Allergy Friendly Valentine’s Day Chocolate Sugar Cookies

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, you might be thinking about what kind of special sweet treats to serve your loved ones. When you have food allergies in your family, many of the “fancy” holiday candies and sweets that pop up in the store aisles aren’t safe. 

There’s no reason to miss out on festive Valentine’s treats, though! You can make these easy, allergy friendly chocolate sugar cookie hearts with simple ingredients. A dusting of powdered sugar and heart shaped strawberries are the finishing touch!

You can be creative if you like - make these cookies into different shapes, or make them into sandwich cookies by spreading some dairy free buttercream frosting in between them.

Allergy Friendly Valentine’s Day Chocolate Sugar Cookies.

Author: Kelly Roenicke

Makes about 20 cookies

Ingredients:

5/8 cup vegan buttery spread (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
5/8 cup organic cane sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1 ¼ cups gluten free flour blend
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar
10 strawberries

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Instructions:
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1. Place the vegan buttery spread and sugar in a mixing bowl, and mix on medium speed until smooth and creamy.
2. Add the applesauce and mix until combined.
3. Add the gluten free flour blend, cocoa powder, and salt, and mix on low speed until combined. The dough will be thick. 
4. Pat the dough into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for one hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
6. Unwrap the dough and place on a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper. Dust the dough, the rolling pin, and rolling surface with a little cocoa powder to prevent sticking.
7. Roll the dough out to a thickness of ¼ inch. Use heart shaped cookie cutters to cut out the dough. (The cookie cutters I used were about 2 ½ inches wide).
8. Place the cookies on the prepared cookie sheets, leaving about one inch between the cookies.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
10. Prepare the strawberries: Slice the tops off the berries, then slice in half. Use a sharp knife to gently shape the top of each half into a heart.
11. Allow the cookies to cool fully before dusting them with powdered sugar.
12. Place a heart shaped strawberry on top of each sugar coated cookie.

 ​Recipe Notes:

Your baking time may vary if you use much smaller or larger cookie cutters. Keep an eye on the
cookies as they bake.

If you are not gluten free, you should be able to make these with all-purpose flour. They may
bake a little quicker than the gluten free version. 

If you cannot have applesauce, you can use pumpkin puree, mashed banana, or even pureed
beets instead. 

Strawberries are optional! You can just leave them as is with the powdered sugar, or use a
different fruit that works for you. 

About the Author:
Kelly Roenicke is the mother of two boys with food allergies and sensitivities. She is passionate
about allergy friendly cooking and baking and shares her recipes on her food allergy recipe 
blog, theprettybee.com.