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:
Katie
When is your cookbook due to come out because I really would like to purchase it.
Thank you so much! 🙂
It comes out in December.
I just made these but they turned out all crumbly 🙁 I added more Earth Balance and milk to try to make the dough more “packing” like. Is it because I used Coconut flour?
Are you really that dumb that you don’t already know the answer to your question?
For anyone eyeing the frosting in Katie’s pictures, I’ve found a recipe for a raspberry buttercream frosting that’s this exact color and out of this world. It’s from the sticky fingers sweets cookbook: 1 cup + 2T shortening, 1/4 cup + 2T earth balance, 1/3 cup raspberry puree (make by cooking fresh/frozen raspberries until they cook down, transfer to blender, then back to stove to reduce liquid), 4 1/4 cups confectioners sugar, 1.5 tbsp lemon juice. It makes A LOT of frosting so I usually halve or quarter the recipe, which I’d definitely recommend for spreading a little on sugar cookies vs piping high on cupcakes.
Am I going crazy or did I miss the nutritional info link? I feel like I’ve looked 25 times, but maybe my brain is just skipping it too look at the delicious cookie pics…?
oh, just found the answer, womp womp there are none because it’s an older recipe.
I have recently turned over a new leaf and have started really watching what I eat and what I serve to my family. That being said, I still love baked sweets. These cookies were perfect! I used butter flavored grapeseed oil and french vanilla coconut creamer and they turned out great! Thanks for all of your kitchen research! It’s so nice to have go-to recipes that I know have been tested and will turn out great and be healthy too!
Hi Katie,
How many cookies did this yield?
Thanks! Can’t wait to give these a try… 🙂
I made these with whole wheat flour and coconut oil! The dough was hard to make into a cookie shape so I rolled them into balls after cooling them. While in the oven, I checked after about 6 minutes and saw that they did not flatten out at all (probably because of the choice in flour) so I took them out and just flattened them with a spoon. Then, I just put them back and baked them for another 3 minutes 🙂
They turned out so soft and delicious! The next time, I may try to reduce the oil.
I was afraid that I was going to eat more than half of them in a row, so I quickly put them in the fridge!
Just made these and they are delicious. Thanks!
hi! I was wondering if I could use real butter instead of spread. I am not trying to make vegan cookies, just low sugar—butter type spread is hard to find where I am. Also, should the baking sheet be greased?
Earth Balance is basically vegan butter, so you can always use it in a 1-to-1 ratio in recipes that call for butter and vice versa. Lightly grease the baking sheet.
Hi Katie love your recipes just wondering if you could use brown sugar or if it would impact the recipe?
This was posted so long ago, I have to wonder if I will get a response! Sorry for finding this recipe three years later 🙂
I just made these with my kids… well, they are getting cold before baking… and I have a question. Is the dough supposed to be super greasy or oily? I followed the recipe, but doubled everything to make a bigger batch. The dough was so oily that I actually had to add extra spelt flour so I could roll it. Maybe doubling everything was my problem???
Some recipes just can’t be doubled exactly. Not sure why, but I’ve found this with many recipes in general. But I can say for sure that the recipe not doubled turns out REALLY well!
Where is the nutrition information?!!!
I love your recipes. How to I make the sprinkles? either the ones on your original sugar cookie recipe or the ones on the grain free? Thank you
Try these: https://lett-trim.today/2012/08/07/rainbow-sprinkles-homemade/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Where did the recipe go?
I just made these and they are delicious! I used 3 T. melted coconut oil. Don’t leave dough in fridge for too long. It got very hard. It made 22 cutouts. I did very small stars and some larger Christmas trees. Thanks Katie!
These cookies were a lifesaver! I’m pregnant and was REALLY craving a sugar cookie. This recipe saved my husband a trip to the bakery! The best part is they are quick to make and since they are vegan, I could eat the dough!