Healthy Gluten Free Orange Cardamom Cookie

This gluten free orange cardamom cookie is an easy gluten free cookie that is also grain free and low in sugar. Full of cozy, bright flavor, these simple drop cookies are quick to make and a fairly healthy cookie recipe!

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After Christmas, the same favorite cookie recipes that evoke a Christmas-y mood seem a little off. I don’t know about other families, but the cookies we enjoy at Christmas time are unique to the season, and not to be eaten at other times. It doesn’t have to be that way, but so it is.

Other flavors brighten and warm us during the post-Christmas winter season. While there is no reason not to keep making Christmas favorites, I look to other flavors for variety and cheer! These gluten free orange cardamom cookies would be perfectly fine at any time of year, but they seem especially comforting in winter.

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What makes these gluten free Orange Cardamom Cookies special?

Well, if you need a gluten free cookie recipe, these will fit that requirement. Beyond that, here are some reasons to love this gluten free orange cardamom cookie recipe.

Grain Free

Just as not everyone needs to be gluten free, not everybody needs to be grain free. However, if you are avoiding grains, this is an easy way to enjoy the occasional cookie. Based on coconut butter, this gluten free cardamom cookie isn’t heavily processed.

Why would anyone avoid grains? It might be a temporary choice during a healing process, a longer term part of managing a chronic health issue, or just because you feel better without grains! For an overview of reasons you might want to avoid, limit, or consume grains with care, check this article and linked studies.

Cardamom and Nutmeg

Such aromatic spices in this gluten free orange cardamom cookie! Different from Christmas cookies, yet similar. You will notice the cardamom more than the nutmeg.

Oddly, cardamom is both mild and intense. If you aren’t familiar with cardamom, it figures in the cuisines of South Asia and Scandinavia, and is popularly found in chai tea concoctions. A little goes a long way! Though it isn’t spicy, you can easily get too much, resulting in a “soapy” taste. Cardamom offers assorted health benefits; read more here.

Nutmeg is also a mild yet aromatic flavor with more health benefits than I supposed. Learn more about how nutmeg is good for us here.

Less refined sugars

These are not sugar free cookies, nor can they really be called “naturally sweetened”. The coconut sugar and molasses are, nonetheless, less refined than most sugars in cookie recipes. They are both more nutritious than more refined sugars, but we use very little of either.

Coconut sugar is made from the sap of coconut trees, boiled and dried. It retains nutrition from the sap, but it is still sugar, and best consumed in moderation. It has a deliciously caramel-like flavor and may spike blood sugar levels less than many sugars do. Learn more about the pros and cons here.

Molasses is the second sugar in this gluten free orange cardamom cookie, and lends warm, cozy, flavor. There are different molasses varieties, all resulting from the refining of sugar. Use unsulphured molasses, the kind you usually find at the grocery store, for a rich, robust flavor.

Though molasses also retains more nutrition and has less effect on blood sugar, it, too, is still sugar. The most healthful variety would be blackstrap molasses. Read more here about molasses.

Orange peel

While we are using orange peel for flavor in this recipe, it also is very good for us. The bright, fresh flavor of orange combined with the spices and molasses create a warm yet vibrant, and still mild, flavor in the gluten free orange cardamom cookie. It is different– in a good way.

Except for my daughter, who says these taste like sweet potato. (???!) She may be one of those people who just doesn’t gravitate to cardamom.

Since the peel is what we will eat, I like to buy an organic orange for this recipe. Wash it and grate or chop it finely. Then peel and eat the orange later, or use its juice for another recipe!

Coconut butter

Rich and minimally processed, coconut butter is as nourishing as it is delicious. Buy it or make your own! All you need to make it is a food processor and coconut flakes. Keep reading for directions.

But what is coconut butter?

Simply put, coconut butter is coconut that has been ground up until it forms a smooth paste. It’s like making peanut or nut butters– you start with coconut flakes (or peanuts or nuts). Then grind for a good while through increasingly finer stages until finally the oils release and you have a “butter”.

Unlike coconut flour, which is usually a little more processed, the coconut in coconut butter is whole. Nothing has been removed.

You can buy coconut butter, also called coconut manna, in jars. It is smooth, rich, and will have a little layer of coconut oil at the top.

Coconut butter is solid and not very usable at room temperature. You need to soften it before using it.

Where can I buy coconut butter?

You will often find coconut butter in health food stores, and sometimes in ordinary grocery stores. Of course, you can find it online. Thrive Market carries it, and you can find it on Amazon. I used this one, but I have used other brands with equal success.

How do you soften coconut butter?

There are different ways. Often, I stick the container in a larger container of hot water. That works, though it may take a few water changes, especially if the coconut butter is in a glass jar. It softens quickly if it is in a thinner packet.

Another way to do it is to set the jar in a very warm place half an hour before you need to scoop the coconut butter out. For example, I might set it on the back of my stove while the oven is on. Similarly, I might set the jar up against a hot slow cooker, maybe turning the jar now and then.

It works to set the jar in a clean slow cooker and let it heat up inside, too.

In a pinch, I warm the jar gently in a saucepan of water on the stove. This is the fastest way to do it! Short of using the microwave, which would be faster. I don’t use a microwave, so I can’t tell you how long that would take. Probably you need to do it in short bursts and keep stirring to avoid overheating parts of the coconut butter.

Can I make my own coconut butter?

Yes! I do this, and it works just fine. It is more economical as well. You need a food processor or a high-powered blender. Here is how to do it:

• Put coconut flakes in the bowl of a food processor or in a blender. You need a lot of coconut! I used a 5-oz. package of coconut flakes– 3 cups– and it yielded only 2/3 C coconut butter! Marginally enough for this recipe.
• Turn on the food processor or blender. You may need to stop it and scrape the coconut off the sides now and then. Expect the processing to take at least 5 minutes, and maybe more like 10 minutes. The coconut flakes will become smaller, then seem a bit like flour, and eventually look a bit oily before beginning to smooth out into an oily paste or butter. If your machine gets too hot, turn it off to cool, then resume the process.
• I find that my food processor never gets the coconut butter as smooth as the store bought kind. That is a problem for something like frosting. For cookies, though, a slightly grainy coconut butter is not noticeable. (If you have something like a Vitamix, you may get a smoother result.)
• If you make your own coconut butter just before making the cookies, you won’t have to soften it. The processing warms up the coconut and it will be soft-to-runny. That is fine. Once I have it made and measured, I just mix the cookies up in the food processor without cleaning it first– no dirty bowl!

Can I substitute something else for the coconut butter?

Yes, you can use the same amount of almond butter. The cookies look a little shinier, but the recipe works the same and doesn’t taste much different.

I have not personally tried other nut or seed butters, or peanut butter. Presumably, they could work. Cashew butter sounds good! Let me know how it goes if you try one. I would think that peanut butter would taste more conspicuous.

Sunflower seed butter is likely to turn the cookies increasingly green as time goes on– this may delight the 8-year-old in your life, but repel some people. It happens because of a harmless chemical reaction that doesn’t affect the safety or flavor. For more about this little quirk and ways to prevent it, read this.

How to Make Gluten Free Orange Cardamom Cookies

Either make your coconut butter using the above directions, or warm your coconut butter until you can scoop it. For best results, have all your ingredients at room temperature so the coconut butter doesn’t start to solidify!

Wash and finely grate or chop the peel of an orange. I use the small holes on a box grater, but a zester or a knife will also work fine.

All the ingredients can go in the bowl together. This recipe works differently from sugar and butter based cookie recipes. Add the walnuts (or any nut you like) at the end. You can leave them out.

Let the mixed dough rest for a few minutes. The coconut flour will absorb some moisture, so those few minutes will help you with the next steps.

I recommend baking a test cookie. I do this even for recipes I have made many times, but especially with a recipe I am less familiar with. Better to lose one cookie than get a whole sheet of failed cookies!

If your test cookie is too soft (spreads out too much), try adding a tablespoon of coconut flour. Let it rest again and do another test.

If the cookie is too thick (it doesn’t spread out much, or retains its shape), first decide if that is a problem. You might like a cookie that is shaped like a ball! Otherwise, flatten it to the desired level, or add more fat. I would add a tablespoon of coconut oil to this recipe and try again.

Once you are satisfied, scoop all your cookies out and bake them. I like the result using a sheet of parchment, but it is not necessary. You can cool the cookies on the baking sheet or remove to a rack or plate if you prefer. They will be fragile, so move them carefully! They will firm up as they cool.

This gluten free orange cardamom cookie recipe is based on my ginger walnut cookie. Try that one too!

For a cozy, fancy-but-easy drink to serve with your cookies, try this simple coffee recipe! It is also a good use for cardamom.