Last fall, my mom was diagnosed with a gluten allergy — which was a pretty big deal in our house considering the majority of our holiday bonding time is spent baking together.
I could tell she was discouraged by her new lifestyle, so my siblings and I surprised her with a collection of new gluten-free cookie recipes. Now, we prefer these gluten-free finds to the original selection we'd grown up baking. Mom never feels left out, and we get to experiment with new festive flavor combinations.
I'll take powdered sugar snowballs to the face any day — especially if they're packed with pecans.
Get the recipe: gluten-free vanilla pecan snowball cookies
These snickerdoodles hit me right in the nostalgia; their smell right out of the oven brings me back to my childhood kitchen alongside my mom and grandma.
Get the recipe: gluten-free vegan snickerdoodles
Half dipped in chocolate and decorated with toasted pecans, these cookies are too beautiful to eat. I'll still stash a few aside for myself, but the rest makes for a great gift basket.
Get the recipe: toasted-pecan almond-flour shortbread cookies
Imagine dunking these chewy bites in hot coffee while curled up on the couch in front of the fire — need I say more?
Get the recipe: grain-free ginger cookies
Pumpkin and chocolate-chip cookies are both in my top-five favorite holiday flavors — but why pick just one when you can tastefully combine the two?
Get the recipe: chocolate-chip pumpkin cookies with almond flour
Or, you could give pumpkin cookies a sophisticated upgrade with some bourbon-cinnamon frosting. Either way, you can't go wrong.
Get the recipe: pumpkin sugar cookies with bourbon-cinnamon frosting
We can't forget about the chocolate-lovers gathering around our holiday table. For them, I'm serving up double the flavor. After all, it's the season of indulging.
Get the recipe: double-chocolate almond-butter cookies
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