I ate two of these healthy sugar cookies, straight from the oven!
It’s officially December now, which means you have a great excuse to make cookies. Why not go ahead and bake a batch of these to find out if your self-restraint is better than mine?
(As if anyone needed an excuse to bake cookies.)
The perfect sugar cookie should be soft, buttery, and so incredibly delicious it makes you want to polish off the entire batch in a single sitting.
This healthy sugar cookie recipe fulfills all of the above requirements… and yet these cookies are whole-grain, lower in sugar, and cholesterol-free at the same time.
Yes, healthy sugar cookies!
Do you bake cookies during the holidays? My grandmother loved baking Christmas cookies more than anyone else I know. Each year, she’d make at least ten different kinds of cookies. Michelle and I liked to help: she helped by rolling out the dough… and I helped by eating all the finished cookies! My grandfather nicknamed me “Cookie Monster” because, even before my head was tall enough to reach the table, I was stealing cookies off the tray.
Some things haven’t changed much.
Healthy Sugar Cookies
Healthy Sugar Cookies!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup spelt, ww pastry, or all-purpose flour (Update! Click for Grain Free Sugar Cookies.)
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt (just under level)
- 1/4 tsp plus 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 cup white sugar, or sucanat, coconut sugar, or evaporated cane juice (or xylitol for a sugar-free version)
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons milk of choice
- 1/4 cup butter-type spread, such as Earth Balance (Some readers say you can use coconut oil, but I haven't tried it. I wouldn't recommend using a low-fat buttery spread.)
Instructions
Healthy Sugar Cookies Recipe: Combine dry ingredients and mix very, very well. In a separate bowl, melt the vegan butter, then stir in vanilla and milk. Pour dry into wet and mix again. Form balls or roll out (not too thin), then use a cookie cutter to make shapes. If you want soft cookies, you’ll need to get the dough very cold. (So roll the balls first, then fridge until cold.) Cook in a 325F preheated oven for 9 minutes. They will look very underdone when you take them out, but that’s ok!! Just let them cool for 5 minutes before touching. (I know it’s hard!) These cookies will keep at least four days, in a lidded plastic container. As a general rule, you should store soft cookies in plastic containers and crispy cookies in glass ones.
These are the same vegan sugar cookies I decorated as baby animals and brought to the football party.
More Healthy Cookie Ideas:
Last year took part in the office’s ‘cookie exchange’ where you made 6 dozen cookies and packaged up 6 in a bag and then you got 12 different 1/2 dozen cookies in return. Lots of different things to try.
Only I realized I like MY cookies better than most other people. I’m a fan of butter, not margarine, and I like knowing what ingredients went into the cookies. So this year I am thinking if I do make cookies, I’ll just make 1/2 batches so there’s less scattered around tempting me. 🙂
I’ve never made sugar cookies before so I’ll try this recipe! The colours of those photographs are beautiful!
Wow, yum! Will have to try.
Question – how’d you make the icing? 🙂
It’s actually just Pillsbury. The sugar cookies taste so yummy without icing, but I decided to use it for the photoshoot to make them LOOK prettier. (Oddly enough, Pillsbury frosting is vegan!)
Pillsbury also hides palm oil in most of the foods.
Did you make that frosting? I love frosted cookies!
It’s actually just Pillsbury. The sugar cookies taste so yummy without icing, but I decided to use it for the photoshoot to make them LOOK prettier. (Oddly enough, Pillsbury frosting is vegan!)
But if you did want to make a frosting, maybe try my vanilla-fudge frosting?
Pillsbury frosting contains partially hydrogenated oil… so it’s REALLY bad for you.
A.K.A trans fat
I am TOTALLY making these within the next hour.
Isn’t the point of sugar cookies to have a good amount of…sugar in them. By making “lower sugar sugar cookies” with 1/4 cup sugar, this doesn’t make them sugar cookies, it makes them whole wheat biscuits.
No, because they still TASTE like regular sugar cookies, not biscuits.
And for those of us who have to watch our sugar intake (diabetes) a lower sugar option that still tastes just like a sugar cookie is very much appreciated!!
(And even if they did taste like whole-wheat biscuits, pretty sure any recipe of Katies would be delicious)
1/4 cup of sugar doesn’t sound like a lot, but this is a TINY recipe. It only makes about a cup of dough, so proportionally it’s still a decent amount of sugar.
Looks amazing! Sugar cookies have too much sugar, this is a great alternative for those who love cookies but don’t want that much sugar!
LOVE your pictures, Katie!
About how many cookies did you get from this recipe? Looks great!
It depends on how big you cut/roll them. I really don’t know, because I made some balls and some cookie-cuttered shapes.
I rolled them into one ounce balls and I got 9 cookies that came out about 2 inches in diameter. They were kind of puffy. If you roll them out and cookie-cut them you should be able to get about a dozen in the same 2 inch size.
They’re really yum 🙂
Just wanted to say thank you for writing a really helpful answer.
I want to echo that – thanks so much!
Great idea grandma! These cookies looks so bright and beautiful! Want one right now! Thanks Katie!
I am having a christmas cookie decorating party in a few weeks and this seems like the perfect recipe to whip up for the kids to decorate! But, how do they bake, would they hold their shape well if made with christmas cookie cutters?
I bet we will be eating a TON of cookies that day, so a healthier version might be a great idea!
Yes, you can totally use cookie cutters!
Oh, delicious!!!
I LOVE baking cookies year-round, and at Christmas is my favourite. Instead of regular presents, most people I know get a huge tin of cookies from me instead. Gingerbread, ANZAC biscuits, shortbread, sugar cookies, oatmeal raisin, and lots of slices and squares too. Mmm… I think I’ll start some Christmas baking this weekend!
Ahhh I love Anzac biscuits! Are you from Australia?
Yum! Did I miss a link to the frosting – I didn’t think I could see it in the post…but these look amazing! Can’t believe the calorie count!
It’s actually just Pillsbury. The sugar cookies taste so yummy without icing, but I decided to use it for the photoshoot to make them LOOK prettier. (Oddly enough, Pillsbury frosting is vegan.)
LOVE sugar cookies!!!! That is truly one great idea of inspiration! 🙂 Mmmmmmm!
I have never heard the tip on cookie storage – plastic vs glass. Thanks for sharing. These cookies look delicious! 🙂
The holidays is when I baked the most, my oven is working non-stop. I love that I get to try all different recipes and I get to have a taste and then give them away to friends and family during our holiday parties.
Love the pink icing. Do you have a recipe for that too?
It’s actually Pillsbury. The sugar cookies taste so yummy without icing, but I decided to use it for the photoshoot to make them LOOK prettier. (Oddly enough, Pillsbury frosting is vegan!)
But if you did want to make a frosting, maybe try my vanilla-fudge frosting?