Almond flour and coconut flour make for the BEST gluten free sugar cookies with slightly crispy edges and soft, chewy centres. Preparation is a no brainer – once your dough is mixed, roll out and chill before cutting into shape for cookies that don’t spread in the oven. | Gluten Free + Dairy Free Option
Since it’s pretty clear to me that you guys LOVE almond flour cookies (my almond flour chocolate chip cookies are a good testimony to that) these almond flour sugar cookies felt like a natural fit to make this December.
These cookies are:
✔️ soft and chewy on the inside
✔️ crisp and crunchy on the outside
✔️ 100% grain/ gluten free – made with a combination of almond flour and coconut flour
✔️ sweet and buttery without being too over-the-top
✔️ the perfect bake to make this holiday season
How to Make these Almond Flour Sugar Cookies
Prep for these almond flour sugar cookies can be broken down into three main steps:
- Make the dough – Beat together the butter and sugar, then add the egg, yolk and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients then mix until a soft dough forms.
- Roll & chill – Once you’ve got your dough, divide it between two sections and roll on a piece of baking paper until it’s about 1/4 inch thick. Stack the rolled dough on top of each other then chill in the fridge.
- Cut & bake – After chilling your dough, cut into shapes and then bake in the oven. Make sure you leave at least an inch of space in between each cookie. They won’t spread too much, but leave a little room to be safe.
Cookie Questions
Why roll then chill?
I learned this tip from Sally’s Baking Addiction while looking through here sugar cookies recipe.
Two reasons:
- It’s easier! If you were to chill your dough before you roll it, the dough would be much more difficult to roll because it’s so cold. Rolling it first while room temp is fast and painless.
- In my testing I found that cookies that came from rolled then chilled dough kept shape in the oven much better.
Can I skip the coconut flour or replace it with something else?
I don’t recommend swapping or skipping the coconut flour here. The coconut flour is important for achieving the slightly soft texture and the easy to roll out dough. Without any coconut flour to balance out the almond your cookies will be much harder and crisper. While they may still taste great, they’re not what you’re usually looking for when it comes to sugar cookies.
If you’re interested in a more classic sugar cookie recipe I recommend you check out my Gluten Free Sugar Cookies – they are vegan friendly and require no chill time!
Can I make these dairy free?
You can use a dairy free butter in place of the butter if you wish to make these dairy free. Coconut oil will also work to an extent but your dough will likely spread more in the oven so it’s not ideal.
Freeze for Later
Yes! You can freeze both the baked cookies and unbaked cookies.
- To freeze the dough: freeze it separated in two sections before rolling them dough out. Make sure to wrap up the dough tight in plastic wrap and then seal the wrapped dough in a freezer safe bag. Dough will keep well in the freezer for 3 months. To defrost, leave the dough in the fridge overnight to thaw. Once thawed, roll out the dough and proceed with the recipe normally from there.
- To freeze the baked cookies: I recommend freezing the cookies unfrosted. Once fully cooled place the cookies on a baking sheet you can fit in the freezer. Place in the freezer until solid and then transfer the cookies to a bag or Tupperware container – place a small sheet of baking parchment in between each cookie to prevent cookies from freezing together. Cookies will keep up to 3 months in the freezer.
Final Tips
Chilling the dough is mandatory.
- This is an essential step. If you don’t chill your dough for a long enough time, your cookies will spread too much in the oven. Still delicious, but not great for sugar cookies.
Watch your cookies closely towards the end of their bake time.
- Almond flour browns quickly. These cookies can easily go from pale white to golden brown in NO time. Make sure you keep an eye on your cookies towards the end so that you can pull them out at the right time. The darker the cookies the crispier they will be so keep that in mind too so you can get the right texture for you.
Flour your surface with a cheap flour.
- Almond and coconut flour can be pricey and possibly difficult to buy depending on where you live. Instead of using almond or coconut flour to dust your surfaces (to prevent sticking as you roll things out) use a cheaper flour like all purpose gluten free flour or rice flour.
If you’re interested in more ways to decorate these cookies – make sure to check out my (egg free) vegan royal icing recipe!
Enjoy!
Almond Flour Sugar Cookies
Almond flour and coconut flour make for the BEST gluten free sugar cookies with slightly crispy edges and soft, chewy centres. Preparation is a no brainer - once your dough is mixed, roll out and chill before cutting into shape for cookies that don't spread in the oven.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup | 113 g butter, salted or unsalted, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup | 150 g white caster sugar
- 2 teaspoons | 10 ml vanilla extract
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 2 3/4 cups | 265 g almond flour
- 1/3 cup | 37 g coconut flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Optional Buttercream Frosting
- 1/2 cup | 113 g butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup powdered/icing sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon milk - add if you need a thinner, easier to spread frosting
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, with an electric or stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar on high until smooth and creamy - about 2 minutes.
- Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract and beat another 1 minute.
- Add the dry ingredients: almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder and salt and mix until a soft, slightly sticky dough forms.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts. Place each section of dough on a lightly floured (see note) piece of baking paper and roll out into 1/4 inch thickness. Transfer one of the roll out sections of rolled out cookie dough to a large baking sheet. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour, then carefully place the second section of rolled out dough on top and cover with plastic wrap or foil. Place the dough in the fridge and leave to chill for at least 45 minutes and up to two days.
- Once fully chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Line or lightly grease a couple of large baking sheets. Remove the top section of dough from the bottom and place each section on a flat surface. Begin cutting your dough into shapes with your cookie cutters and carefully transfer to your prepared baking sheets. Leave about an inch of space in between each cookie. Re-roll and continue cutting the cookies from the leftover scrapes until all your dough is used up.
- Place each tray in the oven and bake for 9-11 minutes until the edges and lightly goldened. Keep in mind that smaller cookies will bake closer to 9-10 minutes and larger cookies will bake in 10-11 minutes. Almond flour browns quickly so watch your cookies towards the end.
- Enjoy your cookies as is or frost with your choice of icing or frosting. Baked cookies will keep 1-2 weeks.
Optional Buttercream Frosting
- Beat together the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the vanilla extract. If your frosting feels too thick and difficult to spread, add 1 teaspoons vanilla extract.
Notes
- Almond and coconut flour can be pricey and possibly difficult to buy depending on where you live. Instead of using almond or coconut flour to dust your surfaces (to prevent sticking as you roll things out) use a cheaper flour like all purpose gluten free flour or rice flour.
- Vegan Royal Icing Recipe
Make it Vegan
- Replace the egg + egg yolk with 1/4 cup almond milk (or non dairy milk of your choice).
- Use vegan butter in place of dairy butter.
Lorraine says
Would this cookie, if made larger, be good for the crust of a fruit pizza?
Or maybe 2 pizza crusts?
Sarah Nevins says
Oooh! You know, I’m not sure! I have a feeling that it would work, but I’m not positive without testing it first. Now that you’ve asked though I’m going to test this out soon and see. Sorry I can’t be more help sooner – I just don’t want to steer you wrong!
Jeanette Blair says
Can I switch out the caster sugar for Monk Fruit sugar (do I need cornstarch then)
Thanks
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Jeanette! I’m afraid I’m not sure – technically monk fruit sugar hasn’t been approved to sell in the UK so I can’t get it very easily (crazy, I know!). That being said, I have had quite a few people use monk sugar in place of regular sugar in my almond flour chocolate chip cookie recipe and it seems to work well in that which makes me think it might here too.
Sorry I couldn’t be more help here!
Alyse Butler says
I made them with Monkfruit and they turned out AMAZING! 🥰😍🙏🏻
Sarah Nevins says
Ooh – great to know! Thanks Alyse!
Teresa says
I use monk sugar instead of regular sugar and I’ve never added anything else to the recipe, just made the switch…
Sarah Nevins says
Thanks, Teresa! I struggle to find monk fruit so that’s really helpful to know!
Linds says
Turned out pretty good. Tasted fine. Just a little too soft for me. I like them with more crunch. Thanks for submitting the recipe
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Linds! If you’d like the cookies to be more crispy your could use 2 tablespoons coconut flour/14 g (instead of 1/3 cup) and 3 cups/288 g almond flour. The coconut flour is what makes for a softer texture so if you reduce that you’ll get a bit more crunch.
At any rate – so glad you enjoyed them!
Tammy says
If I don’t have coconut flour what can I use?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Tammy! You could increase the almond flour to 3 cups (288 g). The cookies will come out crispier without the coconut flour though. Alternatively you could try using oat flour instead of coconut. I haven’t tried it with this recipe yet, but I have made similar recipes with oat flour as a sub. Hope that helps!
coco says
great cookies! I did add a tiny bit of gf flour at end to make batter a bit less sticky and floured paper w gf flour also. kids love them, without the icing. thank you!
Sarah Nevins says
So glad you guys enjoyed them! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know what you thought!
Chaitali says
Hi. Is it possible to make this recipe egg free?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Chaitali! Sorry it’s taken me a few days to get back to you – I wanted to test this out first before I got back to you.
You can swap out the egg + egg yolk with 1/4 cup (60 ml) milk! I used almond milk and they came out really well! The only thing I noticed is that the dough was a little bit more delicate before baking, but that could just be because it’s so hot right now that the butter in the dough was more sensitive to the heat. Also make sure that you grease your baking sheet well or line with baking paper as they were a little more tricky getting off the sheet. Other than that, there’s no discernible difference in taste, texture or look!
Beth says
Hi again Sarah, They came out fine. My dough was a little too wet to handle at first so I added about 1/3 cup of GF flour. I suspect the extra moisture came from the almond flour I used. I had about a cup of older AF that I decided to use up, added new Bob’s Red Mill AF with it, but I noticed the older stuff seemed more moist than the new. Or it could have been the size of the eggs I used. I also rolled, cut and then chilled before baking, made the dough easier for me to handle. My gluten-free family members will be happy with these. Thank you 😊
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Beth! Yeah – almond flour can be tricky sometimes. It seems like each brand of flours varies so much! I suspect you’re right about the older/new flour. It sounds like the older flour might have been denser and heavier with moire moisture. I also find that the most accurate way I can bake with it is by using a scale to weigh it out.
So glad it worked out for you – thanks so much for coming back to let me know what you thought! 🙂
Beth says
Hi Sarah, okay, thank you. I am mixing them up right now. I see that the ingredients list says baking soda, but in your directions you say baking powder. I am going to assume the list is correct and go with the soda. Will let you know how they turn out. 😊
Sarah Nevins says
Sorry about that Beth! It’s fixed now – thanks for pointing that out to me!
Beth says
I like the recipe, would like to try it, but can’t access the reviews and can’t find anything indicating how many cookies (approx) the recipe makes?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Beth! It’s a newish recipe so there aren’t many reviews yet and no written reviews (readers can leave star ratings without writing out a full review which is why the current rating shows three reviews at 4.7 stars). As for the amount of cookies – you should be able to see that at the top left hand corner of the recipe card just above the title. You should be able to get about 15-20 cookies. The total amount of cookies just depends on how large your cookie cutters are. Hope that helps!