It has been over a year since I posted a sugar cookie recipe, and my, have the times of Paleo flours changed. Last year I had great fun experimenting with different ratios, and came up with the perfect chewy yet crisp sugar cookie that even had an icing free of refined sugar. Since then, tiger nut flour and cassava flour have come to dominate the world of Paleo flours, which is why I decided to make a new recipe utilizing a more readily available flour. Of course, if you do not have mint extract, or you do not care for a minty sugar cookie, I encourage you to simply omit this ingredient and make them a regular, vanilla sugar cookie. Overall, this recipe could not be easier. They have the perfect crumb and because they do not flatten on their own, rolling them out and using cookie cutters to make fun, festive shapes works fantastic. Of course, you cannot have a sugar cookie without something to top it with. I have made various buttercream that do not use refined sugar, however, I wanted to create one more a long the lines of icing that is lighter in texture and easy to spread. All in all, I am thrilled to say I did just that by adding a bit of cassava flour to the mixture, which made for a spreadable icing that freezers great once on the cookies. While it may sound odd to add flour to an icing, the cassava flour acts as what would otherwise be the starch component in a regular powdered sugar. Because maple sugar is typically ground finer than other Paleo friendly, granulated sugars, it works best to make a smooth icing. Overall, the cookies came out fantastic, however, I must admit, my favorite part is the icing. On that note, there are 8 days till Christmas…can you believe it?!
Cassava Flour Iced Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
(Yields 1 1/2-2 dozen)
Sugar Cookie Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup Otto’s Cassava flour
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2/3 cup non-hydrogenated palm shortening
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Vanilla Icing
- 1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
- 1/2 cup non-hydrogenated palm shortening
- 1 tbsp vanilla powder
- 1/4 cup maple sugar
- 1/4 cup Otto’s cassava flour
Process
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Beat shortening, maple syrup, and vanilla in a standard mixer or food processor.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
- Add the dry to the went and beat until just combined.
- Transfer the dough to a large sheet of parchment paper, use your hands to pat the dough down into a round circle, sprinkle it with flour, and then place another piece of parchment on top of it.
- Use a roller to roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick, then cut into desired shapes, continuing until all of the dough is used.
- Put the sheet in the oven and allow the cookies to bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown on the bottom.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.
- To make the frosting, puree coconut milk, maple sugar, vanilla, and shortening in a food processor.
- Add in ottos cassava flour 1 tbsp at a time, then allow the mixture to puree for another 5 minutes until smooth.
- Once the cookies have cooled, frost them with the icing and enjoy.
Recipe Notes
Add 1/3 cup maple sugar for more sweetness to the cookies if desired.
Replace vanilla powder with vanilla extract in the frosting if not on AIP.
For strict AIP coconut milk, make your own or use Natural Value brand.
In order to get the proper constancy of icing, do not stir the coconut cream into the coconut milk before using. Simply scoop out 1/4 cup of both cream and water to make the 1/2 cup measurement.
Alternatively you can use 1/2 cup of pure coconut cream.
I’ve made these into bars in a 8 inch pan, baking for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
Luke 1:46-47,49 “And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.”
Would butter work instead of shortening?
I haven’t tried it, but if you do, make sure the butter is room temperature!
I just made them with butter (same amount) and they came out super tasty! Haven’t tried the icing yet though.
These sounds delicious! I have a couple of questions: 1) What brand of baking soda do you use? 2) Do you need to refrigerate these with the frosting, or will they be find at room temperature?
Hello,
I use Bob’s red mill baking soda. Also, the frosting is great room temperature, though freezing or refrigerating them doesn’t change the consistency or harm the cookies/frosting at all!
Would these cut out well to make shapes?
Yes! I used a mason jar lid to make circles since that is all I have on hand.
Is it possible to use honey instead of maple syrup?
I don’t see why not!
These are phenomenal!!! I handed my husband a bite fresh from the oven and he said “what are you giving me…this tastes like a gluten-full sugar cookie”. We made gingerbread man shapes and my kids are piping the frosting on now. Thank you for such an amazing recipe!
Oh that fills me with so much joy! Thank you for sharing, I hope you have a Merry Christmas!
Absolutely delicious! But my frosting turned out too liquidy any suggestions for the next time I make it . I did use full fat coconut milk but a different brand than you. Strict AIP doesn’t allow guar gum, whichThai Kitchen (from your link) has. The brand I used, Natural Value has no guar gum and I’m guessing that may be why your frosting came out a nice spreadable thickness instead of pourable. Thanks for any help, all your recipes are creative and delish!
Hi Celeste,
Thank you for the feedback. Did you stir your coconut milk so that the fat was incorporated with the water? I’ve used other, guar-gum free coconut milks and found that it really depended on the ratio of coconut water to coconut cream.
I made these using ghee instead of shortening because we can and because good quality vegetable shortening is not available in small town Alberta. We also used Xyla “maple” syrup. My eldest is allergic to coconut so I skipped the icing altogether. Probably due to the ghee, the cookies were more like whipped cream in consistency than something solid so no cutting out for us. We just delicately shaped them with our fingers after spooning some out of the mixing bowl. FANTASTIC. Will make again.
I made these into bars and they turned out great. My picky daughter even liked them.
I used unsalted room temp butter and it worked great.
Thanks great to know!
Hello, what about oil instead of shortening?
I’m curious about this too! I believe I’m allergic to palm and currently avoiding dairy so an alternative option would be great!
These look yummy! How long do they last with the frosting on them?
I can’t get cassava flour where I am, could I use coconut flour? If so what’s the ratio?
Do we really puree the icing in the blender for 10 minutes? 5 minutes the first addition of flour & 5 minutes for the second addition of flour? My icing is turning brown (I used clear vanilla extract) and gooey. I used Organic Creamed Coconut (the pure stuff).
Never mind about this comment. I used maple syrup instead of maple sugar! Arghhhh! I hate it when I missread it. But do we still puree for a total of 10 min?
Can is substitute tapioca flour for the cassava flour?
I am intrigued by the mint in the description but I’m confused about where it is in the recipe?
I made these today but put naturally colored sugar on top instead of the icing. I made a double batch and I felt like the first ones turned out great. But then the dough started to get very dry. I just wet it a little or added some more shortening. I did add the extra maple sugar. Any suggestions?
Just made these cookies today with 1/2 cassava flour and 1/2 coconut flour. I used a little less than a full 1/2 cup of coconut because of the moisture needs and they turned out great! My kids loved them as did I. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
I made these, adding the extra maple sugar and using Otto’s cassava flour. I also added a tiny dash of lemon extract. It made them taste more like my grandma’s recipe. After adding a little extra flour, since they seemed too wet/sticky to roll, I decided to just make them as drop cookies. The first pan didn’t spread at all, staying mounded, so I pressed the second pan down a bit and that worked just fine. Their texture was very like a delicate shortbread cookie, somewhat like Pamela’s gluten free shortbread cookies. I made the frosting and it was very light in texture which I love. But I wanted a it bit sweeter so I added a few drops of liquid stevia (Pyure) It was meant to be a treat, after all! 🙂 And just because I needed to experiment a little with Valentines so near, I added a little almond flavoring to the frosting and added a few drops of red INDIA TREE vegetable colorants for some pink frosted “sugar” cookies. Next time, I would choose between the almond and the lemon extracts but it was a tasty, positive and fun experiment. Thanks for sharing your talents!
Made these today, and they are good!
I made a similar recipe to yours and I found the cookies to be chalky tasting. Is that typical for cassava flour or was mine old? I really wanted them to work. 🙁
This recipe sounds great. But I’m confused, I thought cassava is only consumed cooked, because of the high level of cyanide. Is the frosting with raw cassava flour?
All cassava flour has the root (where the cyanide is) removed. It is also batch tested to make sure it is safe.
Would coconut oil work for this recipe?
Amazing! My teen says they are the best I’ve ever made- high praise instead! I used coconut butter because we have no shortening. Thanks for the recipe.
Could I use coconut sugar instead of maple sugar?
I rarely comment, but these are good–they are even good by non-gluten free standards. Thanks! I feel like I can enjoy Christmas cookie traditions again.
Hi, I just wanted to let you know I’m in the process of making christmas cookies and as I have a lot of allergies I’ve been gathering AIP recipes. I noticed that a different blogger took this recipe and is using it as her own (with the addition of Jam instead of icing) and just wanted to let you know. The link is http://www.flashfictionkitchen.com/linzer-torte-trolls/
Will be baking these shortly, I’m sure they’re great!
I wonder if using an AIP gelatin egg in this recipe would work? Just to add some extra protein\nutrition element to it. Anyone tried that?
I didn’t have any palm
Shortening, so I used coconut oil. They turned out delicious. Fresh out of the oven they seemed like they were going to fall apart, but once they cooled they were great! They have this amazing texture that seems almost like a shortbread at first but then they almost melt in your mouth. Delicious! I didn’t even try the frosting yet bc the cookies are so good by themselves
Trying this recipe ahead of time for the Holiday Baking Season!! Thanks for sharing.