Holiday baking that is allergy friendly! These Chewy Molasses Cookies are AIP approved – paleo, gluten free, grain free, dairy free, and vegan too!
HELLLOOOOOO GOOD LOOKIN! Umm hai. Can we talk about how it’s December 5th? And Christmas is officially around the corner? And all I want to do is bake Christmas cookies??
But I can’t. Life is crazy and I actually don’t have time for cookies right now.
You know that I’m starting my own grain-free granola company. And if you didn’t know, I’m starting my own grain-free granola company! My grain-free granola is made from REAL ingredients that taste good and are good for you. It’s filled with nuts and seeds; this naturally sweetened grain free granola is naturally gluten free and seriously addicting.
Oh and it officially went LIVE to my wait list yesterday and am in awe of everyone who has already ordered. THANK YOU. And for those who didn’t get on the wait list in time… stay tuned.
But the bigger news is that Pat and I are moving!! We had our condo on the market with the intent to move to a bigger place in a new neighborhood and it’s happening. This week. We close on the sale of our condo, the purchase of our new place, and move all in the same day. WOOF.
As you can imagine, LIFE BE CRAZY.
So no time to make Christmas cookies at the moment; but I can guarantee that I have listened to Justin Bieber’s Mistletoe at least two dozen times already. #sorrynotsorry #ilovejbiebs
Ok let’s get back to the cookies. These chewy molasses cookies are a dream. They are totally allergy friendly (thank you gelatin egg and tigernut flour) and you need them in your life.
The base of these cookies is tigernut flour. I’ve used tigernut flour before and went into a few details on what it is. But for those who don’t know, a tigernut is a small root vegetable that, when roasted and ground, yields a nutty-flavored flour perfect for baking. And because it is not a nut, it’s AIP approved!
These cookies have also been tested with a real egg, just make sure you follow my note to add an extra 1/4 cup of flour. So if you are not following the AIP diet or don’t have powdered gelatin at home, no fear – you can bake these too!
I promise the Christmas cookie baking will start as soon as we’re all moved in! I mean, the tree will go up and the Christmas music will be playing, and then I’ll make cookies 🙂
Made these Chewy Molasses Cookies and post a picture on social media using the hashtag #imhungrybynature for a chance to be featured!
Print
Chewy Molasses Cookies (AIP & Vegan!)
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 18 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
Description
Holiday baking that is allergy friendly! These Chewy Molasses Cookies are AIP approved – paleo, gluten free, grain free, dairy free, and vegan too!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups tigernut flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon gelatin* (sub in flax meal for vegan option)
- 3 Tablespoons water, divided
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
- 1/4 cup molasses
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat liner.
- In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
- In a small bowl, dissolve the gelatin in 1 Tablespoon cold water. Once dissolved, add in remaining 2 Tablespoons of boiling water and beat until frothy.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together gelatin egg, coconut sugar, coconut oil and molasses.
- Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until combined.
- Use a small cookie scoop and scoop dough onto baking sheet.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes.
Notes
*You can sub an egg in place of the gelatin egg, but add an extra 1/4 cup of tigernut flour and bake the full 14 minutes.
Keywords: molasses, cookies, holiday, christmas, christmas cookies
Pin this for your holiday baking!
Get your copy of One Bite Might Kill Me
Get my top 3 tried and true ways I deal with friends and family who question my food choices and recipes you can bring to the table that everyone will love!
Gelatin isn’t vegan as it’s made from animal bones. You may want to edit to include an appropriate substitute
Thank you Tiffany! I’ve updated the recipe.
I don’t have tigernut flour. Is there anything I can substitute with like coconut flour or tapioca flour?
Hi Jacqueline – I haven’t tested these with any other flours so I cannot recommend one that I know will work. The only flour I would try subbing 1:1 is almond flour, but that is not AIP approved. Let me know if you try another flour and how it goes!
We are not vegan so we went with the egg and used butter vs the cocunut oil. I also added cloves. These cookies are awesome! Thank you! Tigernut flower is awesome too! Make them!
Thanks for letting me know the swaps worked Diana – and I am so thrilled that you love them!!
Hi. I’ve been on AIP for two weeks. I made this recipe last night and they stayed in the form put on the cookie sheet and do not look anything like your pretty cookies. It didn’t specify in recipe if the gelatin should be hot or cold, but I think I used the wrong one. I used Great Lakes in the red can. I am wondering if I eliminate the gelatin all together what will happen? Could I use tapioca or arrowroot flour instead? Appreciate any feedback. Thanks!
Hi Lisa! I used a powdered gelatin which I keep in my pantry at room temperature. I am not sure what the Great Lakes gelatin is like, so I am not sure if it is the right one! I have not tested the recipe without the gelatin egg. Do you tolerate chia or flax? You could always do an egg substitute with one of those. There is not substitute that uses tapioca or arrowroot that I am aware of.
Let me know if you test them without the gelatin!
Finally, an AIP recipe that’s super simple and tasty.
(I’m omitting the cinnamon and using just a little less molasses for a low histamine AIP treat). The tiger nut makes the texture so good compared to most AIP flours! Thank you!
★★★★★
Yay – thank you Amber! I am so happy that you like these cookies!!
These are just coming out of the oven. The smell is terrific. I cannot describe to you how wonderful it is to have the prospect of eating a cookie. The dough was not like regular dough, of course, but even eating a bit of that brought me back to so many joyful holiday memories. My faithful, beloved, canine companion of fourteen years always found molasses cookies to be irresistible. He was such a finicky eater, but we discovered he liked ginger snaps/molasses cookies when he would eat my gingerbread men off of the Christmas tree. Thanks for bringing back such a sweet memory of discovering something I could treat my little furry man with who gave me so much love! RIP Ozwald!
These look gorgeous. They smell gorgeous and I feel divine. Thank you a thousand times over. PS and FWI: I cannot have regular molasses so I made these with carob molasses. It tastes exactly like good dark molasses.
★★★★★
Jeana! I cannot begin to tell you how happy this makes me. I am THRILLED that I was able to bring back your joyful holiday memories with a cookie and I hope you loved the taste as much as the smell! Thanks for the note on carob molasses… I will have to try that!
Um, yes. They were divine. I halved the recipe and made twelve perfect cookies. My husband got one or two before I scarfed them down Oz style. Next time I am going to try half coconut flour and half tapioca. Looking forward to having these again and again! It’s definitely love.
I just made these and they are AMAZING! Thank you so much for filling the need in my AIP life for a chewy cookie 😊
YAY!! Thank you so much Tonya – I am so so happy you are enjoying them!! xo
Oh my gosh …this is the first delicious real cookie I have had in months. So light and airy–not dense and heavy. I used 1 TBSP of coconut sugar and 2 Tbsp honey. (Sugar flares my RA- so I went easy) Great flavor-I used blackstrap molasses. Is tigernut always this light in baking?
Your comment is making me so happy! Thanks for sharing the sugar swap too 🙂 Tigernut flour is great and I have found it to be pretty light in baking!
These were okay! I can’t say they will be great favs! I may make them again at Christmas for molasses/ginger, vegan lovers! Thank you for sharing your recipe.
★★
I made these last year about 15 times. When I was on 3 months no histamine, I omitted the gelatin and molasses and coconut sugar. They weren’t nearly as good but served me super well as my one and only treat. Going back to the original recipe. I love it!
★★★★★
This makes me SO HAPPY!
I subbed green banana flour 1 cup and 1/2 cup cassava flour instead of the tigernut. It did not work well – the dough was very crumbly and taste was meh okay – not chewy at all but crumbly. I added more oil to try to get it to stick together but barely. So don’t sub the flour lololol.
These are wonderful! They worked flawlessly. I subbed honey for the molasses, only because I didn’t have molasses on hand, but of course honey is just as delicious in a spice cookie in its own way. Tigernut flour is such a wonder—I think every AIP recipe I’ve baked and really, truly loved has been made with tigernut flour. Thank you for this lovely recipe—it’s a real treat.
(By the way, I suspect that the person above for whom this recipe didn’t work out used collagen rather than gelatin. I’m not sure why there’s so much confusion about those two things, but if anyone is reading this, collagen is NOT a substitute for gelatin! They offer similar benefits nutritionally, but they’re not at all functionally the same in AIP baking.)
★★★★★
Oh! I also meant to say that your instructions for making a gelatin egg work better than any of the other recipes I’ve seen! The one tablespoon of cold water to dissolve followed by two tablespoons of hot—so easy, so much less messy. I had no weird undissolved chunks at all that way.
These are so delicious. Chewy, fluffy, and excellent molasses flavor. Thank you so much!
★★★★★