Lemon Coconut Cream Cheese Cookies…..and They’re Gluten Free!

These……… Delicious.  For realsies.

I haven’t really told you guys yet, but I recently switched to gluten free.    As one who enjoys baking, and is now gluten free, I was sorta excited to try my hand at gluten free cookies.  This new recipe was very much inspired by these cookies because they just sound so scrummy. I knew that gluten free flours would act much differently than all purpose flour, so I had myself prepared for the worst.  While the cookies that I made don’t really even resemble the originals, I can assure you that they are delightful.  They are delicious by any cookie standards, let alone gluten free. I’m sure it was just beginner gluten free baker’s luck, but I’ll take it.

The lemon glaze is deliciously sweet & tart, and the cookie itself, moist and tender.  The almond flour and cream cheese really lend a richness and wonderful depth of flavor to these delightful gluten free morsels while the coconut gives amazing texture amid the already harmonious blend of ingredients. The best way I can describe what you’ll think when you bite into one of these is …………”wow.”

Seriously. I kept trying them periodically over the last couple of days thinking each time that they couldn’t possible be as good as I think they are, only to be delighted each time I bit into one. If I sound like I’m bragging, I’m not. I’m just as stunned as the next person that my very 1st attempt at tweaking a recipe to make it gluten free was a success. I will even be so bold as to claim that even if you’re not gluten free…….you should make these.

Lemon Coconut Cream Cheese Cookies w/Lemon Glaze

• 4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 4 Tbsp butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
•  zest from 1 lemon
• 1 1/2 cups Gluten Free Oat  flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut {I used organic unsweetened}

Optional Glaze: 

Mix 1 cup confectioner’s sugar with 2 Tablespoons plus 1-2 teaspoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice {remember that lemon you just zested?}

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Cream together the butter and cream cheese.  Add the sugars, egg, extract, and lemon zest.  Sift together the oat and almond flours, baking powder, and salt.  Add to the wet ingredients and mix just until blended.  Add the shredded coconut, mix until coconut {as well as the lemon zest} is evenly distributed.  Spoon the dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a Silpat; bake for 10ish minutes at 350 degrees.  These cookies are very light in color and basically browned only on the bottoms. Also, these cookies had a sheen to them {i.e. they looked like they might not have been cooked} but if the bottoms are nicely browned, they are done.

**optional: spread/drizzle cookies with glaze when they are still fresh from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

YOu can print this recipe HERE.

Seriously, bake ‘em. You won’t be sorry. Unless, like me, you eat almost all of them yourself in utter disbelief at how good they are. For that I am, admittedly, a little sorry.

XO, Sara