You could ask my kids about my little happy dance and shouts of “eureka!” Or you can just take my word for it that I was a just a wee-bit overexcited (to say the least) when I finally found a way to make a delicious dairy-free, refined-sugar-free icing perfect for decorating cookies!
What makes this icing so wonderful is the fact that its consistency allows for easy decorating without running and spreading. In fact, this icing will even firm up at room temperature within an hour or so, making packing them up to give to your favorite sweeties a lot less messy.
This delightful recipe is just one of more than 100 irresistible grain-free, dairy-free recipes in my new cookbook – Everyday Grain-Free Baking!
From breads, biscuits and muffins to savory snacks and decadent treats, you’ll find step-by-step instructions, beautiful color photographs and helpful tips & tidbits to make all of your GF baking adventures a delicious success!
Click here to get a SNEAK PEEK of the book!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut butter
(not coconut oil)
- 1/2 cup coconut cream (see recipe instructions below)
- 1/4 tsp unflavored gelatin
- 1 tbsp coconut milk
(or water)
- 3 tbsp pure honey
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Optional: natural food coloring
or fine-ground dried strawberries
Instructions
- For the Coconut Cream: Place one can of coconut milk in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight. This will result in the coconut cream rising to the surface. Measure out 1/2 cup of the cream at the top of the can. Reserve the remainder for another use.
- In a small bowl, add 1 tbsp of coconut milk (or water) to 1/4 tsp of unflavored gelatin. Whisk well; set aside.
- In a small saucepan, add the coconut cream, coconut butter, honey and vanilla. Warm over low heat just until coconut butter is melted. Whisk well to thoroughly combine the ingredients. Then, whisk in the gelatin and remove from the heat.
- Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours or overnight.
- Remove icing mixture from fridge. If you've allowed it to sit in fridge overnight, you'll need to let it sit for a bit as it will be very hard. Once it softens a bit, if you'd like to add color, separate the icing into separate mixing bowls and add desired colors. Or use fine-ground dried strawberries to add color and flavor.
- Then, using a stand mixer with whisk attachment (or electric hand mixer), whip the icing until it becomes light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes on high). Be sure to rinse whisk (beaters) well and dry, before mixing the next color.
- Transfer icing to a pastry bag with writing tip insert. Or place in ziplock baggies and snip corners to decorate.
- Keep icing in the fridge until ready to use. (Icing can be made one day in advance. Again, if it's been left in fridge for more than a couple hours it will be very hard, so allow it to sit at room temp for a bit until it softens. Then decorate.)
Curious about these adorable heart cookies? Those are a special guest recipe post I’m sharing over at Honeyville Farms. Inspired by those classic little conversation heart candies, these delicious heart-shaped cookies are certain to bring smiles to the faces of those you love – not only because they’re absolutely adorable, but more important because they taste great too!
I’m sorry to say that this icing is in no way sugar free as honey is pure sugar.
I will be more thorough in explaining this is “refined sugar free,” as the real food diet and specific carbohydrate diet, which I follow for crohns/celiac do permit honey as a healthy natural alternative to refined sugars. Blessings to you, Kelly
Kelly, Those cookies look lovely. Good job. I do have a question, though. Is coconut butter the same as coconut oil that is hardened? I hope this isn’t a stupid question. 🙂 Anyway, I wanted you to know I have been enjoying your posts, even though I don’t have to eat gluten-free. Thank you for sharing your recipes and your kitchen wisdom. Love to you from Arizona.
Hi, Gleniece. No question is stupid. We are all learning. Coconut butter is very different than coconut oil because it’s actually made using the whole coconut meat, so it is much denser and harder, which is the secret to this icing being so spectacular. So do not replace with coconut oil, or the icing will be runny. If you click on the ingredient in the pretty teal color in the recipe, it will link you to amazon where you can see what coconut butter looks like and read up on it. Hope this helps! And so glad you’re enjoying the recipes here. You definitely don’t have to be GF to enjoy them. Blessings to you from Southern CA!! 🙂 Kelly
I am so excited your recipe is gluten, sugar and dairy free! However I am also allergic to eggs and almonds, is there a replacement for the almond flour which won’t effect the integrity of the cookies? Will vanilla extract be alright instead of almond extract?
Hi, Amber. You can certainly replace the almond extract with vanilla extract in any recipe, just double it since vanilla isn’t quite as potent as almond extract. However, you will need to find a different cookie recipe that meets your requirements since it would require quite a bit of experimenting to rework my recipe since it was specifically developed using eggs and almond flour. Perhaps a google search can help you locate one, or contact Whole New Mom – an allegory friendly site that has many egg and nut free recipes. Blessings, Kelly 🙂
Looks delicious Kelly! I’m AWFUL at decorative icing, so I thank you for doing the hard work for me! I’m sharing via social media tomorrow, and I’ve already pinned it!!
Thanks so much, sweet friend 🙂
I thought I understood that coconut butter and coconut crème are one and the same….comments?
Hi, Sandi. Coconut butter includes the meat of the coconut whereas coconut oil and coconut milk do not. It is made by pureeing dried coconut meat and so the coconut oil within the meat and coconut meat mix itself blend together and turn into a butter like consistency. In general, this is referred to as coconut butter, however, depending on where you live and the manufacturer you purchase from it’s also referred to as coconut spread, coconut manna and coconut créme concentrate (which you mentioned). 🙂 You can of course make your own coconut butter, as is described here: http://www.thekitchn.com/one-ingredient-recipe-coconut-butter-166405
When it comes to coconut cream, this is referring to the cream that rises to the top of a can of pure coconut milk and that is what you will need to use as described in this recipe in combination with coconut butter.
Both coconut milk and coconut cream are made by boiling coconut meat and water and the difference between the two is in the concentration. You can read more details about coconut milk and coconut cream here: http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-coconut-m-75446
I hope this helps better clarify. Many blessings to you, Kelly 🙂
I can’t wait to try this! I’m getting ready to go gluten free and maybe dairy free for awhile so this will be a perfect treat for my girls! Yum! Sharing this today! Thank you!
Thanks, Katie! I appreciate your kind words! You are such an awesome mom to your girls. They are so blessed to have you in their lives! 🙂
hi! Wanting to make these but wondering if the icing really comes out looking white. I made another icing recipe and it was more light honey color. Thanks. 🙂
Hi, Leslee. The icing does come out a creamy white color as shown in the photos. Of course, if you use a dark honey, it will impact the color, as does the vanilla extract. So if you want it to be ultra white, you could bypass the vanilla and use almond extract instead, and just be sure to use a very light color honey to sweeten. Hope this helps. Blessings, Kelly 🙂
Or you can get some Mexican vanilla that is clear. It works great to not discolor whatever you are making!
Thanks, Cynthia. I’ll have to try that! 🙂
This looks great! However, I don’t have coconut butter. I was wondering if regular butter can be used? Or a different substitute?
Hi, Ana. Coconut butter a very hard substance made from the meat and oil of the coconut and so it firms up very nicely making it perfect for cookie decorating or when you want a firmer DF icing option. So I’m afraid it’s not possible to sub with something else for this particular recipe. Instead, if you’re planning to use this as a cookie filling or for frosting cookies, I’d recommend using an icing specifically developed for butter, such as Carrie’s cream cheese icing which she uses in her whoopie pie recipe. You can find it here: http://deliciouslyorganic.net/pumpkin-whoopie-pies-grain-free/ Hope this helps! 🙂