Favorite Sesame Cookies, Paleo Friendly

(Scroll to bottom for Paleo-Friendly Recipe)

In my quest for creating delicious tasting Paleo dishes, I decided to turn one of my favorite cookie recipes Paleo. Sesame cookies are a holiday favorite in our house, and I had been experimenting with recipes for years, trying to come with the perfect blend of sweet and savory. And I had it. Until I went Paleo.
Now without going into a lot of the whys I had to drop wheat from my diet—number one being I simply wanted to feel better—I had to reformulate my recipe. I had to find a substitute for wheat flour. Now I had already been using either coconut or almond flour for wheat flour in most recipes, and for this recipe I chose coconut flour, as I did not want the more crumbly texture I would get with almond flour.

Now according to Abe’s Market,  “Dry coconut powder (flour) is an unsweetened powder that is produced by drying and powering coconut meat that has the oil pressed out of it. Therefore it is less fatty. It is not only a gluten free flour, it’s a grain free flour too. So for those who follow strict grain free diets, coconut flour opens up a world of delicious baked goods, it also does not trigger any allergic reactions wheat flour may cause within the body.”

And, “Although coconut flour does not contain the gluten protein, it still has significant protein content; it has more protein per serving than the other leading flours, such as white, rye or cornmeal. It's also has nearly double the amount of fiber found in wheat bran flour.”

I know, sounds too good to be true. And with a 1:1 substitution ratio, what could be better, right?

Well, it wasn’t that easy.

Here’s the original recipe:

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The 1:1 substitution ratio was a definite cookie fail. It produced the rock on top.

The second in the stack, after  I covered the ball of dough with a square of parchment and flattened it with a drinking glass, looked promising, but not the same cookie.

Surprisingly, the taste wasn’t too far off, but it was definitely  too dry. The coconut flour was much too dense, too absorbent for the amount of wet ingredients in the recipe. 

After a little adjusting, I eventually added four more tablespoons of butter. (One more egg and the texture was too spongy. One additional tablespoon of coconut flour and the sesame flavor was entirely overpowered.) The resulting cookie was almost identical to the original recipe, but not quite. With a faint hint of butter and a slightly softer texture, it was better than ever!

Truly, a new holiday favorite. (Recipe Below)

Enjoy!!