Holiday Cookie Lists

It’s that time when everyone is on a baking frenzy and throwing together every kind of holiday cookie they can think of. Or maybe that’s just me? : ) Either way, here’s a list of my holiday cookie recipes to give you a few ideas to try. All of these are gluten free but can be easily substituted with regular flour. Each one should have a link to the original recipe. We will be baking a TON of these and maybe even some new recipes to give as gifts to family, loved ones, neighbors and even strangers! I’m always up for a new challenge or recipe ideas so if you have any you’d like to see, send them my way! Happy holiday baking!!

Molasses Almond Butter Cookies

Maple Pecan Cookies

Cookies

Gingerbread Cookies

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Maple Pecan Cookies

Molasses Almond Butter Cookies

Candy

Lavender-Lemon Chocolate Truffles

Mint-Hazelnut Chocolates

Cinnamon Orange Candied Pecans

Baked Goods

Hello Dolly Bars

Homemade Twix Bars

Peanut Butter Cookie Bars

Cranberry Currant Persimmon Bars

Mini Banana Mango Bread Loaves

Gingerbread Cookies

Lemon Lavender Truffles

Cinnamon Orange Candied Pecans

Molasses Almond Butter Cookies

I have been struggling to create a flat, crispy cookie that has that outside crunch but also a soft chewy middle. My husband likes his cookies soft, barely cooked! I prefer mine a little crunchier that you can dip in milk. This cookie turned out the best possible combination that I could imagine. The molasses gives the cookies a little extra kick but it complements the almond butter nicely. Peanut butter would be a fine substitution if you didn’t want to use almond butter. No molasses – substitute a little honey or maple syrup. You could also adjust your brown sugar amounts to make the recipe work without molasses.

½ cup almond butter

½ cup coconut oil
1/3 cup stevia
1/3 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ tsp xanthan gum
1 ½ cup GF all purpose flour

• In a large mixing bowl, combine almond butter and oil. Blend on low speed until combined. Add in egg, stevia, sugar, molasses and vanilla.
• Blend on low speed and slowly add in flour, soda, salt, xanthan gum. Continue mixing until dough is well combined.
• Form dough into 1” cookie balls and place on a greased cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Press cookies down with a fork in crisscross pattern if desired.
• Bake at 375°F for 10-13 minutes or until edges start to brown.
• Let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Store in a sealed container.

Homemade Twix Bars

I have two favorite candy bars, Twix and Reese’s. Before my health problems, I would buy the bags of the bite size bars for holidays (Easter, Christmas, etc). I always had to buy two bags at least because I knew I would eat one bag before I could give them away. Of course, we don’t have candy at the house now. One day I decided we would have a little cheat day and I would make my own Twix bars. They turned out great! I will also give you a heads up – I will be posting homemade gluten free peanut butter cookies (similar to the Girl Scout Peanut Butter Patties). Those are equally fantastic!

1 package of cookie mix (sugar or shortbread preferably – I used Bob’s Red Mill Shortbread)

¼ cup coconut oil
½ cup applesauce or yogurt
1 large egg
¼ cup water
¾ cup caramel sauce (store bought or made with ½ package of Kraft caramels, melted)
½ cup chocolate chips
1 Tbsp almond milk

• Mix together cookie mix, oil, applesauce, egg and water until mix is well combined and crumbly. It will look very dry – this is fine.
• In a greased 9x13 baking pan, press cookie dough until it covers the bottom of the pan. Try to make the cookie dough as level as possible in the bottom of the pan.
• Bake the cookie dough at 350°F for about 10 minutes or until just slightly browned along edges.
• While your cookie is baking, make your caramel sauce or just warm up over low heat in a saucepan. Once the cookie has finished baking, pour over caramel sauce. Let set for about 20 minutes.
• Melt chocolate chips and almond milk together either over the stove or in microwave according to your chocolate chip package instructions. Pour chocolate sauce over caramel cookie. Let this set for about 20 minutes.
• Cut into pieces and serve. Cover and refrigerate leftovers.
• NOTE: I froze my bars instead of letting them cool for 20 minutes. We also liked eating them cold.
• Also – you can bake your cookies according to package instructions if desired – I just lightened ours up a bit.
• This recipe will cover a 9x13 pan, but we ended up just using a 9x5 bread pan and also made some plain cookies, it all depends on how much you want to make!