If you are looking for delicious gluten free cookie for a cookie exchange or if you’re just looking to fill up your dessert trays this holiday season, then look no further. These cranberry cookies are light and chewy and taste like shortbread. And, they taste even better the next day! I love the POP of sweetness and the color from the dried cranberries. These cookies are perfect for festive celebrations.
🤷 Why Choose Gluten Free Cookies?
Allergies are everywhere these days. When you are visiting or having guests over, it’s nice to offer allergen free options to people who have dietary restrictions. Gluten free cookies are typically made with rice flour, oat flour, or almond flour. A lot of recipes use an all purpose gluten free flour. All work really well and taste great depending on the recipe and ingredients, but these cranberry cookies use almond flour as a base, which besides being gluten free, also adds a slightly nutty flavor.
🛒 Ingredients You’ll Need
Let’s take a look at what’s in these yummy cookies! We’re talking SIMPLE ingredients! I love using a coarse salt in these dried cranberry cookies. I highly recommend using gray salt in this cookie recipe. It’s also known as Celtic Sea salt and comes from France. The gray color comes from the clay that lines saltwater ponds and is full of magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, manganese, zinc and iodine. With this recipe, you can use butter or coconut oil. Coconut oil works well for those observing a vegan diet and also provides a delicious taste! Coconut and cranberry taste fantastic together! I prefer using dried cranberries with this recipe instead of fresh cranberries. The dried cranberries provide a bit of texture to these sugar cookies and add just enough tang for an amazing after taste with each bite!
📋 Step-by-Step Recipe Instructions
The thing I love most about these cranberry cookies is how super easy they are to put together. If you already have the liquid coconut oil, it makes things even easier! Start off by preheating the oven to 350°F. Then, line a cookie cookie sheet with parchment paper. Grab a large mixing bowl and stir together the almond flour, baking powder, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, and vanilla. Stir well until a nice dough forms. Next, fold in the dried cranberries with a spatula or a wooden spoon so the cranberries are evenly distributed into the cookie dough. Using your hands, roll the dough forming them into 1 to 2 inch balls. Place the balls on the lined cookie sheet and firmly press down to flatten into cookies. Expert Tip: Lightly press any extra or loose cranberries into the top of dough. This makes them super pretty! These cranberry cookies don’t spread very much, but you should space them out about ½ to 1 inch apart. Once all the cookies have been formed, flattened, and placed, bake them for 8-10 minutes. And voila! You have yourself some amazingly festive cranberry cookies!!
While I love the taste and texture of using gray salt in this recipe, you can also use kosher or Himalayan salt. Check out the difference between Kosher, sea, pink, and grey salt here.You can buy fractionated coconut oil in the same aisle as olive oil in a lot of grocery stores. Fractionated means the oil has been divided and only the liquid component remains.This dough doesn’t spread out while baking so shape your cookies how you want them. I like to roll them into a ball then flatten them into a nice round disc. Rinse your hands between and leave them damp for a smooth finish.If you don’t want to use your hands to form the dough into balls, use a small butter scoop. Just form the mixture into a small ball, and then release the dough onto the lined cookie sheet.If you love nuts, try adding in some chopped pistachios or pecans.Store these cookies in a glass or plastic container with a tight fitting lid on the counter top. These cranberry cookies will keep for 5-7 days.If you want to take it a step further you can even make your own dried cranberries! You don’t need a dehydrator or any fancy equipment either. Making your own dried cranberries is a fun holiday project!
🍪 More Gluten Free Cookies
If you’re looking for more cookie recipes then you’re going to LOVE these! My Almond & Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies are sweet, chewy bites of goodness that are gluten free and grain free. Are you a fan of banana bread? If so, these Banana Bread Breakfast Cookies are easy to make, super healthy, and are perfect for breakfast! And these Ginger Almond Cookies are sweet and slightly spicy. Using almond flour adds so much flavor and provides an allergy friendly gluten free cookie.
Update Notes: This post was originally published in December 2018, but was re-published with updated instructions and pictures in April 2021.
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