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:
frosting recipe??
I made these today. They were amazing. My husband and I ate them all =]
Has anyone tried to make these cookies with flavoured sugar? Last night I made them with lavender sugar and they were amazing! I have also made these cookies with M&Ms and they were equally as amazing. Great recipe! 🙂
Confession. I have made them twice in 3 days.. *addicted* lol
Oh I also made them Gluten free!
I’d love to try these, but would need to try one of the sugar substitutes. Never used xylitol before…can u tell me a little about it? Do you sub directly for sugar, or is there a formula?
Thanks!
Yes, sub directly for sugar… in almost any recipe. The only exception is recipes with yeast. Don’t use xylitol with yeast recipes.
Hey! Curious could I use AP spelt flour or oat flour? Or is it worth the hunt to try and find WW pastry flour ( never seen it before in my city).
Thanks !!!!!!
spelt is fine!
I stared at this recipe for a good week before deciding to make it. No words can describe how amazing these are. Lets just say we are on our 2nd batch in 24 hours. We try to eat as clean as possible so I substituted have of the sugar for coconut crystals, used half white whole wheat and half brown rice flour. Delicious!
Hello!
I was just curious about which frosting you used for this amazing recipe? I really look forward to trying it out!!!
Wow great to see a recipe I have all the ingredients for! What did you ice yours with?
How can these be healthy if using vegan butter which has soy in it or smart balance which is a man made science project. I make mine from Wholesome pure butter. The Pillsbury frosting contains (SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (SOYBEAN AND COTTONSEED OIL), WATER, CORN SYRUP, CORN STARCH, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: SALT, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, COLOR ADDED INCLUDING YELLOW 5 AND RED 40, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, MODIFIED CORN STARCH, POLYSORBATE 60, POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVE), SOY LECITHIN, CITRIC ACID. CONTAINS SOYBEAN INGREDIENT). I don’t want all those chemicals on my cookies that I serve to my family.
Hi Sheri,
I don’t think Earth Balance in moderation is harmful, but hopefully you will like the sugar cookie recipe I’m posting tomorrow much better–they will have no soy, no vegan butter, and no refined sugar :).
I agree. I think that butter substitutes and things like veggie shortening are not harmful in moderation, especially since they contain significantly less fat than their non-vegan counterparts. Also, it is very, very difficult to make sugar cookies without butter substitutes. I can make chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, and more without using any substitute for butter or any shortening but sugar cookies require it.
What are the cookies called? Can you link me to the recipe?
I’ll say I bake cookies during the holidays…Lots of cookies! I love making cookie platters! This year, I’m making my mother her own special cookie platter, because of food allergies.
We tried this recipe today. I changed a few things, like I used honey for sweetener, and coconut oil instead of the vegan substitute. The results were delicious, and my mother ate just about the whole batch. Thanks!
This is my first vegan Christmas and I’ve always been the one to go over board with the baking. I’m excited to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing it 🙂
Hey Katie,
Please please PLEASE can you come up with a version of these cookies using almond flour? You would be my favorite person ever. I have celiac disease and haven’t gotten to eat a sugar cookie in so long :(.
Alternatively do you have any recipes that use almond flour, and if you do can you tell me which ones?
Sincerely,
Missing Sugar Cookies Like Crazy
Okay, I will do it. 🙂
Or I’ll try at least. I first attempted your challenge this morning, subbing almond meal for the flour in this recipe (and subbing the earth balance for oil, but making very few other changes). The results were pretty crumbly and just not good. I’m going to try again, replacing the sugar with a liquid sweetener this time. Hopefully it’ll work better than my first attempt and I won’t let you down!
Unfortunately, I don’t think I currently have a single recipe that calls for almond flour. I bought a bag of it awhile ago, after getting numerous requests for almond-flour recipes… but it was neglected in my kitchen cabinet until today.
how many calories are in these cookies?
Hi Katie!!
My good friend that is vegan and I just made these cookies! WOW so so good. We couldn’t believe they were actually vegan AND low in sugar. Love love love them! To make them more festive for the holidays, we rolled them in red and green sprinkles and they turned out great.
Thanks so much for the awesome recipe! 🙂