By now, you’ve all seen them, those cute little girls standing outside just about every local business in their adorable uniforms, selling their boxes of cookies – yes, it’s Girl Scout Cookie time!

For anyone who has sworn off those gluten and sugar filled “treats”, this time of year can be rough. Let’s be honest, while the cookies are definitely not good for you, they are really, really, really tasty! Lucky for you, Tammy over at The Healthy GF Life created a couple Paleo-friendly versions of two of the most popular cookies – Thin Mints and Samoas.

Enjoy!

Delightfully crunchy, chocolaty and minty cookies that will remind you of the real thing!

Paleo Skinny Mint Cookies
Yields 60

Dry Ingredients

  1. 1-¼ cups almond flour
  2. ½ cup coconut flour, sifted
  3. 2 TBSP arrowroot starch
  4. ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  5. ¼ tsp sea salt

Wet Ingredients

  1. ½ cup pure maple syrup
  2. 1 large egg
  3. ½ tsp pure peppermint extract
  4. ¼ cup coconut oil, melted

Coating

  1. ¾ cup chopped dark chocolate (or Enjoy Life Chocolate Morsels or Equal Exchange Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips)
  2. 2 oz unsweetened 100% cacao chocolate (I use this to cut down on the sugar, but you can use additional chocolate chips/chopped chocolate if you’d like)
  3. ½ tsp pure peppermint extract

Instructions

  1. Place the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
  2. Add the wet ingredients, except the coconut oil, to the dry. Blend with a hand mixer.
  3. With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the coconut oil. Mix well.
  4. Place the dough on a large sheet of plastic wrap. Using the plastic wrap as a guide, shape the dough into a 1¾-inch diameter log. (You can divide the dough into thirds to make it easier.) Wrap tightly and freeze until very firm, about 2 hours.
  5. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  6. Remove dough from the freezer and slice into ¼-inch-thick rounds.
  7. Place the rounds on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake 12-14 minutes, rotating trays part way, or until centers are firm to the touch and the edges start to brown slightly.
  8. Remove trays from oven. Remove cookies from trays and cool completely on wire racks.
  9. Meanwhile, melt the coating ingredients in the top of a double boiler over simmering water, stirring until smooth.
  10. Using 2 forks, dip each cookie in the chocolate coating, scraping off any excess along the edge of the bowl. (If there is such a thing as excess chocolate!)
  11. Return cookies to the parchment-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate until chocolate sets, about 30 minutes to 1 hour. Store cookies in an airtight container in the fridge up to 5 days, or in the freezer up to 3 months.

Notes

  1. This recipe makes a lot, so feel free to cut it in half, but I really recommend making the entire batch and rolling the dough into two or three logs. Then you can freeze the spare logs and have cookies ready in no time whenever a craving or special occasion arises!

 

 

Paleo Some-More-Ahhs from TheHealthyGFLife

Gluten free, grain free, dairy free*, soy free, paleo, primal

Paleo Some-More-Ahh’s
Yields 12

For the Cookie

   Dry Ingredients

  1. 2 cups almond flour
  2. ½ cup unsweetened, finely shredded coconut
  3. ½ tsp baking soda

   Wet Ingredients

  1. ¼ cup pure maple syrup
  2. 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
  3. 1 egg
  4. 3 TBSP coconut oil, melted

For the Caramel

  1. 1 cup coconut crystals (aka Palm Sugar/Coconut Sugar)
  2. ¼ cup coconut nectar
  3. ½ cup full-fat coconut milk
  4. 1∕3 cup butter (*optional)

For the Tops

  1. ½ cup unsweetened
  2. finely shredded coconut
  3. ½ cup chopped dark chocolate
  4. 1 oz unsweetened dark chocolate, chopped (I use this to cut down on the sugar, but you can use more dark chocolate if you’d like)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  2. Make the cookies. Place the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
  3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and blend well with a hand mixer. Cover and refrigerate dough 15 minutes.
  4. Scoop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough onto two parchment-lined baking sheets. Place six cookies on each tray, as they will spread a little.
  5. Bake 12-13 minutes, or until golden brown,rotating trays part way through. Cool cookies on trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  6. Lower oven heat to 300°F.
  7. Meanwhile, make the caramel. Place the caramel ingredients in a medium saucepan and stir to combine.
  8. Heat over medium-high heat, boiling until mixtures reaches 250°F on a candy thermometer (about 20 minutes).
  9. Remove from the heat and let cool about 10 minutes.
  10. Meanwhile, make the toppings. Toast the coconut by spreading it out in a thin layer on a baking sheet and baking in the 300°F oven 10-15 minutes, stirring every few minutes to help it toast evenly.
  11. Place all the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water and stir until almost melted. Remove from the heat and stir until completely melted and smooth.
  12. To assemble cookies, place a small spoonful of caramel on top of each cookie. Top with a sprinkle of toasted coconut. Let cool.
  13. Dip the bottom of each cookie in chocolate. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet to set. Then drizzle the tops with chocolate. Let cookies sit about 1 hour for the chocolate to fully set up.
  14. Enjoy! Store in an airtight container up to 5 days, or in the freezer up to 3 months.

 

Both recipes courtesy of The Healthy GF Life with Tammy Credicott

Adapted from the book Paleo Indulgences