I’m laying on our couch watching Tony eat a huge plate my vegan tofu nachos. The best part is that he has no idea that I made them with a healthy cheese sauce made from nuts, or that the ‘meat’ is actually tofu. This is exactly why I love doing what I do: helping people eat healthier and more nutritious without sacrificing taste.
And sometimes you need a cookie that’s the best of both worlds: both sweet and a little more nutritious.
I’d like you to meet my gorgeous fat little grain free snickerdoodles. They’re soft, dairy free, have chewy centers & crispy edges, and are basically THE MOST ADDICTING COOKIE RECIPE EVER! They make your house smell like a delicious cinnamon sugar cookie candle from Bath and Body Works. Trust me, Santa will not be disappointed.
These healthy snickerdoodles are based on my favorite gluten free sugar cookie recipe and come together in ONE BOWL. That’s right, you’ll have one of these snickerdoodles in your belly in less than 20 minutes.
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Ingredients you’ll need
This easy gluten-free snickerdoodle recipe is naturally sweetened but the cookies taste like the real deal snickerdoodles you know and love. Dairy-free and paleo-friendly, too! Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- Flours: we’re using a mix of almond flour and coconut flour to keep these snickerdoodles gluten free & grain free.
- Spices: you’ll add good old cinnamon to perfectly spice these gluten free snickerdoodles.
- Sweeteners: we’re naturally sweetening these snickerdoodles with a bit of pure maple syrup and coconut sugar.
- Wet ingredients: you’ll also need coconut oil and an egg to give these grain free snickerdoodles the perfect amount of moisture.
- Baking staples: don’t forget to add vanilla, baking soda, cream of tartar (which makes the cookies taste like snickerdoodles) and a pinch of salt to help them bake up properly!
- For rolling: I love rolling the dough in a little organic cane sugar + cinnamon to give the snickerdoodles a pretty, festive look.
Using cream of tartar in snickerdoodles
I know it seems like a strange ingredient, but cream of tartar is something that differentiates snickerdoodles from all other cookies. It gives snickerdoodles an amazing, soft texture because it prevents the sugar from crystallizing, and it reacts with the baking soda to make them puffy and delicious. Cream of tartar also has a very slight acidic flavor that pairs with the sugar and that you’ll find in traditional snickerdoodles.
Easy ingredient swaps
Missing a few things or want to customize these gluten free snickerdoodles? Here’s what I recommend:
- For the coconut oil: feel free to use melted butter. I personally LOVE using melted salted butter in these.
- For the coconut sugar: the coconut sugar keeps the snickerdoodles paleo, but you can also use regular sugar if you prefer!
- For the maple syrup: feel free to use honey instead, or just add another tablespoon or two of sugar.
Can I use all purpose flour?
Unfortunately, no, I would not recommend using all purpose flour in these grain free snickerdoodles. If you’re looking to use all purpose flour, try one of these cookies instead:
- Brown Butter Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
- Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Snickerdoodles
- Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies
Can I make them vegan?
I haven’t tested this recipe using an egg replacer, but I’ve seen in the comments that other readers have used a flax egg with success! Let me know if you try it.
Tips & tricks for the best gluten free snickerdoodles
- Use room temperature ingredients. Use a room temp egg and cooled coconut oil so that your wet ingredients don’t coagulate. You can simply place your egg in warm water for 3-5 minutes and wait for your coconut oil to become room temp after melting it.
- Let your dough rest. After you’ve mixed your wet & dry ingredients together let your dough sit for about 5 minutes to let it thicken up.
- Flatten the cookie dough balls so that they’re about 1/4 inch thick after placing them on your cookie sheet. Because these are grain & gluten free snickerdoodles, they won’t spread as much as regular ones.
- Bake until barely golden brown. They’re delicious slightly underbaked and we don’t want dry snickerdoodles!
How to freeze grain free snickerdoodles
Good news: these grain & gluten free snickerdoodles are freezer-friendly! There are two ways to do it:
- Freeze the dough: roll the snickerdoodle cookie dough into balls and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill the dough in the freezer for 30 minutes. Once the cookie dough balls firm up, you can transfer them to a reusable freezer-safe bag or container. Cookie dough will keep well for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, simply bake the cookies as directed. You may just need a few extra minutes of baking time.
- Freeze already baked grain free snickerdoodles: wait for the snickerdoodles to cool completely, then transfer them to a reusable freezer-safe bag or container lined with wax or parchment paper. I like to place them in a single layer to avoid any cookies breaking. Cookies will keep well for up to 2 months. Once ready to eat, simply thaw out at room temperature and enjoy.
More cookie recipes you’ll love
- Grain Free Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
- Grain Free Chocolate Orange Pinwheels
- Soft Brown Butter Ginger Cookies with Lovely Lemon Icing
- Mint Chocolate Cookies with Mint Frosting
- Grain Free Gingerdoodle Cookies
Get all of my cookie recipes here!
I hope you love these easy grain free snickerdoodles! If you make them be sure to leave a comment & a rating so I know how you liked them. Enjoy, xo!
Grain Free Snickerdoodles
The softest grain free snickerdoodles with hints of warm cinnamon and sugar in every bite. These easy, grain and gluten free snickerdoodles are paleo-friendly, too, and made with a mix of almond flour and coconut flour. This will be your new go-to healthy snickerdoodle recipe!
Ingredients
- Wet ingredients:
- ¼ cup melted and cooled coconut oil or melted butter
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar (or regular sugar)
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (or honey)
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Dry ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups packed fine blanched almond flour
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- For rolling:
- 1/4 cup organic cane sugar (or coconut sugar)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
-
In a medium bowl, add in melted coconut oil or melted butter, sugar, maple syrup, egg, and vanilla. Mix until well combined, smooth and creamy.
-
Next add in almond flour, coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Mix until a dough forms. Allow dough to sit for 5 minutes to thicken up while you make the cinnamon sugar mixture.
-
While dough is sitting, mix together cane sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
-
Use your hands to roll dough into 10 golf-sized balls, then roll each dough ball into cinnamon-sugar mixture until coated completely. Place each dough ball on prepared cookie sheet then flatten each with the palm of your hand so that they are about 1/4th inch thick.
-
Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven, transfer to a wire rack and allow cookies to cool completely. Makes 10 cookies.
Recipe Notes
See the blog post for tips, tricks, ingredient swaps, and cookie freezing instructions.
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on December 5th, 2017, republished on December 16th, 2020, and republished on December 5th, 2022.
70 comments
These look UNBELIEVABLE! Snickerdoodles are my favorite holiday cookies…can’t wait to add these to my cookie tin gifts!
The BEST! I hope you and loved ones all enjoy them 🙂
These look fantastic! We are huge snickerdoodle fans in my house 🙂
So happy to hear that! Hope you get a chance to try these ones 🙂
Think I could use canola oil instead of coconut oil since it’s melted?
I would recommend using butter instead! The canola oil might leave a strange taste in these.
Hi! I love all your receipes :). I am on an elmination diet so I have to avoid the 6 common allergens which is a lot of food! Your recipes have given me and my family great options. Do you have a suggestion for an alternative to almond flour? I cannot have nuts. Thank you so much 🙂
Hi Megan! I’m so glad you’re finding some great recipes in here. Unfortunately, this recipe will require using almond flour as I developed it to be grain free. These chocolate chip cookies are delicious and use chickpea flour!
Holy cow, these look AMAZING! I don’t make snickerdoodles enough, so these are going on the to-bake list!
They’re such an awesome cookie! Enjoy 🙂
I am impressed! I made these with a flax “egg” and they still turned out perfect! Soft, chewy and still fluffy (ish) despite the lack of egg. My go-to gluten free snickerdoodle for sure! Thanks!
So happy to hear that!!
Wow gorgeous today I will make it.
I hope you enjoyed!
Anything I can substitute for the cream of tarter? TIA
You can just leave it out 🙂
Delicious! Easy and quick to make….so much so, I made them twice in one week :-). My husband (who is not grain free) says they are his favorite! Pretty sure these will be in our cookie rotation. Thank you!
Amazing! So happy to hear that, Kirsten. Enjoy!
Is there an easy way to substitute for the egg that you would recommend? We are stuck inside due to a snowy and I want to make these little yummies, but I am out of eggs! Thanks!
You can try using a flax egg (1 tablespoon of flaxseed meal + 3 tablespoons of water) or a chia egg (same but with chia seeds instead of flaxseed meal)!
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Thank you for this recipe—my friend who is gluten and dairy intolerant was so delighted when I made these for her birthday. She never expects baked treats because of all her dietary restrictions and was so excited to have a little something sweet on her special day.
These cookies are beautiful (perfect shape) AND a great consistency. The only thing I noticed: the finishing taste was not very sweet. When you first bite into them, you get the amazing cinnamon/sugar coating, however, the finish of the bite doesn’t seem sweet enough for a cookie. I used coconut sugar—would it have been sweeter with regular, or should I add more sugar? If so, how much would you recommend adding?
I bake a lot and mine came out nothing like the picture! Let me know what you think I did wrong. I used coconut sugar?
I’m not quite sure – I’d have to see your process!
Can you leave out or substitute the coconut flour in this recipe?
I haven’t tried it, let me know if you do!
Can I use granulated no calories instead sugar?
I don’t typically bake with sugar substitutes so I’m not 100% sure how much you’ll need in this recipe.
I love your brown butter snicker doodle recipe… can you use brown butter in this recipe?
YES absolutely!
Made ’em and loved ’em! Friends could not believe they were grain-free.
Could you substitute coconut sugar 1:1? I’d love to make them for a paleo friend.
One of my favorite grain-free cookies! Coconut sugar should work in here 🙂
absolutely the BEST! This is my first time using almond flour and I may never go back to wheat…Thanks!
Amazing!! Try these recipes next 🙂
these snickerdoodles are amazing
Would this recipe okay with a “flax egg” instead of a regular egg to make it vegan?
Nevermind, I see others have tried and it went well! Sorry — I should have clicked “view comments” first! Loving your new website!
No problem! I usually list recommended swaps in the “notes” section, otherwise the comments section is a great place to check. Thank you so much!
Thank you for all your hard work figuring out these wonderful recipes. I am currently on a keto type diet so am doing without grain flour and sugar. I can use stevia and almond flour. I intend to make these cookies (snickerdoodles) soon as they have always been a family fav. Merry Christmas!
You’re so welcome, Janis! Let me know how you like these cookies 🙂 Merry Christmas to you too!
This cookie didn’t pass the cookie test in our house… it had more of a cake like consistency. However, it was a delicious “healthy” treat! And we made it for St Patty’s day (rolled in green sugar) which was fun.
Loved that they weren’t too sweet and was healthy/7 grams of protein in 2 cookies! So if we finished off a batch in a day or two, I knew it wasn’t that bad!
Given that they’re gluten & grain free they will have a slightly different texture than traditional snickerdoodles, but I’m glad everyone still enjoyed them! Love the idea of the green sugar 🙂
One of the best grain free cookie recipes EVER. I’ve made these so many times and they always come out perfect. I always substitute coconut sugar for stevia to make your recipes lower carb, and then I coat these in a little turbinado sugar for crunch. Perfectly soft on the inside!
So happy to hear that! Glad those swaps work out well, too.
I just made these for my family and they absolutely loved them! Great recipe. I needed a change from chocolate chip cookies haha.
Hi can I sub Swerve for either of the sugars?
I don’t bake with alternative sugars so I’m not sure – sorry! I do think they are much sweeter than regular sugar.
These cookies are truly amazing! They came together so easily, and were so soft and yummy! I live in Colorado so I increased the temp by 25 degrees to account for altitude which worked great. They cooked in 10 minutes that way!
Perfect! Glad you loved them 🙂
My fiance tried one and immediately asked if he could have another, so that should say something! Haha 🙂 snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie and these did not disappoint! I love that the centers are a bit gooey while the outside has some crunch. My perfect cookie! I made the recipe exactly as it was written and baked them for 10 minutes.
Amazing! So happy to hear that 🙂
These are delicious!! I omitted the cream of tartar because I didn’t have any and actually forgot to add baking soda and they still came out great! So glad there are a few leftover for me to enjoy into the new year.
I’m glad they still worked out well! Great new year’s treat 🙂
I LOVE Snickerdoodle cookies so thank you for this healthier alternative! Would you please clarify if this recipe makes 10 or 12 cookies? In Step 6, it says 10 cookies. But at the top of the recipe it says it serves 12 and in the nutrition notes it also says 12. When I print the recipe it says 10.
So glad you found this one! Thanks for the catch – updated to reflect 10 cookies 🙂
Legit perfect cookie. So soft and addicting. Will def make on repeat
very delicious – fluffy and the perfect snack (totally ate them all in one day!!)
I’ve made these many times now, and they’re pretty speedy to make. I don’t usually have coconut sugar around, and mine turn out less brown and maybe a bit fluffier with white sugar. But I like the flexibility to use the sugar (and fat: coconut or ghee) that I have on hand. Really do make sure your egg is room temp– or place it in warm water for a few minutes to speed that process up–so that the fat stays liquid.
A quick and really tasty cookie! I’ll definitely be making it again.
SO good and easy to make. I didn’t have coconut flour, so I subbed a tbsp of GF all-purpose flour and they came out fine! They are so soft and chewy and flavorful. Will be making again!
Perfect! I’m glad that worked out well 🙂
They turned out pretty good. I subbed one flax egg and used slightly less melted vegan butter and added a little more maple syrup in its place. I used half coconut sugar half cane sugar. The cookie batter was very thick. They were not cooked after 10 minutes. I let them sit out for about 15-20 minutes and then cooked them again for another 8 minutes and they were perfect
Glad that you enjoyed them, Helene!
Since going low carb, I’ve been craving my favorite childhood cookies. These cookies are the solution (they are low carb snickerdoodles if you sub the sugar for monk fruit ;)!
I LOVE these! So easy and SO delicious. and crazy addicting.
This recipe is the first non-gluten snickerdoodle I’ve had that perfectly captures the snickerdoodle taste! I was so impressed. I used maple sugar instead of cane or coconut and melted ghee in place of butter. I also used a T of plantain flour in place of the coconut flour. These cookies baked up to the PERFECT texture, crisp on the edges and pillow soft in the center. The recipe is super simple too. As soon as I baked them I had to give one to my mom because I was so excited with how well they came out! Thanks Monique!
Oooh LOVE the maple sugar idea! Happy to hear it all worked well and that you enjoyed them 🙂
I love this grain free cookie and the molasses version! When I don’t want a big cookie production with the mixer and multiple bowls, these recipes are quick and so delicious! I love having some cookie recipes that just make one sheet. It’s also perfect to involve my toddler, as she can roll some of the balls in sugar. Most important is the taste, which is awesome!
Nice!! So happy you guys had fun making them together 🙂
These are some of the BEST cookies I’ve ever had (healthier or not) PERIOD! What a great recipe! I was able to leave out the cream of tartar and they still turned out beautifully. I also kept them dairy free by using coconut oil. Thank you!