It's strawberry picking season in Southern California and although we know you likely don't have trouble eating those red morsels of goodness, we cooked up a recipe to use with those extra berries you have sitting in the fridge! The best part? This recipe is clean eating friendly- that's right, no gluten, no refined sugars, no eggs, and no grains! And easy would be an understatement! It's so simple, my daughters helped me with the very few steps, and of course helped devour them afterwards! So, if you are wanting a dentist approve cookie recipe, well here it is my friends. My girls and I are Berry Sure (see what I did there LOL) you will enjoy it!
Ingredients Needed
* Please note this recipe is unfortunately Not Nut Free
1 1/2 Cups of Almond Flour
1/2 Cup of Diced Strawberries
1/4 Cup of Pure Maple Syrup
1 Tsp Arrowroot Powder
1 Lemon
Strawberry Lemonade Gluten Free Cookie Recipe
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. You will first want to use a zester to zest your lemon. Place your lemon zest in a mixing bowl and then cut the lemon in half. Juice your lemon and pour the juice (discarding the seeds) into a small cooking pan. Place your diced strawberries in the cooking pan as well and cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly or about 3-5 minutes or until the strawberries are very soft and mushy. Now add your arrowroot powder and stir together over the heat for one full minute. You should now have a fairly thick/gooey strawberry mixture. Turn off the stove now and add the contents of the pan into the mixing bowl, using a spatula to make sure you get all the contents into the bowl. Using a fork, mash the strawberries and lemon zest together until the mixture is very smooth and little to no chunky pieces of strawberry remain.
You can use a small bender to achieve this however I don't like doing dishes so I use the least amount of supplies necessary.... #truth . Once your mixture is ready you will then add the remaining ingredients - almond flour and maple syrup. Mix well to combine all ingredients.
Once mixture is well combined place the dough in plastic wrap or a container and place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes to slightly harden and lose its tackiness. Remove the dough from the freezer and, using your palms, make small circles and place them on a lined cookie sheet. You can use a cookie cutter but the dough will be a little sticky so you may need to use more almond flour.... I didn't mind if my cookies weren't all too fancy so I went with the hand method and it went quickly. The dough will not rise so keep that in mind - the shape you make is the shape you will get once baked!
Now all that's left to do is bake! Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, watching closely after the 8 minute mark as almond flour cookies tend to burn quickly. After the cookies are ready (very slight browning around the edges) remove from the oven and let them cool and harden on the cookie sheet.
Do not.... I repeat Do Not try to take them off right away as the cookies are fairly soft and you may just end up with a bunch of strawberry cookie crumbs (which I suppose would not be the worst thing in the world)!
Once cooled, serve them up and enjoy! And of course, be sure to smile about the fact that these cookies are healthy and Dentist Approved!! As you will see the nutrition facts below you are getting most of your calories from the almond flour which also packs in a little protein as well, while most of the sugar comes from the maple syrup. The maple syrup is a source of carbohydrates/sugar, but it is natural and non refined so it is a lot more stable for your body and mind!
Nutrition Facts:
Serving Size 1 cookie (Recipe makes about 12 cookies)
Calories: 100
Fat: 5 g
Sodium: 1g
Sugars: 6 g
Protein: 4g
Author
Dr. Mikaeya Kalantari has been a practicing pediatric dentist for over 7 years working in both the children's hospital setting and private practice. She has had a wealth of experience treating children of all ages, and medical conditions. When it comes to serving children, she feels the importance of communication between the dentist and parent can not be emphasized enough. Dr. Kalantari practices in her family owned dental office in Mission Viejo, California.
