I like to cook. I love to cook for others. This recipe was created from a love for two dear friends of mine! Kate and Kim. They are awesome gals who have helped me more than they could know. We have a summer bible study going on that I am leading with these two. Part of the study includes health-ish recipes at the end of each week. We have made these recipes part of a snack rotation in the study. I was cooking last week – Asian lettuce wraps and lemon cookies. Kim is gluten free and Kate is a Vegan so I wanted to make something they both could eat. Lettuce wraps were easy but the cookies, well that took a little more thought. In the end I made what I think is the best gluten free vegan lemon cookie.

Ingredients: 1/2 cup Vegan Butter (I used a cashew based one and it worked great) 1/2 cup sugar (or sugar substitute) 2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice 1/2 tsp grated lemon rind 1/2 cup coconut flour 3/4 cup white rice flour 1/2 cup brown rice flour 1/4 cup tapioca flour * If you don’t have all those different flours hanging around your kitchen, you can just use 2 cups gluten free flour. I liked this blend. It ended up not too dry and crumbly like some gluten free mixes can be. 1 tsp xanthan gum 1 1/2 tsp baking powder dash of salt 2-3 tbsp of vanilla almond milk (any type of nut milk would work, too)

For the Glaze: 1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice 1/2 tsp grated lemon rind dash of vanilla 1/2-3/4 cup powdered sugar (depending on how thick you want the glaze)

Directions:

Mix the vegan butter and the sugar until fluffy and the sugar is all mixed in. Then add the lemon juice and the lemon rind. Slowly add the flours one at time mixing after each addition. Add the xanthan gum and baking powder. The mixture will be crumbly at this point.

I added the almond milk and mixed it by hand. Then roll the dough into golf ball size pieces or a little smaller, and place on a greased cookie sheet.

If you haven’t by now, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take the bottom of a glass and slightly flatten each dough ball. I used a glass with a design on it, but you couldn’t tell once they were baked. So any old glass will do.

Bake the cookies for 10-13 minutes or until just barely golden brown in color. While they are baking or cooling you can make the glaze. In a small bowl (I used a measuring cup because it has the little pour spout to help drizzle the glaze) mix all the ingredients for the glaze. Add more sugar until you get the consistency you like. Once the cookies are completely cooled, drizzle the tops with the glaze.