Christmas Eve is upon us and we still haven't made our Christmas cookies- but as the kids pointed out we need something to leave for Santa and Rudolf under the tree tonight SO, among the many things we need to do today we decided to make Christmas cookies for Santa tonight (thanks to grandma for supervising!) 

This year, however, we are experimenting with a new, healthier, recipe that has amazing reviews online. It is gluten free, dairy-free and no refined sugar...  and

 with only 7 ingredients they are easy and quick to make!    If you are feeling adventurous here is the recipe!  Thanks to

Elanaspantry

 for the recipe! 

Only 7 ingredients!  All organic, dairy free and gluten free!

Paleo Sugar Cookies

Serves:  32 cookies

Ingredients

3 cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal) 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4  teaspoon baking soda

1 pinch ground nutmeg

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup honey

1 tablespoon orange zest

Instructions

1. In a large bowl combine almond flour, salt , baking soda and nutmeg

2. In a smaller bowl, mix together coconut oil, honey, and orange zest

3. Mix wet ingredients  into dry

4. Separate dough into 2 balls and place each on a piece of parchment paper

5. Cover each ball of dough with another piece of parchment paper and roll out 1/4 inch thick

6. Place in a freezer for 30 minutes

7. Use cookie cutters of your choice to cut out cookies

8. Bake at 350 F for 5-7 minutes

9. Cool and serve (or cool, frost and decorate!) 

The final review:  two thumbs up!  They are softer than traditional sugar cookies, so I recommend making them a bit thicker, but they taste very good with a hint of orange zest.   You can decorate with basic icing or, if you feel like trying something a bit healthier here is an alternative icing recipe which is sugar free.   I did not love the icing (it tastes better on the cookie than straight up)- and it did not get firm like traditional icing does, but for this year it was fine.  We have some kiddos in the family that are on a strict gluten-free diet, so I am sure they will love to get to eat Christmas cookies this year too!

(please note, if you use this recipe for icing, the cookies will no longer be dairy-free)

Sugar-Free Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

 1/2 cup butter, room temperature 

1 1/4 cup confectioners swerve or powdered erythritol

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 -1 teaspoon vanilla liquid stevia (i found that 1/2 teaspoon was plenty sweet in fact a little less would have been fine)

Instruction

1. Add all ingredients into a stand mixer and blend until smooth

2. Make sure to start with just under 1/2 teaspoon of liquid stevia then taste and adjust your preference 

3. Add food coloring of your choice.   We used India Tree and JR Watkins, both all natural!