Agave Holiday Cookies

It's holiday time, and with Christmas just around the corner, the baking has begun. We have several ingredient issues in our family; This Sister can't eat sugar, That Son can't eat dairy, This Blogger can't eat gluten, soy, or dairy, and it wouldn't hurt her to avoid sugar as well. SO, when my friend asked if I had a sugar free sugar cookie recipe that she could make with her grandkids, I was more than motivated to see what I could find. 

I scoured all my allergy-friendly cookbooks before turning to my new Almond Flour (by Beverly Lynn Bennett) cookbook. With some tweaking, Cut-Out Sugar Cookies has become "Agave Holiday Cookies". They are good plain, with frosting, with a dusting of sugar sprinkles (that and frosting kind of defeat the purpose... but...) and with a candy cane window. They roll out well, and bake up nicely. If you, or someone you love, has dietary issues, I'd encourage you to try these cut-out cookies. 

2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Becel Vegan margarine
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Whisk together almond flour, coconut flour, arrowroot starch and salt. With a silicone spatula, mix in margarine, agave nectar and vanilla. Mix well. When all ingredients are well combined, divide into 2 parts and wrap each with plastic wrap. Refrigerate about an hour to chill.

Meanwhile, cover your cutting board over with plastic wrap and preheat the oven to 325*F. When dough is chilled, place half at a time on wrapped cutting board, cover with a second large piece of plastic wrap and roll between the plastic with a rolling pin to 1/4-1/2 inch thickness. Make shapes with cookie cutters. Transfer to parchment lined baking sheet with a flat silicone lifter. Decorate with coloured sprinkles, raisins or nuts if desired.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, depending on thickness, until light golden brown. Let stand on baking sheet for 3-5 minutes before removing to wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

* To make candy cane windows, cut a smaller shape in the centre of a large cut-out cookie. Fill the smaller shape with crushed candy canes or crushed clear, coloured hard candy. Fill the window generously as the candy shrinks when melted. Bake as directed above.