Can you believe these AIP maple cookies contain nearly half the daily fiber recommended for adults? These wholesome sandwich cookies get their toothsome texture and a whopping 13 grams of fiber from tigernut flour (ground tigernut tubers).
I love that!
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My theory is that bread bakers actually make some of the very best cookies. I assume this has something to do with their knowledge of whole grain flours.
While these cookies are grain-free and gut happy, the texture and flavor have an artisanal quality thanks to a variety of whole ingredients. They're nothing like commercial maple sandwich cookies, which typically contain refined sugars and flours.
For my husband these cookies evoke, What am I going to do if I can't eat that every day?
At last, please feel free to weigh in on these healthified cookies. I'm sure to get mixed opinions!
🎥 Video
⏲️ Baking time
My cookies were done after 7 minutes in a 350 degree oven. At 8 minutes, they burned. Every oven is unique and you should set a timer to monitor your cookies carefully in case they are ready sooner.
🥘 Ingredients
- maple syrup: grade A or B (more maple flavor) real maple syrup
- tigernut flour: I used IYA Foods Brand tigernut flour and provide the weight based on my own testing in the recipe card; if you are new to tigernut flour, it's somewhat similar in flavor and texture to oat flour or almond flour
- coconut butter: not the oil, the ground up coconut is what I've used. I like to buy coconut butter in a large tub because it's really hard to scoop out of a small jar.
- vanilla extract or maple extract: nothing artificial, get the real deal
- sea salt: avoid iodized salt on the AIP diet
- maple crystals: also known as "maple sugar," it's pricey but important to the overall flavor (use "maple cream" instead if you want)
- palm oil: only used in the filling (use maple cream if you want to avoid using palm oil) or use coconut oil (refined is neutral in taste)
🔪 Instructions Overview
You will make a sticky cookie dough, which needs to be wrapped and chilled. Next, you will portion the dough into 12 roughly equal-sized balls. Chill again. Place dough balls between parchment paper and roll flat. Use a maple leaf cookie cutter to stamp. Remove discard dough and reserve to make 1 extra cookie. Chill again.
Score cookies (optional) then bake at 350F until the edges begin to brown (see picture above). Be sure to remove cookies before they turn black (see below picture of over-cooked cookies).
Cool. Make maple cream filling (maple crystals+softened palm oil) or use maple cream for filling.
Spread gently onto cooled cookies then press together.
💭 Top tips
- Instead of using measuring cups, use a scale to weigh your ingredients. That way, if something goes wrong, it will be easier to troubleshoot.
- Chilling your dough is the only way to get great results.
- Please keep a close eye on these cookies as they bake. You want the edges to brown a bit but if they start to blacken, that's too far.
📋 Recipe
MAPLE CREAM SANDWICH COOKIES {AIP, Tigernut Flour, Refined Sugar-Free}
Ingredients
Cookie Ingredients:
- 2 cups (224 grams) tigernut flour
- ½ cup (156 grams) maple syrup
- ½ cup (67 grams) coconut butter if very hard, recommend softening for 10 seconds in microwave on high
- 2 teaspoons (10 grams) vanilla extract or maple extract
- Pinch sea salt
Maple Filling (or use maple cream)
- ⅔ cup (108 grams) maple sugar blended into a fine powder
- ⅔ cup (125 grams) palm oil melted partially until soft (microwave on high for 30 seconds)
- 1-2 pinches sea salt
Instructions
- Make cookie dough. Combine all the cookie ingredients in a mixing bowl. Mix to form a slightly sticky dough. Chill for 5 minutes.
- Roll chilled dough and stamp. Arrange a baking pan lined with parchment paper and divide the dough into 12 roughly equal size balls weighing approximately 37 grams each. Using parchment paper between the rolling pin and the dough, roll just larger than your cookie cut then use a maple leaf cookie cutter to stamp down. Notes: Wrapping the dough and chilling for 2 hours can help with the stamping process if your dough is too sticky. You can also dip your cookie cutter in maple crystals and do the stamping on the baking sheet lined with parchment or silplat to prevent having to transfer the fragile shaped dough. Your baking tray should hold 6 cookies and so you will bake the first batch while the other batch chills in the fridge. When stamping, try to wiggle the cookie cutter to form well-defined edges that will help you remove the excess dough.
- Chill maple cut outs. Once the cookies are formed, chill for 15 minutes prior to baking. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F.
- Bake and watch carefully. Remove maple leaf stamped dough from the fridge (optional step: score veins in the dough with the handle of a spoon). Bake until the edges begin to brown, about 7 minutes (more or less depending on your oven and how cold the dough is). Let them cool completely before handling or they will break.Note: During testing, I noticed that the edges burned when overcooked by just 1 minute.
- Make maple filling. For the maple cream filling, whisk together the powdered maple crystals, softened palm oil, and salt. Note: It’s ok to reuse the mixing bowl you already dirtied. You can refrigerate this mixture for 5 minutes to thicken it for a spreadable consistency.
- Spread maple mixture onto cookies and press together. Using an offset spatula or a piping bag, gently apply a layer of the maple cream mixture on half of the cookies. Use the remaining half to create little sandwiched maple leaf cookies. Allow to set for 20 minutes (the palm oil will hold up better when it isn't warm). Enjoy!
Nutrition
🥗 Side dishes
Since this is a Fall AIP cookie recipe, you could serve these for Thanksgiving or Christmas with some homemade coconut milk nog (use ground mace in place of nutmeg for AIP). You could also try using these as a garnish piece by sticking the cookie on top of a scoop of AIP vanilla ice cream.
📖 Variations
- You could save time on the filling and use maple cream instead. If you try it, let me know how that turns out for you.
- If you would like to substitute coconut oil for the palm oil in the filling, I'd go with refined coconut oil, which has a neutral taste.
- skip the sandwiching step and just serve each cookie with frosting and you get 26 portions that way
👪 Serving size
Recipe will yield 13 sandwich cookies. A portion is calculated to be 1 sandwich cookie (nutritional info provided above)
🍽 Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- Maple Cookie Cutter
- Offset Spatula
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
🧂 Seasoning
Vanilla extract or maple extract provide concentrated flavor to the cookie dough.
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