Roll-Out Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing {grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free option}

Somehow I manage to turn every holiday into a cookie decorating affair! Halloween? Let's decorate cookies! Christmas? Duh, cookies! Valentine's Day? I think you get the idea!

I wanted to make these grain-free, refined sugar free, nut-free (for school allergies), as well as free from food dyes.

I think we all know the data regarding food dyes, and I just feel they're unnecessary. I love this little cheat: grab a bag of freeze dried strawberries and grind them to a powder, then mix with your icings! a perfect pink hue, and you can even achieve a dark red if you're using an icing recipe that you can balance the liquid to powder ratio. I love using the freeze dried strawberries as sprinkles/garnishes as well! Just so pretty, and quite perfect for Valentine's Day!

I also used a coconut sugar in the cookie dough. It gives the cookies a slight golden color, and you might be concerned while you're creaming the butter with the coconut sugar-- it appears quite dark at first! But, the more you cream it (which you should!) it gets lighter in color. I almost wanted to call these golden sugar cookies, because you get a slight golden brown color once they're baked. But it's hardly noticeable, to be honest! If you want an even lighter cookie, I'd recommend maple sugar in place of the coconut sugar. It'll give you the same flavor, just at a lighter color. The reason I didn't use it was because it's quite expensive and a bit harder to find. I wanted to keep these easier!

I used a classic royal icing recipe. So, technically, with the icing these cookies aren't paleo. Which is why I didn't label them as such! However, if you want to use your own paleo icing recipe, or eat the cookies plain, the cookies themselves are totally paleo! If you want to be super strict about it, I would use ghee in place of the butter or palm shortening for dairy-free. The best part of royal icing, is it's inherently dairy-free! Just be sure to look for a powdered sugar that doesn't use grain in it-- the target brand "good and gather" uses tapioca starch, so we buy that one! There's also a brand called, "wholesome organics" that uses tapioca starch. You can always grind pure cane sugar in your blender or food processor until a powder forms, if you can't get your hands on a store one!

These are pretty easy to make, a classic formula! Just make sure to take your time decorating. Patience has never been a virtue of mine, so my cookie and cake decorating always looks a little novice! It's the thought and love that counts, right? Oh, and how they taste!

Enjoy!

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