This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure.
What’s Christmas cookies without the fun of decorating them? It’s like having a cake without the frosting! But how can frosting be healthy? There’s an easy and healthy alternative to the sugar laden highly processed frosting you buy in the food store! The answer is a paleo frosting recipe and the secret ingredient is coconut butter!
If you’re not familiar with coconut butter, it is a spread made from the meat of the coconut. It tastes delicious, just like frosting! It is also good for you, similar to coconut oil, as it boosts immunity, protects against viruses and contains a high amount of lauric acid which destroys harmful bacteria.
Another benefit to these paleo frosting recipes is that if you’re watching your sugar intake, you can still enjoy these recipes! Two tablespoons only contains about 1.9 grams of sugar.
Color Choices for Paleo Frosting
For this Christmas, I made these amazing cut-out coconut flour cookies and I had to come up with a healthy way to decorate them. Buying some unhealthy frosting at the food store wasn’t an option, because I wanted to be able to eat them! So, I looked around my kitchen to try and figure out what I could use. Then I spotted it, coconut butter! Yes, I can make some paleo frosting from delicious coconut butter! It has a frosting like consistency, beautiful white color, and it seriously tastes like frosting! But how can you get different colored frostings? To solve this, I started experimenting, with some raw cacao powder, beets, and more…..and there you have it! A way to get some great colors from the frosting!
See my recipes for each color frosting below. These recipes are for small amounts because I was decorating small Christmas cookies, but if you’re making a cake or decorating another baked good, you can adjust the recipe.
I used these frosting recipes to decorate Christmas cookies, but I also can imagine how great they would work for frosting a cake or decorating a cake and writing Happy Birthday.
What you need:
(here’s the coconut butter I used, a beet, chocolate chips, and oops..I forgot to include raw cacao powder in the pic)
Paleo Frosting Recipes for Each Color:
White:
- 2 tablespoons of coconut butter (it is naturally a bright white color) (see it here)
Red or Pink:
- 2 tablespoons of coconut butter (see it here)
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of beet juice (I took a fresh beet and put it in my juicer)
*To get more of a darker red color, add more beet juice.
*To get more of a lighter pink color, use less beet juice.
Instructions:
1. Mix the two ingredients in a bowl, stirring well to blend them.
Green:
- 2 tablespoons of coconut butter (see it here)
- 1/4 teaspoon spirulina powder (see it here)
*Use more or less of the spirulina to achieve a darker or lighter green color.
Instructions:
1. Mix the two ingredients in a bowl, stirring well to blend them.
Brown or Tan:
- 2 tablespoons of coconut butter (see it here)
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of raw cacao powder (see it here)
*Use more or less of the raw cacao powder to achieve a darker or lighter color.
Instructions:
1. Mix the two ingredients in a bowl, stirring well to blend them.
Do These Frosting Recipes Taste Good?
They taste delicious! For the beet colored red frosting, I couldn’t taste the beet. The chocolate frosting tastes exactly like chocolate frosting! The only one to watch, because the taste could be affected, is the spirulina powder. Don’t use too much. The taste isn’t noticeable when you use a small amount, but when I put a lot on to make a really dark green color, it wasn’t very tasty.
Using Paleo Frosting to Decorate Christmas Cookies:
I used these paleo frosting recipes to decorate my Christmas cookies pictured above, aren’t they cute? Eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to give up great treats like this! These yummy cookies are amazingly healthy!
Tip for decorating Christmas Cookies – These small (soy free, dairy free) chocolate chips, worked out great for eyes and snowman buttons.
Paleo Frosting Tips:
1. How to get the right consistency– Similar to coconut oil, coconut butter can get harder in cold temperatures and softer in warmer temperatures. You may want to very lightly heat it, to make it easier to work with.
2. If the frosting is too hard or soft to work with, what should you do?– If the consistency is too hard, lightly heat it, it will become softer, or you could add a little bit of water to it. If it is too soft, place the jar in your fridge for a few minutes and it will become harder.
3. How to spread the paleo frosting-I used a baby sized small spoon to spread the frosting on my cookies. Small toothpicks also worked well to create small decorative designs. I didn’t get a chance to try this, but you could also try taking a plastic Ziploc bag and putting the frosting inside of it. Then cut a small piece of one of the bottom corners of the bag off and you can use it similar to a cake decorating pastry bag.
A M
Hi! I’m excited to try this because of the low sugar! What’s the recipe yield as written? I’m looking to frost cupcakes. Any idea of the recipe proportions I would need for 1 1/2 to 2 cups of frosting? Thank you!!
L?????
How about using matcha powder or lime juice/zest for green or unsweetened instant tea for tan? Maybe something could be done with carrot/orange juice or sweet potato for orange? Lemon zest/juice or pineapple juice for yellow? How about dark purple from blackberries or red from cherries or pomegranate juice?
How could I make blue naturally?
Lori
I think some use shredded cabbage mixed with water to make blue.
Izzy
FOR BLUE:
Baking soda reacts with red cabbage to make a pretty blue hue. The baking soda also minimizes the cabbage flavor, so this works well as a natural food dye.
Shred some red (purple) cabbage. Sprinkle with a pinch of baking soda and add just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. It will soon turn blue . Remove from heat. Strain off liquid and allow to cool. Discard cabbage.
Lori
Thank you for sharing! I’ll have to try those.
Lyn
Lemon and lime zest mixed