these grain free “sugar pie” cookies will melt in your mouth, with a caramel icing and a soft chewy cookie base made out of almond butter, almond flour, and coconut flour. they’re decadent and delicious, and amazingly, refined sugar free too.
Shout out to my boyfriend for deciding the name of these new cookies. They’re to die for, and when he ate one, he immediately drew the conclusion that these are sugar pie cookies. Except, there is no sugar to be found– no brown sugar, no refined white sugar– just a whole lotta medjool dates aka nature’s candy, and honey (!).
Thus, the name “sugar pie” cookies were born. For those unfamiliar with the traditional sugar pie, according to my sleuthing internet skills, a sugar pie is a traditional dessert here in Quebec and other French-Canadian communities, as well as western European countries of Northern France and Belgium. It’s also referred to as ‘tarte au sucre’ in French.
Now traditionally, it’s a pie (duh) and it’s made with a gluten-full and sugar-full filling consisting of brown sugar, flour, vanilla and cream– basically, combining these ingredients to end up with a caramel-esque filling inside a little pie.
Now, take that entire idea and transform it into a cookie, remove the sugar and flour etc, swap in my healthified ingredients below, and you have these AMAZING grain free “sugar pie” cookies!!!
The cookies themselves are extremely delicious even without topping them with caramel – although the caramel truly completes the sugar pie experience, and honestly without it, these are simply soft and chewy almond butter cookies!! That’s totally okay too, if you prefer a simple and less sweet cookie, omit the caramel and simply snack on these plain. They’re filled with little bits of dates, so regardless, you’ll get to experience delicious sweet spots and extremely bendy cookie!
However if you’re trying to experience a mini-sugar-pie in cookie format, then you definitely need to go all the way and make the caramel icing for them too. The caramel icing is made out softened medjool dates and nut milk– personally, I used hazlenut milk, but you can sub in the nut milk you happen to have on hand.
Find the full recipe below, and please let me know if you try making these cookies! Snap a pic and tag me on Instagram, @grainfreee.
“sugar pie” cookies: ingredients
cookies
- 1/2 cup of almond flour
- 4 tbsp of coconut flour
- 1/2 cup of smooth almond butter (no additives, SCD legal)
- 1/2 cup of honey
- 5 medjool dates, softened
- 1/2 tsp of baking soda
- 1 egg
caramel
- 6 medjool dates, completely softened (they should be soaked in boiling hot water for at least 30 minutes, or overnight)
- 1/2 cup of hazlenut milk (sub any preferred nut milk, almond milk is also fine)
- dash of pink Himalayan salt
- 1/4 tsp of pure vanilla extract
“sugar pie” cookies: how to
cookies
- in a saucepan over medium heat, warm your honey and medjool dates. bring to boil and allow to simmer for 5-6 minutes. continually stirring and mashing up the dates.
- proceed to mix your cookie ingredients, in a large bowl, mix your dry and add in your almond butter. wait to mix once you add in the honey-date mixture.
- pour in your honey-date mixture once simmered, and mix well. finally add in your egg and combine.
- on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, taking a tablespoon, spoon the cookie batter on the tray evenly spaced out. it will be sticky, so keep a little bowl of water nearby to wet your fingers as needed.
- using the palm of your hand or the bottom of a spatula (I find palm of hand works best), press down on top of each cookie ball to flatten each cookie– you may need to add a drip of water to help flatten each cookie cleanly.
- bake in a preheated oven at 350, for 10 minutes. makes approx 20-23 cookies.
- these cookies are best stored in the fridge or freezer! allow to cool completely before icing.
caramel
- to prepare your caramel, simply mix your softened medjool dates in a food processor with the hazlenut milk, blending on high until everything smoothens and mixes together well.
- while it’s mixing, add in your vanilla extract and salt. continue to combine until no more chunks or pieces of dates remain. you may need to scrape down the sides occasionally. you may need to mix for 5-10 minutes depending on your processor strength.
- once mixed well, store in fridge in airtight container until you’re ready to ice each cookie and serve freshly-iced. alternately, you can also create sugar pie cookie sandwiches by adding icing to the bottom of one cookie and sandwiching another cookie on top. either option, i do recommend doing it fresh before eating for best results with the caramel.
“sugar pie” cookies
Ingredients
the cookies
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 4 tbsp coconut flour
- 1/2 cup smooth almond butter no additives, SCD legal
- 1/2 cup honey
- 5 medjool dates softened
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 egg
the caramel
- 6 medjool dates, completely softened (they should be soaked in boiling hot water for at least 30 minutes, or overnight)
- 1/2 cup hazlenut milk sub in preferred nut milk
- dash of pink himalayan salt
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
the cookies
- in a saucepan over medium heat, warm your honey and medjool dates. bring to boil and allow to simmer for 5-6 minutes, continually stirring and mashing up the dates.
- proceed to mix your cookie ingredients, in a large bowl, mix your dry and add in your almond butter. wait to mix once you add in the honey-date mixture.
- pour in your honey-date mixture once simmered, and mix well. finally add in your egg and combine.
- on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, taking a tablespoon, spoon the cookie batter on the tray evenly spaced out. it will be sticky, so keep a little bowl of water nearby to wet your fingers as needed.
- using the palm of your hand or the bottom of a spatula (I find palm of hand works best), press down on top of each cookie ball to flatten each cookie– you may need to add a drip of water to help flatten each cookie cleanly.
- bake in a preheated oven at 350, for 10 minutes. makes approx 20-23 cookies.
- these cookies are best stored in the fridge or freezer! allow to cool completely before icing.
the caramel
- to prepare your caramel, simply mix your softened medjool dates in a food processor with the hazlenut milk, blending on high until everything smoothens and mixes together well.
- while it's mixing, add in your vanilla extract and salt. continue to combine until no more chunks or pieces of dates remain. you may need to scrape down the sides occasionally. you may need to mix for 5-10 minutes depending on your processor strength.
- once mixed well, store in fridge in airtight container until you're ready to ice each cookie and serve freshly-iced. alternately, you can also create sugar pie cookie sandwiches by adding icing to the bottom of one cookie and sandwiching another cookie on top. either option, i do recommend doing it fresh before eating for best results with the caramel.