recipes I can incorporate for my family and for my husband of course! I decided to make these Gluten Free Sugar Cookies with the girls of one of my favourite people, Abby Langer (because Galentine’s is important too!!).

Why This Recipe Works

This is my favourite recipe for gluten free sugar cookies because they are so versatile! Whether you’re trying to impress a date for Valentine’s or just make a batch for yourself for the week, these cookies are the best! I also love this recipe because it’s

• Higher in fiber than traditional sugar cookies! (~2 grams per cookie)
• Perfect for those who are gluten intolerant
• Easy to make (only 4 steps!)

Key Ingredients

Blanched Almond Flour- Instead of your typical white refined flour, I use all natural almond flour, packed with protein, fibre and healthy fats. It’s a little more sticky to work with because of the extra fat, but as long as you keep your rolling pin and surface well-floured, you should be good to go. Plus, the almond flour makes for a naturally gluten free, and more tender sweet cookie, rather than a dry flavourless one, so they’re delicious even without the fun icing or sprinkles on top.

Confectioners Sugar- Also known as “powdered sugar”, this sugar is the perfect sugar for icing for these gluten free sugar cookies due to it’s dissolvability and smooth texture.

Food Coloring/Sprinkles – This is where YOU get to be creative!! For whatever holiday you’re celebrating have fun with colors and decorations using food coloring or natural dye if you wish!

How To Make This Recipe

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 F. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, maple syrup and brown sugar together until smooth. Then add in the almond flour, vanilla, almond extract, egg, cinnamon and salt. Roll the batter into a ball and chill for 30 minutes.

Step 2: Flour your surface and rolling pin and roll out small balls (about 2 – 3 tablespoons each). Roll the batter out to ¼” thick and cut into shapes with a cookie cutter. Place the cookies on a silpat on a baking sheet 1/2 inch apart and bake for about 10 minutes until golden brown. Allow to fully cool.

Step 3: Meanwhile, sugar, almond milk and almond extract. Mix until combined then divide between a few bowls and colour, as desired. Transfer to piping bags (or plastic baggies).

Step 4: When ready to ice the cookies, start by making a “border” with the icing with one colour. Then either using the same colour or a different one, “fill” in the rest of the cookie. Finish with whatever sprinkles or sugars you would like and allow them to fully set.

Expert Tips

Some key items I would recommend to ease the process of making these gluten free cookies are: a Kitchenaid Standmixer (a key tool for any baker), baking sheets, and a vacuum sealer to make a double batch of the dough to bake off later when I need another cookie fix. Side note: those vacuum sealers are key to making sure I don’t have an excuse to just eat ALL the cookies in one go.

This is a great activity to do with the kids so that they can all decorate their own cookies for Mom however they want (and have their own treat in the process). Also, if you’re worried about food colouring, there are now lots of organic natural food colours you can buy and use for dying your icing, or you can just leave the cookies plain white for a simpler look!

Recipe FAQs

More Recipes You May Like

Love these gluten free sugar cookies and looking for more gluten free dessert ideas? Check out some of my favorites below!

• CHICKPEA COOKIE DOUGH 4 WAYS (VEGAN & GLUTEN FREE SNACK)
• HOMEMADE TWINKIES | HIGH PROTEIN & GLUTEN FREE
• BEST PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE RECIPE (VEGAN & GLUTEN FREE)
• SAMOA COOKIES BROWNIE RECIPE (VEGAN & GLUTEN FREE)

Now I want to know, what do you plan to make for the moms in your life for mother’s day? Have you tried these Gluten Free Sugar Cookies? Are you making these cookies for Valentine’s Day? Leave me a comment below!

Gluten Free Almond Sugar Cookies

These Gluten Free Almond Sugar Cookies are perfect for a healthy Mother’s Day dessert- they’re high in fibre, protein and healthy fats and much better for you than typical sugar cookies!

4.45 from 9 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 40 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 cookies

Calories: 260kcal

Author: Abbey Sharp

Ingredients

Almond Sugar Cookies:

• ▢ ¼ cup unsalted butter softened
• ▢ 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
• ▢ 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• ▢ 2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
• ▢ ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ▢ ½ tsp almond extract
• ▢ 1 egg
• ▢ ¼ tsp cinnamon
• ▢ ¼ tsp salt
• ▢ Flour (gluten free if desired) for rolling

Icing:

• ▢ 4 cups sifted confectioners sugar
• ▢ 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• ▢ 1 tsp almond extract
• ▢ Food colouring (natural, if desired)
• ▢ Sprinkles candies and coloured sugar for decorating

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 F. In a medium bowl, cream the butter, maple syrup and brown sugar together until smooth. Then add in the almond flour, vanilla, almond extract, egg, cinnamon and salt. Roll the batter into a ball and chill for 30 minutes.
• Flour your surface and rolling pin and roll out small balls (about 2 – 3 tablespoons each). Roll the batter out to ¼” thick and cut into shapes with a cookie cutter. Place the cookies on a silpat on a baking sheet 1/2 inch apart and bake for about 10 minutes until golden brown. Allow to fully cool.
• Meanwhile, sugar, almond milk and almond extract. Mix until combined then divide between a few bowls and colour, as desired. Transfer to piping bags (or plastic baggies).
• When ready to ice the cookies, start by making a “border” with the icing with one colour. Then either using the same colour or a different one, “fill” in the rest of the cookie. Finish with whatever sprinkles or sugars you would like and allow them to fully set.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 260kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 18mg | Sodium: 52mg | Potassium: 9mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 105IU | Calcium: 52mg | Iron: 0.7mg

Tried this Recipe? Pin it for Later!Mention @AbbeysKitchen or tag #abbeyskitchen!

Updated on February 12th, 2023

Abbey Sharp

Abbey Sharp is a Registered Dietitian (RD), regulated by the Ontario College of Dietitians. She is a mom, YouTuber, Blogger, award winning cookbook author, media coach specializing in food and nutrition influencers, and a frequent contributor to national publications like Healthline and on national broadcast TV shows.