Paleo Christmas Cut Out Cookies - A Low FODMAP Dessert

To say I am excited to share this recipe with you is a serious understatement. This holiday season I have been playing around with a lot of family favorite dessert recipes, turning them into low FODMAP dessert recipes, but nothing has excited me more than the transformation of my Grandmother's Christmas cut out cookies into a Paleo Christmas Cut Out Cookie recipe!

When developing low FODMAP dessert recipes, you'll inevitably have flops, especially when it comes to baking. But ohhhh let me tell you the amount of flops I went through to FINALLY nail this Paleo Christmas Cut Out Cookie recipe! I tried to keep my recipe as close to the original as possible in terms of ingredients, but my Grandmother's recipe called for canola oil and I had a really hard time replacing that with something less... icky. Coconut oil did NOT work at all (what a crumbly mess!) and using straight up gluten free flour seemed to lend itself to an equally crumbly mess. I was chatting with a fellow baker friend after failed attempt nine thousand and we went back and forth about what I could try for what I insisted would be my last attempt at this Paleo Christmas Cut Out Cookie recipe. I basically abandoned the notion that I would try to keep the ingredients as close to the original recipe as possible and instead decided to focus on the texture and taste. If I could nail that, then I knew I the mission was accomplished.

I will never forget the taste of my Grandmother's Christmas cut out cookies. I made them with my Mom every single Christmas of my childhood and well into my adult life, so their texture and flavor is engrained in my brain. I knew if these Paleo Christmas Cut Out Cookies were a success, it would be because they tasted like childhood. We'd always bake them Christmas Eve, decorate together as a family, and leave them out for Santa to enjoy and every year I'd be so worried Santa would eat ALL the cookies, leaving none for me. But every year, he'd always make sure to leave me some for Christmas Day! ;) Now that I am eating a low FODMAP diet for my gut health, making one of my favorite childhood Christmas treats into a low FODMAP dessert feels like the ultimate in baking accomplishments. It can be such a challenge to transform traditional recipes into paleo, gluten free, and low FODMAP friendly desserts so it is truly sweet success when you finally nail the recipe!

I hope you enjoy and have a safe and happy holiday season!

Did you get a chance to make this recipe? Don't forget to leave me a love note in the comments and let me know what you think! And don't forget to tag your images on Facebook and Instagram so I can see how your creation turned out!