These easy cut-out Paleo Sugar Cookies are made with almond and coconut flour and sweetened with honey. The perfect sugar cookies for the holidays that no one will guess are Paleo. Grain free, refined sugar free, kid approved!
Of all my baking experiments over the past two weeks, these sugar cookies made me the happiest. I’m almost sure they made my kids even happier though. And husband.
It was one of those “are these ACTUALLY paleo?!!” moments – a moment that wins for the ultimate Paleo baking compliment, in my opinion.
And, that was before I put the icing on – this should be noted, of course! Anyway, they were all thrilled that it took me a couple of tries to get the cut-out part right, since that meant extra cookies that weren’t waiting for photos.
No one waited on those of course, they were gone before I could even get on the next batch. I might’ve kept a few (or 5) for myself.
And, I might have decorated those 5 cookies just for myself, in the name of recipe testing. Or just because they tasted really good with my coconut butter icing and melted dark chocolate!
Speaking of icing, I used two types of white icing for these cookies – a traditional (not paleo) icing with organic powdered sugar and orange juice, in case you simply need grain free cookies. For those who want to keep it paleo, I provided a simple coconut butter icing recipe, too. And don’t forget the melted dark chocolate – my favorite part!
Anyway, once I practiced my cookie-cutting and perfected the recipe, I had my daughter Emily help me with the photos and decorating.
Sugar cookies need at least one good assistant/helper, I think – someone to cut, someone to get rid of the extra dough (without eating it!!) and decide which shape comes next.
The icing, the design, and who gets to eat which shape. Sugar cookies require more decision making than any other cookie, I’m sure! Which is probably one reason kids can’t get enough of them.
Back to the actual cookie recipe though, because that’s what we’re all here for!
The dough is extremely quick and easy to make. Using my electric hand mixer, I creamed together grass-fed butter and raw honey until nice and smooth. Yes, the sugar cookies are actually “honey” cookies 🙂
The grass-fed butter adds amazing flavor to these cookies, but you can also use ghee for a nearly identical flavor. Just make sure it’s the consistency of room-temperature butter before creaming it.
Coconut oil doesn’t work as well in this recipe as butter or ghee – it makes the dough difficult to roll out and cut, and the flavor isn’t the same. For a completely dairy free version that will keep the texture, you can use palm oil shortening.
After the butter and honey are nice and creamy, we add in an egg (room temp) and vanilla. For the dry ingredients, I used a combination of blanched almond and coconut flour.
I love using a combination of the two if the recipe allows, and it worked perfectly here to get a firm but slightly soft cookie that keeps it’s shape while cutting and baking.
The dough itself it very easy to roll after about an hour of chilling in the fridge. You can also refrigerate it overnight if you want to make the dough ahead of time.
Since it’s still a moist dough, I prefer rolling it between two pieces of parchment paper for best results. And of course, this part is easier if you have a good assistant!
Okay, let’s get into baking mode and make the best paleo cut-out sugar cookies we’ve ever made – enjoy!
Perfect Cut-Out Paleo Sugar Cookies {Grain Free}
Perfect Cut-Out Paleo Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup grass-fed butter unsalted, soft
- 1/3 cup raw honey
- 1 egg room temp
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 2/3 cups blanched almond flour sifted
- 6 Tbsp coconut flour sifted
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
Icing 1 - (not paleo*)
- 2/3 cup organic powdered sugar
- 3-4 tsp fresh orange juice or water
Icing 2 - (Paleo)
- 1/4 cup coconut butter melted**
- 2 tsp honey
Instructions
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In one bowl, combine the sifted almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and salt, set aside
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In a separate bowl, using an electric hand mixer (or stand mixer) cream together the butter and honey until very smooth and creamy on medium speed.
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Add in the egg and vanilla and beat on low speed until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat until a thick cookie dough forms (you can stir it by hand at this point if it’s too thick to mix.)
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Using a silicone spatula, scrape all dough off the sides of the bowl and form a ball. Wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour so the dough can be rolled. You can also chill overnight if you want to make the dough ahead of time.
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Once chilled, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
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Place the dough on a separate large sheet of parchment paper on your countertop and cover with another sheet. Roll out the dough slowly between the two sheets of parchment paper to 1/4 inch thickness for cutouts.
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Place cookie cutouts on the parchment lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough, chilling before rolling out again if needed.
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Bake cookies in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn light brown. Allow cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before carefully transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
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Once completely cooled, decorate as desired and enjoy!
For Icing 1*:
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Combine sugar and orange juice or water in a small bowl and mix until a smooth icing forms.
For Icing 2:
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Carefully stir honey into melted coconut butter, then drizzle on cookies. If you need to re-melt the mixture, do it in small 5 second increments - coconut butter can easily separate to it’s important to be gentle!
Recipe Notes
*For a grain-free only version that contains organic powdered sugar. For a paleo friendly icing, using icing 2.
**To melt coconut butter, you can either submerge the jar in very hot water for 10 minutes, then stir (preferred) You can also microwave in a glass dish on increments of 7-8 seconds, stirring after each, until drippy.
***Nutrition was calculated without icing.
Nutrition
What I Used to Make My Perfect Paleo Cut-Out Sugar Cookies:
Want more Paleo cookie recipes? Try one of these!
Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies
“Oatmeal” Raisin Cookies {Grain free, vegan}
Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies {Nut Free}
Almond Butter Fudge Cookie Cups
Coconut Butter Macadamia Nut Cookies
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Hi Michelle, I’m wondering if you or any of your readers tried freezing these? I tend to do my baking ahead of time and freeze, but since eliminating grains haven’t found much success. I would love to surprise my adult kids with some sugar cookies again!! I just don’t want to have to make them the day before when I’m already busy prepping other items. Thanks for all you do!!!
While I haven’t tried freezing these (they were gone too fast!) I did freeze my vanilla wafer cookies successfully which have similar ingredients, with the exception of coconut flour. Unfortunately I don’t have the answer specifically for these cookies though!
Hey there, have you tried using coconut oil, instead of coconut butter, for the 2nd icing option? If not, do you think regular butter would work okay?
Hi Michele. My son is allergic to nuts so being Paleo as a family is not easy. Do you think I could use cassava flour in place of the almond flour in this recipe? Actually, could I use cassava flour to replace almond flour in most recipes? Thanks in advance for your response!
No, cassava would make the cookies way too crumbly, as in couldn’t even pick one up without it breaking. Unfortunately cassava is very difficult to make cookies with and it has a totally different texture than almond flour. I’ve tried several times to make cookies with cassava and they were all frustrating unfortunately – the dough would be great and the cookies crumbled after baking. If you can use flaxseed meal, that is the closest sub I know for almond flour, although I haven’t tested it enough to know how much almond flour it can sub for and still turn out okay. I haven’t totally given up on cassava though, since I have so many readers who want nut free, coconut free cookies, but for now sadly I don’t have a recipe!
Along with being grain free, I am also diabetic. Do you think I could substitute Swerve for the honey? And if so, do you think it would be equal measurement?
Thanks for this recipe! We have added it to our Advent activities!
I’m not familiar with swerve and how it measures, it may affect the texture a bit but I do think you can sub another sweetener successfully.
These look amazing! Do you know if you would need the same amount of ghee as the butter? I know sometimes the measurements aren’t exactly comparable…thanks!!!
It should work out to be the same, as long as it’s in the same soft/solid state as butter would be. Since you’ll chill the dough anyway it should be fine 🙂
These were absolutely great!
My daughter has 22 food allergies and these worked great with coconut oil too, instead of butter. Best allergy free cookies I have made. I’m was about to give up on ever using my cute cookie cutters. So happy I can use them this year, thanks again.
That’s so great to know about the coconut oil! Couldn’t be happier to hear!
How many cookies does this recipe produce?
It should make about 16-18 depending on your cookie cutters 🙂
Thanks! Very helpful!
Oh boy. So Michele, I need your help. I made a double batch of these. The dough just would not hold up, and after trying various things (egg, almond milk, more honey, refrigerating – haha) I realized I used COCONUT flour instead of almond flour (the bags look SO similiar!). How can I rescue my double batch of dough?
Eek, I’m not sure since that’s a whole lot of coconut flour! Especially with your additions, trying to save it I’m not sure there’s anything else you can do. I know I’ve been there before and it’s super frustrating 🙁
I made the cookies and just drizzled them with melted dark and white chocolate- perfect! Great recipe.
Yum! Sounds delicious 🙂 So happy it worked out well!
Do you think I can use pure maple syrup instead of the honey we cant do honey
Yes I think that would work just fine 🙂
Can I use Cassava flour to replace the almond four?!?
So pleased with this recipe! The dough stays soft like those classic frosted cookies with wheat flour and softeners yet this one is nourishing and flourless! Searching for an ideal cookie frosting with Just Like Sugar, Swerve or Lakota. Made my daughters day, first cut out and cookie decorating moment. Thank you.
If you how to pay more for raw honey just to bake it where is logic? 🤔
The cookie recipe seems good, though I ended up having to throw my dough into the freezer to be able to work with it. The Paleo icing though? Utter failure, and I tried twice. I got the coconut butter melted, but both times when I added honey, it was no longer runny, and popping it into the microwave made it worse. Should both of them be melted before mixing together? I didn’t want to try again because coconut butter is not cheap, and I hate that I wasted a half cup already!
This recipe worked for me but. . . I had to roll small balls of dough individually between 2 sheets of parchment paper slightly larger than the cookie cutter I was using, remove the top sheet of paper and move the bottom sheet to a baking sheet along with the dough and cutter. When I removed the extra dough and cutter I still had a perfectly shaped cookie.
I made a bunch of these for Valentine’s Day. The dough warmed up so quickly, I had to keep putting it in the freezer as I rolled and cut out cookies. They baked up perfectly and tasted wonderful. My husband and kids loved them! Thanks for a fabulous recipe.
Made these ‘sugar’ cookies for a fun afternoon with the kids (the cutting and choosing shapes) which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. Loved how the cookies turned out (I made some with raisins) and loved how good they were. However my hubby and girl didn’t take to them and my boy found them OK which surprised me as he is the pickier eater.
Glad they mostly worked out for you!
Can i increase the amount of coconut flour and reduce the amount of almond flour for a ‘crispier’ cookie?
Coconut flour tends to do the opposite – softer and more cakey. I actually think more almond flour would make a crisper cookie, especially if you bake on a lower temp for longer.