A Paleo Christmas Cookie

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I'm surrounded by cookies and cake. The cookies are my doing, the cake my husbands. But when the stuff is just sitting there on your counter, its hard not to indulge. A few indulgences is fine. The only problem is "few" is not what is happening. It is more like "frequent" indulgences. I don't want to ditch all the goodies because a) were hosting a christmas party on Saturday and that's why I made them b) Sophia loves her Thomas cake, even if it is rather mutilated at this point and c) it would be down right wasteful.

Sophia's Thomas Cake. Made by her father. (Yep He's awesome!)

So today I decided to make a cookie "alternative." They are actually a paleo take on one of my favorite Christmas-time cookies: Peppernotters a Scandinavian spice cookie. If you like spicy, not so sweet cookies (like ginger snaps or gingerbread) these are for you. They have pepper in them, along with clove, cinnamon, ginger and allspice. The original cookies are spongy and cakey and have a nice glaze on top. My version is a little more dense, but has the same great spicy flavor and sweetness. I was really pleased with how they turned out. So now when a reach for a cookie I have a nice alternative that satisfies my sweet tooth but isn't loaded with sugar and white flour.

Paleo Peppernotters:

3 eggs

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 tsp orange juice

2 cups almond flour

1 cup coconut flour

2/3 cup finely chopped pecans

1 tsp baking powder

1tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp clove

1/2 tsp allspice

1) Pre-heat oven to 300.

2) Mix wet ingredients: egg, honey, maple syrup and orange juice.

3) Add all dry ingredients to wet mixture: flours, soda, powder, salt, and spices.

4) Stir until ingredients form a slightly sticky dough. Spoon balls of dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.

5) Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool before serving.

What is your favorite Christmas cookie? Have you tried to make it healthy or do you just stick with the good old-fashioned version?

--Sarah