Date Sweetened Cinnamon Cookies (Gluten Free, SCD, GAPS friendly)

I just tried a little experiment and I'm pretty happy with the results.  I do quite a bit of baking around here and like to have cookies and baked goods to throw into the kids' school lunches but I don't want to load them up on sugar, even natural sugar or honey (which is all we're using right now).  Eva likes dates and has used date butter (just equal parts butter and dates processed together) on top of her occasional breakfast oatmeal but my boys don't care for them normally.  But I just tried two experiments with dates and both worked out well and are very popular with the boys!  One is peanut butter balls rolled in flaked coconut (containing peanut butter, dates, flaked coconut, coconut flour, and coconut oil) and the other were cinnamon cookies. 

The cookies are not very sweet but are tasty.  If you're kids are used to refined sugar and flour then these may not go over so well... Here is the recipe!

1 1/2 cup dates (loose dates, nothing added)
1 cup almonds (soaked and dried)
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup coconut flour
3 tbs soft butter or coconut oil
2 eggs
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla (optional)
pinch sea salt

Preheat oven to 350.   Put all ingredients into food processor and process until dates and almonds are well ground and mixture is a dough consistency.  Shape into small balls and place on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Flatten with the heel of your palm (or you could use the back of a greased spoon, etc...).  Bake 12-14 min.  Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Best Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookies (honey sweetened)

I've tweaked this recipe a couple of times and I think I will stick to this recipe.  They're very good and makes a large batch which for my family it's a waste of time making small batches of anything!   All the kids like them.  Here's the recipe:

2 cups natural peanut butter (I used smooth, crunchy would be good too)
1 cup softened butter
1 cup honey
3 eggs

Beat together very well.  Then add the following:

1 cup arrowroot flour
1/2 coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda

Beat well, scraping the sides of the bowl.  Shape into small balls and place on cookie sheet, flatten with a fork in criss cross fashion.  Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 for 10-12 minutes until edges brown a little.  You may have to let them cool a bit before removing from the pan.


As soon as they're cool enough I wrap some up and throw them in the freezer so they don't all get eaten up.  That way I still have something for school lunches, which comes in handy if I get behind in baking or low in groceries etc...  If you are doing SCD or GAPS I would just omit the arrowroot and increase the coconut flour to 1 cup and add an extra egg.  The texture will be a bit heavier  but they'll still be delicious.

Oh, and a glass of cold and creamy raw milk would sure come in handy about the time you're taking a pan of these out of the oven!