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:
How do I make the icing and sprinkles? Also did I miss the nutrition info?
Hi! What kind of frosting did you use for these cookies??
Just made these for the first time! Love your blog Katie <3
The texture of these cookies was great – soft and chewy. I used whole wheat pastry flour. The flavor was very good but maybe a little salty for my taste, and otherwise a good basic sugar cookie. Not SPECTACULAR but a great vehicle for icing/sprinkles, etc. I used a 1-tbsp cookie dough scoop and got a perfect dozen, and after my test batch (which my kids and I devoured with no toppings) I made a double batch for my husband to bring to a gift exchange. Rather than doubling the salt to 1/2 tsp, I did 1/4 + 1/8 so I'll see how this batch turns out. I'm planning to top with peppermint icing and red sugar crystal sprinkles. I'd like to try these in the future with coconut oil and/or sucanat.
Hello Katie, Do I flatten the cookies after I shape them into balls? Thank you for your great recipes. Deborah
You can, or not… they’ll be a bit softer if you don’t and crispier if you do.
My comment after my first time making these is up a couple – I had great success using ww pastry flour, organic white sugar, and earth balance. I’ve since tried using coconut oil in place of the EB and it worked great! Today I tried using sucanat in place of the white sugar and it did not work so great. It really affected the texture – they were sort of dry and crumbly instead of moist and soft/chewy, and they tasted less sweet to me. Would coconut palm sugar work better? I don’t have any but might buy some.
Tried making these for Christmas but used coconut oil instead of butter spread and honey instead of sugar. The first ones in the oven turned out fantastic, delicious and kept their cut out shape up. However, the dough became dry really fast, and the coconut oil became really springy and hence the dough got bumpy and hard to cut out because it just kept shrinking. Did anyone who used honey + coconut oil like me experience the same?
Hey Katie, so how many cookies does this recipe make? I’m looking to make around 50 or 60, i know its a lot! Thanks for always great recipes 🙂
Hi Anastasia,
I never actually count, but this is from another commenter:
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.
Hey Katie I think my girls would really enjoy decorating these cookies. How many does this recipe make? Have you successfully doubled this recipe?
See above comment ;).
oh and yes, you can definitely double it! I recommend that if you’re making them for more than one or two people.
Katie,
Thank you. Making these today. Merry Christmas.
NinaBean
Katie,
Thank you for this recipe. I used coconut oil and a mix of spelt and ww pastry flour(1 part spelt to 2parts ww flr). They had a buttery flavor and tasted better than loft house cookies. I tripled the recipe, used my 1&1/2TBS cookie scoop and ended up with 20 cookies. My girls enjoyed frosting and adding sprinkles to the cookies. My 5 year old said it was her favorite part of the day. Will be making this a part of our Christmas tradition. Thanks again for the great recipe. Keep them coming.
Merry Christmas,
NinaBean
Katie,
Hey I made these again recently. I quadrupled the recipe. Used 1/2 spelt and 1/2 WW pastry flour. I also used Coconut oil (again). Using my 1 & 1/2 TBS cookie scoop it made 35 cookies. The results were just as good as before. I will be making this recipe again soon for Valentine’s Day, but I will have to make 2 quadruple recipes. Loving this recipe,
Nina
Do you have the nutritional info for these healthy sugar cookies?
Want to try, but son on strict diet.
Thanks, Donna
Sorry, I hadn’t yet started including nutrition facts when I posted these.
Made your healthy chocolate chip cookies, delicious! Waiting for the sugar cookies to cool now. Vegan, gluten free, but dont taste like either. Yay for you!
I followed the recipe to a t and it is super crummy…it won’t roll into a ball
Well unfortunately you obviously could not have followed the recipe to a T if they didn’t turn out well, because many people before you (including me) have successfully made the recipe. Perhaps you omitted something accidentally and didn’t even realize it? Have you checked out Katie’s FAQ page at the top of the blog for troubleshooting?
Would it be okay if I subbed the sugar with Splenda? Thanks :)x
We made these this morning for my boys to decorate for valentines day. We used coconut sugar, coconut oil and coconut milk ( had to add a few extra Tbs to get it a bit more moist to roll out for hearts) they turned out GREAT. Thanks for the healthier version of sugar cookies 🙂
This recipe doesn’t make very many cookies. I tripled the batch and still only got two baking sheets worth.
These were so yummy. I ate two straight out of the oven too! I used water instead of milk because I was all out and it was still AMAZING. Very soft after butting the uncooked dough in the freezer for about 10 minutes. Will definitely make again : )
Can I use coconut flour instead?