You can make these soft and delicious sugar cookies with an easy and immune-boosting elderberry icing!
These perfect sugar cookies are made with coconut and almond flour making them slightly crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and naturally gluten-free and grain-free.
This recipe calls for WAY LESS sugar than any other recipe you’ll find. That’s because we’re only using a little powdered sugar for the icing. The cookies themselves have no added sugar whatsoever — they’re just slightly sweetened with honey.
I’ve been baking like crazy lately, and out of all those recipes, this one is by far my favorite — even BEFORE the icing was added. Now, there are no words to describe how joyful my palate is.
Creating Meaningful Memories
One of my favorite holiday traditions is decorating sugar cookies with my family.
The kids pitch in and help make the cookies. We take turns cutting out fun shapes. Then, we sit around the table, making an absolute mess with sprinkles all over the floor, sticky fingers and smiles all around.
Spending time with your kids in the kitchen — it doesn’t get much better than that around the holidays.
Whether you use this recipe for making new memories with your kiddos, a festive gift for a friend or a cookie exchange — you can’t go wrong with these perfect sugar cookies with elderberry icing.
Elderberry as Icing?
You bet! We use elderberry syrup for icing all the time. We drizzle it over my pumpkin muffins and lavender scones recipe. Elderberry syrup elevates any baked good with its natural sweetness and immune-boosting properties.
Dessert and healthy? I promise it’s not too good to be true.
The best part is that your kids won’t even realize they’re boosting their immune systems as they dig into these holiday goodies. From the almond and coconut flour to the Organic Elderberry Syrup brimming with nutrients, antioxidants and vitamins — their little bodies will thank you!
Paleo (Gluten-Free & Grain-Free) Sugar Cookies
I’m so excited that this recipe I’ve crafted for you is paleo-friendly, which means not only is it gluten-free, but it’s also grain-free.
Sometimes our stomachs are overloaded with gluten and grain because it’s in everything. So if I could make these cookies a little more gut-friendly, you bet I would.
So what is the Paleo Diet? It’s the type of foods our ancestors would have eaten before microwaves, processed food, additives or preservatives.
The Paleo Diet consists of foods that can be hunted and foraged/gathered from nature. These foods include fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, fish, meat, eggs and natural oils.
Eating paleo has so many incredible benefits, such as:
- Lowers the chances of having heart disease
- Promotes healthy blood glucose
- Regulates blood pressure
- Helps maintain a healthy weight
- Improves cholesterol
We don’t eat 100% paleo in our home (because we love cheese). Still, we have found some incredible paleo recipes that are absolutely delicious and provide my family with many nutrients and health benefits.
Ingredients for Paleo Sugar Cookies and Elderberry Icing
With these simple ingredients, you’ll be whipping up these cookies and baking in no time.
Here’s what you’ll need…
FOR THE SUGAR COOKIES:
- ¼ cup softened butter
- ½ cup honey
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups almond flour
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
FOR THE ELDERBERRY ICING:
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon organic elderberry syrup
Clean, simple and real ingredients.
I’m already hungry, so let’s get cooking!
How to Make Sugar Cookies
This dough is so easy to whip up and easy to work with!
1. Cream butter and honey together on medium-high with the paddle attachment until smooth.
2. Add egg and vanilla extract in the same bowl as the honey and butter mixture and blend until combined.
3. Mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Whisk together the almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Take your dry ingredients and mix them on low with your wet ingredients. Remember not to overmix. Just combine these ingredients until they form a nice ball of dough. If the dough is too soft to form a ball, add ½ cup of almond flour and mix with a spatula. Please note that this dough will be sticky.
5. Chill the dough for 30 minutes after forming the dough into a flat-shaped ball. Do this by placing all dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, wrapping it up, then using something flat — such as a plate — to flatten it out a bit to look like a disk.
6. Roll out the dough and cut shapes. You’ll realize quickly that this is a moist dough, so I always roll it out between two pieces of parchment paper. Peel off the top sheet when your cookies are the thickness you desire, and start cutting out fun shapes! Continue rolling the dough and cutting shapes until all the dough has been used.
7. Bake away! Place your cookies on a parchment-lined baking pan about an inch apart and bake for 8-10 minutes at 350°F. Give them time to slightly brown, they’ll fall apart if they are undercooked. Don’t worry, even when these are browned they still stay chewy on the inside.
8. Time to decorate. But first, allow your cookies to cool for about 5 minutes on the tray, then remove them from the tray to the counter to fully cool. Now it’s time to decorate!
How to Make Elderberry Icing
This elderberry icing couldn't be simpler to make!
In a small bowl, pour in your powdered sugar and then add the organic elderberry syrup. Stir gently with a spoon. If it’s too thick for your liking, simply add an extra dash of elderberry syrup.
But remember, the thicker icing is perfect for decorating!
If you’re looking for white icing, follow the same directions but substitute milk for the elderberry syrup.
Now it’s time to decorate. You can use piping bags or do the Ziploc bag trick, which is what we do. Just pour your icing into the corner of a Ziploc, snip the corner, twist the bag to keep the icing low and voila!
Decorate away, add sprinkles, make fun designs… the possibilities are endless.
How to Store Sugar Cookies
Simply store these sugar cookies in an airtight container and leave them out at room temperature for up to 6 days.
They also freeze beautifully, baked or unbaked. That means you can make the dough ahead of time and freeze it. Thaw out the dough the day before you’re ready to cut out shapes and bake these festive treats.
If you decide to freeze them after decorating, be sure to line parchment paper between them, so they don’t stick.
They’ll keep in the freezer (both dough & baked cookies) for 6-8 months!
Create joyful holiday memories this season with these festive sugar cookies topped with elderberry icing, a beautiful addition to your holiday baking tray!
💜 Check out more of our customers’ favorite holiday recipes:
Grab USDA Organic Elderberry Syrup made with seven simple ingredients, just click here.
