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Who loves Nilla Wafers? They were one of my favorite cookies when I was a kid, way back when I was able to dunk them in milk or eat them with banana pudding…and now I cannot do either of those things. One thing that I can still do, is use them as the base in cheesecakes…dairy-free of course. And if we’re going to make dairy-free cheesecake, we may as well make Paleo Vanilla Wafers…..
I am not going to lie to you and tell you that these are a copycat version of your childhood favorite, because they are not. These Paleo Vanilla Wafers are not made with enriched wheat flour, refined sugar, soybean oil, high fructose corn syrup, or emulsifiers. They do not have the same texture, they are not sweet, but they do hit the spot when you are dying to appease your cookie cravings…..
Hey look, you can even pretend that they are teacakes, LOL
This was a tricky recipe to create, in fact I made 5 batches over the past week trying to get a combination that I liked. I used TigerNut flour in the first batch, but the texture was off, it was a bit too gritty. They ended up being used in the base for my Paleo Lemon Cheesecake…..
Back to the drawing board. The next batches were made with combinations of almond flour, cassava flour, and potato flour. Then I played around with the honey to shortening/oil/ghee ratios until I came up with this final version…finally!!!
How to make Paleo Vanilla Wafers:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
Whisk flours and salt together in a large bowl…..
Stir in the shortening, honey, egg, vanilla extract and bean…..
Scoop dough using a small cookie scoop, roll between hands to smooth, and place on prepared baking sheet. Place a small sheet of parchment paper {4 x 4} over the cookie dough, then press down with a glass until flattened…..
If you don’t have parchment paper, you can dip the bottom of a glass in tapioca starch and press the cookies down. OR, you can scoop them out and not flatten them to make teacakes. 😉
Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until set and golden brown around the edges. Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for ten minutes before moving to a wire cooling rack…..
Cool cookies completely before storing in a container.
Notes:
- Choose a neutral flavored honey if possible. Mesquite is too strong, and so is Simple Truth Organic, unfiltered, raw honey. Clover honey worked better for me, until I ran out.
- I preferred working with palm shortening, it was smoother and blended in easier than the ghee. I did not try coconut oil.
- The potato flour was added to “add a moist crumb” to the cookies…it says so on the package.
- You can substitute coconut flour for the cassava flour, but you will need to adjust your liquid measurements. I have not tried it, I am allergic to coconut.
- I used this cookie scoop to form my cookies {affiliate link}
- You can find Cassava Flour on Amazon if your local health store does not sell it. {affiliate link}
If you don’t need a paleo cookie, these Clean Lemon Cookies are quite delicious…..
By the way, these Paleo Vanilla Wafers are quite tasty with leftover Paleo Lemon Curd spread on top! Just in case you were wondering. 😉
Enjoy!!
Paleo Vanilla Wafers
Ingredients
- 1 cup super-fine ground almond flour
- 1/3 cup cassava flour
- 2 Tablespoons potato flour
- pinch fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup palm shortening coconut oil, or ghee
- 2 Tablespoons raw honey
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 vanilla bean split and scraped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.
- Whisk flours and salt together in a large bowl.
- Stir in the shortening, honey, egg, vanilla extract and bean.
- Scoop dough using a small cookie scoop, roll between hands to smooth, and place on prepared baking sheet.
- Place a small sheet of parchment paper over the cookie dough, then press down with a glass until flattened.
- Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, until set and golden brown around the edges.
- Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for ten minutes before moving to a wire cooling rack.
- Cool cookies completely before storing in a container.
Notes
- Choose a neutral flavored honey if possible. Mesquite is too strong, and so is Simple Truth Organic, unfiltered, raw honey. Clover honey worked better for me, until I ran out.
- I preferred working with palm shortening, it was smoother and blended in easier than the ghee. I did not try coconut oil.
- The potato flour was added to “add a moist crumb” to the cookies…it says so on the package.
- You can substitute coconut flour for the cassava flour, but you will need to adjust your liquid measurements. I have not tried it, I am allergic to coconut.
- I used this cookie scoop to form my cookies {affiliate link}
- You can find Cassava Flour on Amazon if your local health store does not sell it.
I haven’t tried cassava flour before. I will have to give it a try one of these days. As for vanilla wafers, I have such fond memories of them from my childhood. Thanks for sharing the recipe on #TastyTuesdays.