This is a simple recipe for a chewy, buttery, cinnamon cookie. It is a great cookie to have around when a craving for a sweet butter cookie comes up, and the texture is just right.
I was tempted to call it a Snickerdoodle cookie, but it doesn’t have
the traditional crunchy cinnamon sugar coating on the outside. Of course you can change that too. If you prefer a bit of a crunch to this cookie, after it is done baking, leave it in the oven at 175 degrees F for about 15 more minutes and then cool.
I haven’t tried it yet, but I suspect this recipe will work well with sugar or maple syrup as a sweetener instead of honey. I may try this with my next batch.
This recipe makes about 20 cookies, and I recommend storing them in a sealed container. It was inspired by a recipe in Lucy’s Specific Carbohydrate Diet Cookbook.
Tip These cookies make a great ice cream sandwich.
Cinnamon Cookie
Ingredients
- 2 cups of blanched almond flour
- 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (plus extra to sprinkle on top)
- 1/3 cup of honey
- 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter (or coconut oil, or Spectrum shortening)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 275°F/135°C.
- Melt the butter.
- Combine the butter with all the other ingredients in a mixing bowl and blend the ingredients until well combined.
- With a spoon or your fingers, create small, balls of dough, about an inch in diameter, and place them on a buttered baking sheet (or a baking mat on a baking sheet).
- Press each cookie to flatten it using either the palm of your hand or the back of a fork or knife. I criss-cross the top of the cookie with the back of a fork to get the hatch pattern. Optionally, you can sprinkle some cinnamon on the top of each cookie.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Turn the cookies over and lower the temperature of the oven to 175 degrees F.
- Bake the cookies for another 10 minutes. (For a crunchier cookie, leave them in the oven at 175°F for another 15 minutes or so).
- Cool for 10 minutes or so and enjoy!
Makes about 22 cookies.







sounds delicious, we like to make ours with ginger. x x x
Great idea – I’ll try that with my next batch.
BTW, I love your blog. Thanks for stopping by:)
All of your recipes look so great! I was recently diagnosed with diabetes and have been restricting carbohydrates significantly, meaning all baked goods are pretty much out … or so I thought till I saw your blog.
I’m definitely going to be trying these cookies and some of your other recipes with almond meal. I’ll check back in later with the results!
Oh, there are so many baked goods that are not out – but I’ll let you explore.
Best wishes!
I’m making these cookies right now. I recently started the SCD and bought a cookbook to help me figure out things to make, but I think your blog has better recipes and tips than the book! I can’t wait to try more.
Hi Gina,
Thanks for the recipe kudos!
There are some good books out there as well as some good websites (I try to link to them when it works with a recipe). Also, take a look at my Amazon favorites store to see the books I have purchased (not necessarily to buy, but just to know about for future reference). My favorites are the Grain-free books by two Canadian women.
Thanks Erica! By the way, these cookies were fantastic.
These cookies were so good! I used coconut oil instead of butter and they turned out really, really good. My kids and friends liked them too. Thanks for the recipe!
Denise, great idea. I have to try these with coconut oil. I just starting baking with it recently. It makes great pie crusts as well. Thanks for the suggestion!
I have just made the cookies and followed the recipe to a T, however mine have come out so salty that they are inedible. Any ideas?
Wendy, very strange. I’ve never encountered too salty here. Make sure the measurements are accurate for the salt and baking soda. Not sure what else could change it to be salty.
Thanks Erica, should I have used unsalted butter?
oh, yes, I use unsalted butter. Maybe that was it. Thanks! I’ll edit the ingredients. Sorry, if that was the cause!
I had a little trouble turning them over without them falling apart. Thoughts on what I’m doing wrong? Great flavor!
Char, hmmm. Not sure. Check your measurements. I’ve never had these come out soggy.
thank you so much for the Cinnamon cookie recipe. I have been trying to re-create the cookies I order from Digestive Wellness. These are pretty similar. I think the big difference was using the blanched almond flour rather than almond meal.
My pleasure, Angie. Yeah, it does make a different – almond flour vs almond meal.
these are sooo delicious! I just started the SCD diet recenlty and these have helped me stay sane as I have a very powerful sweet tooth. I’ve made them three times in the past week! I’ve also been huge on the breakfast sausages, the fennel taste seems to stay on my lips all day, it’s lovely.
These were a hit with my twins. My son with Crohn’s craves the crunch missing in most foods on his new SCD diet. So these were a delight to him..Have you ever made them with cocoa? If so how much do you use??
Susan, good news. I haven’t tried cocoa yet. Great idea. If/when I do, I’ll post it. Let us know if you try it. (Just fyi – Cocoa isn’t SCD legal if you’re following SCD).
Thanks, I will. The cocoa’s a nod to his brother..
I was so happy to find this recipe but even more excited to find that someone used coconut oil instead of butter, I eat a strict paleo diet, and I miss, MISS cookies! Erica, do you think coconut oil can be substituted all your dessert recipes for butter? I saw you wrote that its great in pie crusts, Where is that recipe??
Hi Sarah – there are a couple of pie crust recipes, all basically the same. I’ve personally used coconut oil with this one: http://www.comfybelly.com/2008/12/apple-pie.html
And this one: http://www.comfybelly.com/2008/12/lemon-freeze.html
Sarah – this one as well: http://www.comfybelly.com/2009/11/pumpkin-pie.html
Thank YOU!
When your recipes call for sea salt, will regular salt work? I also have salted butter on hand…if I used that & no added salt do you think that would work too?? Love your site!! Just got my almond flour recently & dying to try it!!
Sara – yes, regular salt will work (I just like to encourage folks to use sea salt because is has more minerals in it – the minimally processed kind anyway).
And, yes, if you’re using salted butter, you will want to adjust the amount of salt to add. How much to remove is tricky. If it’s a small amount of salt called for in the recipe, I would just do as you say – remove the salt all together.
I love this recipe. My son has Type 1 diabetes, so I substituted the honey for Splenda. The only challenge I had was that the cookies were so delicate they fell apart quite easily. Do you think the honey acts as a binder? Should I try using an egg along with it since I am leaving the honey out?
Have you tried using agave instead of honey? That is supposed to be okay for diabetics since it doesn’t spike the blood sugar the way honey does.
Actually, agave isn’t much better for diabetics. Try using coconut nectar. It is a low glycemic. Search for it on amazon.com.
Also known as palm sugar. I’ve used it in a few cake and cookie recipes on the site – it works quite well, but remember there’s less moisture.
Actually, coconut nectar is not coconut palm sugar – two different sweeteners – but coconut nectar is a liquid, not granular like the palm sugar.
woops – you’re right.
Arlynn, I guess you could try egg. Yes, the honey is holding it together, as you said. Let us know if you try it.
I made them exactly like the recipe…only I did not turn them over. They came out yummy! My daughter kept asking for another after another. Do anyone have the nutritional value on these?
Hi Michelle. I don’t have exact values, but you can get an idea at this site: http://nutritiondata.self.com/
Very yummy cookies! I did add a little vanilla. I’ll have to try the coconut oil too sometime…Thanks for such a wonderful blog!
I’m baking these right now, smells great…
my real question is, where did you get that adorable plate?!?
Hi Joslyn – that plate is part of a set – I don’t know if it’s sold anymore, but it was a gift. You might be able to find it on ebay – it’s in a Peter Rabbit set (originally from England). Good luck!
Erica,
I played around with this recipe too, as far as sweetener goes, and came out with something yummy I can eat! I use 2 1/4 cups almond flour instead of 2 cups, and 1/3 cup vegetable glycerin and 10 drops liquid Stevia instead of honey.
It sure is nice to have a few desserts that cure my cravings!
Tracy – thanks for sharing your results!
I’m going to make these tomorrow. They look delicious! Question: In Germany, hazelnut flour is just as accessible as almond flour. It costs very little. I’m wondering if I could make these with hazelnut flour? Or any of the recipes, for that matter! Does hazelnut have the kind of nutritional value as the almond? Thank you!
Yes, hazelnut flour is fine as a sub. As long as it is blanched like the blanched almond flour (so the skins are removed and it is finely ground).
Thank you!
I took out the cinnamon and substituted vanilla, then when the cookies came out of the oven I melted a single 62% cocao chip on each one to frost. A big hit with my extremely picky son.
I love this as a basic recipe because it has that wonderful crunch that´s so hard to get with almond flour recipes and it´s easy to change it up.
Yum. Great change-up!
Thanks. Your website is an invaluable resource and really saw me through my transition into the daunting world of SCD. I make so many good things for my son now, he never looks back. You´ve been instrumental in that.
Thanks Susan. Glad it’s helping
Okay. Latest incarnation is take out the cinnamon, replace with vanilla, then sprinkle cinnamon on the top before baking. My son swears it’s his long lost love, the crunchy snickerdoodle.
Great variation! I definitely equate these with snickerdoodles.
I made these today using Susan’s (above) alterations, very very good! These were a big hit with my five year old.
Susan has a hit! Good to hear.
These look so yummy!
Do you think these could be made with coconut flour instead of almond flour? I don’t have any almond flour on hand, but am dying to try my coconut flour with this recipe!
almond flour is so expensive… is there a substitue that is a little cheaper like almond meal or cocnut flour?
I know. Coconut flour does not behave like almond flour in a recipe unfortunately, but almond meal might work. It will be a bit grainier, but will bake correctly. Let us know if you try it.
These are SO good, thank you! And I love the simplicity of this recipe — just throw everything in the bowl
.
Thanks Heather – I’m all about easy. By the way, I’m sitting here happily listening to the music from your website!
Just made these for the first time…they are delicious! Thank you!
Made these tonight and they are very yummy. I did not flip them over because they were a little gooey and wanted to stick to my spatula. I only baked for an additional 10 minutes and they are a wonderful, chewy cookie…just like I love.
For those wanting nutritional info, I made 24 cookies and each cookie has 85 calories, 6g carb / 1g fiber / 7g fat / 2g protein.
Thank you!
Thanks for adding the nutritional info! How did you determine this? Just curious
Could I sub sunflower nut butter instead of almond flour? I am sensitive to all nuts.
I did the math..and these babies (if making around 20-22 cookies) are about 100 calories each
These are amazing! I made them with blanched almond flour and almond meal, and they came out terrific both times. I added vanilla extract and some extra cinnamon. Thanks for sharing this great recipe, finally a crunchy scd cookie.
In case anyone else was curious about the nutritional value, here it is based upon using coconut oil instead of butter… butter adds about 15 more cals per cookie.
Nutrition Facts
User Entered Recipe
22 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 70.1
Total Fat 5.0 g
Saturated Fat 0.9 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.8 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 21.5 mg
Potassium 66.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate 5.8 g
Dietary Fiber 1.2 g
Sugars 4.2 g
Protein 1.9 g
Vitamin A 0.0 %
Vitamin B-12 0.0 %
Vitamin B-6 0.7 %
Vitamin C 0.2 %
Vitamin D 0.0 %
Vitamin E 11.3 %
Calcium 2.6 %
Copper 4.9 %
Folate 0.7 %
Iron 2.8 %
Magnesium 6.0 %
Manganese 13.7 %
Niacin 1.7 %
Pantothenic Acid 0.3 %
Phosphorus 4.1 %
Riboflavin 4.2 %
Selenium 0.6 %
I made these biscuits today and they were amazing. Everybody enjoyed them even the children. I substituted the butter for almond oil to make them dairy free and I used pink Himalayan salt. The texture was perfect. Thank you so much for posting these!
Should I store these in a air tight container at room temperature or in the fridge?
Either is ok with these, but air tight for sure. Honey is tends to absorb moisture around it which is why cookies baked with honey get soft after a while even if they were crispy when they came out of the oven.
I made two batches of gluten-free cookies from two different recipes and yours are by far my favourites!
I didn’t have honey so I used maple syrup instead.
Oh, so good to hear. I’ve wanted to try these with maple syrup!
I made these last weekend and they were excellent. I was wondering why you changed the recipe? I followed the new recipe and put them in for 8 minutes and they burned.:(. I will next time I make these put them in for 5 to 6 minutes and see how they do.
oh no – thanks! I’ll test them again. I changed it back to the old temperature until I test it again more thoroughly. Sorry!
These are quite tasty! I made them this morning to take to a post-Easter egg hunt. I used butter. I cooked them the full amounts listed, including the extra 15 minutes to crisp them up. I think I would cut back a little on the honey, it was a little too sweet for my taste – but still excellent! I think maple syrup woud be very good. Or the suggestion of ginger instead of cinnamon. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you for switching the recipe back. I wanted to let you know I did a little experimenting and made these cookies using vanilla and maple syrup. I still add the cinnamon in(next time I am going to experiment with cardamom) in as well. Oh they are so good. They are chewy and just over all yummy. Thank you so much for posting this recipe. Being Paleo it is hard to find a good cookie out there that will satisfy my sweet tooth.
My daughter is Type 1 and we made these tonight. They are baking as we speak. I followed the recipe and was not able to turn them over, they were too mushy. I am hoping that after rotating the trays and the extra time that they will turn out like the others who commented and said they could not flip them.
Our dietician shared this site with us to calculate nutritional information. I usually cut and paste the list of ingredients into the recipe analyzer. http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/account/flog_add.php?tab=new_recipe
Thanks Jenna. I like that site and refer folks to it as well. Thanks for adding the link. Now for the mushy bit: you can add a bit more almond flour, but I haven’t had these mushy. What did you use for a sweetener and butter/oil?
In the end, they are nicely browned and crisp. I used butter and honey. They are kind of like a cinnamon-y, delicate oatmeal cookie. I think that is because I used the Bob’s Almond Flour (Meal) that I found at Wegman’s. I guess I will have to bite the bullet and order the stuff from Honeyville that everyone online has been raving about. My daughter has only had Type 1 for about three months and I was a big baker before this. I couldn’t get over the cost.
It is nice for her to be able to have a cookie at night like her brother that will not spike her blood sugar during the night. Thanks for responding so quickly!
I wonder if I can use almond meal in the recipie? I am trying to add coconut flour and mix it with almond meal. I will find out if it is all successful!