A Classic Holiday Treat Made Paleo
Even though this recipe is to specifically focused on decorating the sugar cookies to look like reindeer, you can still make these cookies year round. They are good enough to stand on their own with or without decoration. The cookie dough is made using typical paleo baking ingredients, including almond flour, baking soda, an egg, ghee, vanilla extract, and maple syrup.
The reason I use most of these ingredients is because they are much healthier than the traditional alternatives. Where wheat flour is known to cause inflammation, almond flour can actually improve your health by helping to lower your cholesterol levels. (1) Likewise, table sugar is another common trigger for inflammation, so maple syrup makes an excellent sweetening alternative that is jam-packed full of essential nutrients, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. (2)
Once your sugar cookies are done baking, the real fun can begin. If you have kids, you should definitely recruit them to help out with this next part. In order to decorate the sugar cookies to look like one of Santa’s reindeer, you’ll need to melt some dark chocolate and coconut oil separately. Pour the melted chocolate into a pastry bag so that you can draw the eyes and antlers for your reindeer. In order to give your reindeer a red nose like Rudolph, add a bit of dried cranberry powder to your coconut oil and then add a small drop to each of the cookies to make the nose.
These tasty holiday treats are a perfect choice to leave out on a plate along with a glass of milk for Santa and his reindeer on Christmas Eve — provided of course that you don’t mind sharing them, which is easier said than done after you try them. And remember, just because these cookies are decorated to look like reindeer doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy this recipe all year round. There’s never a bad time to enjoy a good sugar cookie.
P.S. – Looking for some more great holiday dessert ideas that are paleo-friendly? Look no further, we’ve got you covered with some great recipe ideas:
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups almond flour
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons melted ghee
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- For decoration
- 2 oz no sugar, no dairy paleo dark chocolate, melted
- 1 tsp melted coconut oil
- ¼ tsp dried cranberry powder
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a bowl combine the almond flour, baking soda and pinch of salt.
- Add the egg, maple syrup, melted ghee and vanilla extract.
- Mix to combine.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Roll out the dough between two piece of parchment paper to about ¼ inch thick.
- Cut into rounds using a circular cutter.
- Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 8 – 12 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
- To decorate the cookies, pour the melted chocolate into a pastry bag fitted with a small plain tip to apply the eyes and antlers of the reindeer.
- To make the nose of the reindeer, combine the coconut oil and sifted cranberry powder.
- Apply small drop of the mixture on each cookie to draw the nose.
- Refrigerate for one hour.
- Store the dried cookies between sheets of parchment paper in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 10 days.