The Most Versatile (Vanilla Lavender) Cookies You’ll Ever Bake
These cookies are my go-to for everything from an afternoon tea time to a quick breakfast. They are protein-packed thanks to the almond flour, and are delightful in both warm and cool weather.
Have you ever met someone (or are someone) who is on a specific diet? One week you’re paleo, the next you’re gluten-free only, the next you’re on an elimination diet so you can basically eat only vegetables. It’s always changing, so only certain recipes work for certain times.
Well these cookies have been, for me, the most versatile and delightful little treasures for a number of reasons. I’ll list three.
1. They are safe for about 85% of current trending alternative diets. That is, they are grain-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, low FODMAP, vegan, dairy-free, and the list continues. And they’re actually SUPER delicious too! Thanks to the almond flour, they are moist, rich and satisfying.
2. The recipe includes really simple ingredients. A lot of grain-free and gluten-free cookbooks have additives like arrowroot starch. For some, they can tolerate it just fine. But unfortunately, I can’t, so this recipe is perfect!
3. You can experiment very easily with new flavors. For example, I have tried making these as chocolate swirl, chocolate chip, vanilla lavender, marzipan and cherry, just to name a few. The ingredients seem to keep their moist consistency inside with a little bit of crackle on the outside. You can even make snowball cookies out of these!
If you would like to dust them with a little bit of powdered sugar for an elevated look, use these paleo recipes for powdered sugar.
Vanilla Lavender Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup refined coconut oil melted
- 1/3 cup maple syrup or cane sugar if using sugar, you may need to add a little more coconut oil or maple syrup if dry
- 2-3 drops edible lavender essential oil
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 cups almond flour
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried food-grade lavender plus more to drizzle
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine wet ingredients (coconut oil, maple syrup or sugar, lavender essential oil and vanilla extract).
- Add almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt to the wet ingredients. After combined, gently fold in the dried lavender. Put the batter in the fridge for 5 min. to harden up the coconut oil/firm up the dough if necessary.
- Cover a sheet with parchment paper, and roll out dough balls with hands. Then, flatten slightly.
- Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes. Place on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
- Keep in an airtight container for up to four days. Refrigeration works as well, but it changes the consistency of the cookies to make them more dense.
Alternative Flavor Combos for these Almond Cookies
Lemon Poppyseed: add 2-3 drops edible lemon essential oil, 2-3 tsp lemon zest, 3-4 tbsp poppyseeds
Chocolate Swirl: 1/8 cup cocoa powder (may need to add a little more liquid if too dry), 1/4 cup chocolate chips
Chocolate chip: 1/4 cup chocolate chips
Cherry marzipan: 1/4-1/2 cup chopped cherries (fresh or from syrup), marzipan or chopped almonds, almond extract
Snowball nut cookies: see recipe
Variety of flavors: chocolate swirl, lemon poppyseed and vanilla lavender
