Earth Day Cookies! (grain free & dairy free)

Healthy and delicious cookies to celebrate Earth Day! These fun and festive, soft and chewy sugar cookies are colored with natural ingredients straight from Mother Earth to make them look like our planet. So quick and easy to make and with just 11 real, simple ingredients! This recipe for Earth Day cookies is paleo-ish (gluten/grain/dairy free) and nut free!

What Do These Earth Day Cookies Taste Like?

These festive Earth-inspired cookies are just my standard sugar cookie recipe but naturally colored with real ingredients to get the earth, land, and cloud effect. The cookies are perfectly sweet with a soft and chewy center, and crisp edges.

Here’s why you will LOVE these cookies!

• Delicious sugar cookies made to look like planet Earth.
• Soft and chewy cookie with crispy edges.
• So easy to make – just one dough!
• Naturally colored with real ingredients and no food dyes.
• A easy, healthy Earth Day dessert recipe.

What Ingredients Are Used to Make These Healthy Cookies?

These Earth Day Cookies are made healthier as they contain no refined flours or oils. They are paleo-ish meaning they are gluten free, grain free, and dairy free, but not strictly refined sugar free as I use organic cane sugar so the colors stay bright. This healthy cookie recipe is also nut free!

Here’s a look at the ingredients you’ll need and some possible variations:

• Cane Sugar –  Organic cane sugar is a less refined version of conventional white sugar so the flavor is very similar to a classic sugar cookie and makes a similarly soft and chewy texture. Plus, cane sugar keeps the colors vibrant.
• Tahini – Makes the cookies perfectly dense and soft. Use any other nut/seed butter you like that contains only 1 ingredient. I’d recommend cashew or sunflower seed butter as they will not overpower the matcha flavor as much as almond or peanut butter. This is my tahini of choice for baking.
• Avocado Oil – Adds the perfect amount of moisture. Sub with melted and cooled coconut oil.
• Egg – To help puff the cookies.
• Vanilla – For that classic sugar cookie flavor.
• Cassava – A gluten free, grain free, and nut free flour that is unrefined! I find the best pricing to be on Amazon.
• Tapioca Flour – Helps thicken the dough without making it too floury or dense.
• Baking Powder – Helps the cookies rise.
• Salt – To enhance all the flavors.
• Matcha – For the green land color I use matcha! Soar Organics is my favorite brand, I use their ceremonial matcha for a bright green color, but their culinary matcha is a great, reasonably priced option for baking.  (Use code Freshly15 to get 15% off!)
• Blue Spirulina – For the blue water I spike the dough with blue spirulina powder. It’s a bit pricey so another good option for a natural blue is blue butterfly pea powder.

How Do You Make Cookies That Look Like Earth?

These cookies are actually SUPER easy to make! You only need to make one dough, in just one bowl, then separate the dough and add some colored powders to create the blue and greens! These fun Earth Day cookies can be done in under 40 minutes!

Here’s an overview of the steps:

1. Make the cookie dough. Mix the wet ingredients, stir in the dry ingredients, that’s it!
2. Separate the cookie dough into 3 small bowls. Add matcha to one, spirulina to another, and leave the third plain.
3. Chill the cookie doughs. It’s easier to shape the cookies once the dough firms through chilling – just 15 minutes in the freezer.
4. Make Earth cookie dough balls. To make the plant-like design in the cookies take two small balls from each bowl and shape them into a larger ball. I don’t recommend rolling them too much to avoid over-incorporating the colors, just use your hands to form the dough into a sphere.
5. Bake the cookies for just about 10 minutes.
6. Let cool and enjoy!

Cookies will keep at room temperature, in an airtight container, for 2-3 days. Or keep in the freezer for longer storage.

Make Ahead: Doughs can be made ahead and kept, covered, in the fridge for about a week. Cookie dough balls will keep in the freezer for a few weeks!

These Earth inspired sugar cookies are the perfect sweet treat to celebrate our Mother Earth. They are absolutely delicious, made with real, simple ingredients, and colored with natural powders and no food dyes! These healthy cookies are wonderfully soft and chewy and just so so good you’ll be wishing everyday was Earth Day. (Which it should be!)

paleo-ish (gluten/grain/dairy free), naturally sweetened, nut free

More Fun Cookie Recipes!

• Lemon Sugar Cookies (grain free & nut free)
• Healthy Brookies! (Chocolate Chip + Brownie Cookies)
• Pretzel & Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies (paleo & nut-free option)

Easy Ways To Help Save Our Earth

I would be completely remiss if I devoted a cookie to Earth Day but didn’t mention any ways to help save our planet. I’m a firm believer that small changes can make a big impact and I personally try to do as much as I can, every day, to minimize my damage to our environment. Here are my favorite tips for being more environmentally conscious. And if you have ANY questions always feel free to email or DM me!

• Shop Local! Visiting your local farmers market is one of my favorite ways to be eco-friendly. You’re not only reducing emissions caused by long haul transportation, you’re stimulating your local economy, supporting small farmers, and reducing packaging waste. Plus you’ll likely get higher quality, better tasting produce! And for extra green points bring your own produce bags to make the whole trip plastic free!
• Go Homemade! One of the most pernicious uses of single use plastic is food packaging. Making your own treats and snacks at homes not only tastes better but majorly reduces the amount of plastic trash you’ll create. Check out my recipes for granola, muffins, and cookies – all easy things to make at home instead of store bought. Store the goods in glass containers or multi-use bags.
• Multi-Use over Single-Use. If you’re new to being more environmentally conscious always try to think about limiting single use items that serve one purpose and go in the trash as soon as it’s done. Get yourself a good water bottle, invest in some stasher bags, and buy in bulk or large containers when you can! Every step count!

SHARE THE LOVE!

If you make this recipe, please spread the love by leaving a review or rating down below. And I’d LOVE to see and share your creation! Take a picture and tag me on Instagram @freshlydafna in your feed or stories and I will share on my account!

5 from 1 vote

Print

Earth Day Cookies

Healthy and delicious cookies to celebrate Earth Day! These fun and festive cookies are colored with natural ingredients straight from Mother Earth. Super quick and easy to make too!

paleo-ish (gluten/grain/dairy free), nut free

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Chill Time 15 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 10 cookies

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

• 2/3 cup (140 grams) cane sugar
• 1/4 cup (65 grams) tahini, well stirred before measuring sub other nut/seed butter of choice
• 1/4 cup (61 grams) avocado oil sub coconut oil (melted and cooled)
• 1 egg ideally room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla

Dry Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (72 grams) cassava flour, spooned and leveled
• 1/4 cup (30 grams) tapioca flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt

Color Additions

• 1/2 - 3/4 tsp matcha powder see notes
• 1/2 tsp blue spirulina powder see notes

Instructions

1. Mix wet ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer, or a large bowl if mixing by hand, until thick and glossy.

2. Add in the dry ingredients and stir until just fully incorporated, ensuring not to overmix, and scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl once during mixing.

3. Separate the dough. Place 3 tbsps of dough in a small bowl, and separate remaining dough into 2 other medium bowl.

4. Color the cookie doughs. Add 1/2 tsp of matcha powder to one of the medium bowls and 1/2 tsp spirulina to the other medium bowl and mix each until the powder is fully incorporated. Add additional matcha or spirulina until the color is to your liking.

5. Chill the doughs in the freezer for at least 15 minutes or in the fridge for 2 hours.

6. Heat oven to 360 (yes, 360) degrees and prepare a baking sheet by lining with parchment paper or a silpat.

7. Make Earth cookie dough balls by pulling out 2 small pieces of green, 2 small pieces of blue, and 2 much smaller pieces of plain and form them into a ball about the size of a ping pong ball. Do not roll the dough too much to avoid over incorporating the colors, just use your hands to guide the dough into a sphere. Place the dough balls at least 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.

8. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are puffed, centers have set, and slightly golden brown around the edges.

9. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

Helpful Kitchen Tools: silicone spatula, kitchen scale

Storage: Cookies will keep at room temperature, in an airtight container, for 2-3 days. Or keep in the freezer for longer storage.

Make Ahead: Doughs can be made ahead and kept, covered, in the fridge for about a week. Cookie dough balls will keep in the freezer for a few weeks, just add 1-2 minutes to baking time if dough is frozen longer than 24 hours.

Ingredient Substitutions/Variations:

Tahini -  Use any other thin and drippy nut/seed butter you like that contains only 1 ingredient. I’d recommend cashew or sunflower seed butter as they will not overpower the sugar cookie flavor as much as almond or peanut butter. Always stir the nut/seed butter in the jar before measuring. Do not use the compacted paste at the bottom of the container for best results.  My favorite tahini for baking is the 365 brand from Whole Foods.

Matcha - I used 3/4 teaspoon of matcha to give these cookies a light green color. The amount of matcha you will add will depend on the brand of matcha and how dark/light the color is. Start with 1/2 tsp and add more from there.

Blue Spirulina Powder - The blue spirulina powder I used is a bit pricey, a more reasonable option is blue butterfly pea powder. I didn't test it using this powder so unfortunately I cannot recommend a specific amount, start will 1/4 tsp and work up from there.

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