This healthy recipe for Meyer Lemon Cookies is perfect for a lightly sweet dessert, and contains no refined sugar – the cookies are naturally sweetened with dates.
Good morning! I got home last night from an early spring break vacation to Arizona with a few friends. We visited Sedona and the Grand Canyon. What an absolutely gorgeous place! It was bliss to be outdoors in sunny, 75 degree weather. I have so much to write about from this trip, including our hiking experience and the best place to watch the sunset.
Before I left town last week, I created this Meyer Lemon Cookies recipe and couldn’t wait any longer to share it. I have been wanting to create a cookie recipe that doesn’t include any refined sugar, but I wasn’t sure if it would work. I finally found the key to this puzzle – make your own date paste!
You can buy date paste in the store, but it’s quite pricey so I made my own by combining Medjool dates and unsweetened almond butter in a food processor. It worked like a charm.
Homemade date paste is combined almond flour, egg, and unsweetened coconut flakes. The star ingredient of these cookies is the juice and zest from Meyer lemons, my favorite citrus fruit in late winter and spring. I tried Meyer lemons for the first time last year, and posted a healthy snack recipe using their delicious juice – Meyer Lemon Snack Bars.
Meyer lemons are darker in color, appearing as a deep yellow. They are also slightly smaller and rounder than regular lemons with a much sweeter taste. The season for Meyer lemons is December to May. Find more about the difference between regular and Meyer lemons from the kitchn.
Meyer Lemon Cookies make the perfect afternoon or evening snack, and their texture when baked is exactly like a “normal” cookie! They also happen to be gluten free since I used almond flour instead of white flour.
Meyer Lemon Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups almond flour
- 2 Meyer lemons {juiced}
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond butter
- 6 Medjool dates {pitted}
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
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Mix the dates and almond butter in a food processor, to form a paste.
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Add the date paste to a mixer, and combine the wet ingredients - egg, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
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Add the dry ingredients - almond flour, coconut flakes, lemon zest, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined.
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Use a medium cookie scoop to place cookies on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Lightly press each cookie with a fork to flatten.
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Bake for ~12 minutes, or until cookies are light brown on the bottom.
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I’m Celia. I live in the Chicago area. I'm a mama of two, runner, business owner and former Iowan. My blog includes recipes, fitness and travel posts, and stories about Chicago.
