Gluten Free Cranberry Walnut Snack Cookies. Great nutrient dense after school snack! They also freeze well!

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Contributor post written by Renee from Raising Generation Nourished

Afternoons get a little crazy around these parts.

While my 6 and 4 year-old are recovering from the school day, my 2 year-old is recovering from being carted around in the minivan taxi all morning, only to get shorted on her nap to get back into the elusive minivan taxi for another school pick up. And Momma is just keeping up with all the hustle and bustle while trying to get dinner ready.

I am not a huge afternoon snack person. I have found when it comes to kids, dinner just gets eaten better when they haven’t been snacking all day, but we found out really quick during our first year of full-time school last year that school days are long.

Gluten Free Cranberry Walnut Snack Cookies. Great nutrient dense after school snack! They also freeze well!

And those kids are so hungry when they get out of school. A simple, nutrient dense snack can be the difference between whining all the way until dinnertime, or your sanity saved with kids that have balanced blood sugars and a little energy boost to make it to the dinner meal.

Simple snacks are the name of my game, and even better yet is a snack that my 6 year old can fix herself. Most days she’ll grab veggie sticks and 5 minute Ranch from the fridge, or a handful of granola to put in a little cup of yogurt. But it is pretty fun to surprise them with a cookie every now and again!

Gluten Free Cranberry Walnut Snack Cookies. Great nutrient dense after school snack! They also freeze well!

My simple snack mantra is still alive with these Cranberry Walnut Snack Cookies! Literally everything goes into the food processor to blend. The cookies are then scooped onto the cookie sheet, baked in a warm oven, and ready in 10 minutes! This recipe makes a little over a dozen cookies, so the leftovers can be frozen for super quick snacks on the go or a fun lunchbox treat.

And bonus…

The kids will never know you didn’t use regular sugar to sweeten these delicious cookies! Potassium loaded dates make a great naturally-sweetened cookie! The walnuts are barely noticeable in case you have nut detectives in your home – they provide a great fat and protein source to balance their blood sugar and feed their brain!

Gluten-Free-Cranberry-Walnut-Snack-Cookies
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Cranberry Walnut Snack Cookies

My simple snack mantra is still alive with these Cranberry Walnut Snack Cookies! 
Kristin Marr
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time12 minutes
Total Time17 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 12 cookies
Calories 261 kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups walnuts I like to use crispy walnuts for better digestion - I keep large bags of soaked/dehydrated nuts in my freezer for easy grab and go!
  • 4-5 medjool dates pitted
  • 1 1/2 cups tapioca flour
  • 2 eggs I think flax eggs will work here for the bind if you're egg free - the cookies might not puff up as much but they will still work!
  • 1/4 cup butter softened
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp pure almond extract vanilla works too!
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries I get big bags of dried organic cranberries at Costco

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350F.
  • Put the walnuts in your food processor and blend until they resemble a meal-type flour. The walnuts won't get super fine, but don't leave huge pieces. If you pulse too far, the walnuts will get pasty from the oils in the nuts--don't go this far.
  • Add the rest of the ingredients except the cranberries to the food processor and blend to combine.
  • Add the cranberries and pulse to mix into the batter.
  • Scoop the batter onto a Silpat or parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool before serving. To freeze, just wrap the cookies individually and throw them into a freezer bag! You could also just freeze the dough and defrost at a later time.

Notes

Find my favorite kitchen essentials, here.

Nutrition

Calories: 261kcalCarbohydrates: 26gProtein: 4gFat: 17gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 45mgPotassium: 238mgFiber: 2gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 170IUVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 66mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!

Gluten Free Cranberry Walnut Snack Cookies. Great nutrient dense after school snack! They also freeze well!

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13 Comments

  1. Do you know if I could sub pure maple syrup for the dates? That’s what I generally use as a sweetener when baking. Thanks.

    1. Hi Holly! The dates help with some of the bind but I think you could get away with it – if they come out not holding together as good as they should then just add another egg next time 🙂

  2. I love the idea of a Healthy cookie for an after school snack! Sweetening with dates is so awesome, I would love to do this more often.
    I am a little disappointed this is another gluten free recipe though. Is tapioca flour a traditional baking substance, I don’t know because I’m new to this? I have to wonder, what added nutrition does tapioca flour impart?
    There are so many gluten free blogs and cookbooks out there, it gets frustrating for someone like me, who just wants to enjoy traditional foods. Whole grains are simple and nutritious and hearty and that’s why I like them. I know some can’t eat them, but they do have plenty of resources. If there were at least a tried and true alternative, it would be helpful. I just don’t want to have to keep all kinds of gluten free options around just so I can make the odd this or that, you know, it gets crowded in the kitchen.
    The thing that makes your blog so unique and wonderful to me, is the simple traditionally prepared foods, and of coarse the DIYs. I like that I can try your recipes without having to go to the store for specialty items I won’t otherwise use. I would hate to see this blog jump on the gluten free bandwagon.
    I love that your blog has modern tastes using traditional methods. This is my go-to website because my husband is very accustomed to his modern tastes, and if I’m honest, I do prefer them myself. This blog makes a traditional diet possible in my home. So thank you, and please don’t ever change ;).

    1. Hey Bethany,

      Thank you so much for the feedback. I truly appreciate it! We are not gluten-free at home intentionally, but Renee eats gluten-free due to health issues. There are times when we feature a recipe that doesn’t contain gluten to offer readers this alternative, and I like to label these recipes “gluten-free” so they are easy to find. There will still be plenty of gluten recipes ;). I happen to be traveling for two weeks, so Renee was sweet enough to offer a baked good recipe for the gluten-free community. For those who can’t consume gluten, tapioca flour is a great alternative for many baked good products.

      I’m so glad Live Simply is your go-to resource. I really pride myself on using everyday ingredients. While there are times when a contributor will use something more unique, I’ll continue to use common ingredients in the recipes I share :).

      I’ll ask Renee to share about the nutrition of tapioca flour in the comments.

    2. Hi Bethany! I appreciate your comment completely! I am a big time believer in “what would traditional peoples have eaten”. My family cannot tolerate wheat even though I am a huge advocate for traditionally sprouted wheat and believe that our ancestors absolutely would have eaten the Einkorn type hybrid of wheat. Unfortunately in this day and age, our bodies are a bit more compromised and some of us just plain cannot tolerate gluten. Even with years of gut healing – I literally test as having a pretty great integrity of gut health but I still cannot tolerate gluten – even sprouted Einkorn. My thyroid numbers tank, and I feel sluggish and slow. One of my kids literally goes bonkers when she has something with wheat. We just don’t tolerate it. Tapioca starch is dried out Cassava plant – it is a tuber like sweet potatoes. It has a great dietary fiber content and doesn’t spike blood sugar like many other flours can do. You are more than welcome to play around with the flour to use a sprouted wheat – I actually think it would work just fine. Tapioca flour gives a very “gluten-y” feel to baked goods – soft and chewy. I don’t think it would take much playing around if you wanted to make a swap with some sprouted Einkorn wheat – if you start out with a little and make it feel like a cookie dough it should be a pretty easy swap. I hope that helps and I apologize for the confusion 🙂

  3. Hi Leigh! I have only made this recipe with the tapioca flour but I’m sure you could play around with other flours you like to use. Tapioca flour does behave differently in baking than other flours giving a soft chewy (almost gluten-y) feel to baked goods. If you can tolerate wheat you could try a sprouted wheat but I’m not sure on amounts and that would also make the cookie not gluten free if you care about that. Cassava flour is about the closest thing to tapioca that I have ever worked with. I hope that helps!