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:
I made these for dessert tonight and they turned out perfectly! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
I am so happy you tried them!! 🙂
I can’t WAIT to make these!! I LOVE YOU KATIE for making the best things vegan and easy to make!! 😀
I make gingerbread cookies every Christmas and hang them on our tree! Maybe this year it’ll be sugar cookies instead 😉
I love your recipes! I’m a huge “healthy baker”. I just can’t seem to justify the full fat/sugar kind (although I do it for special occasions!). I can’t wait to try some of your recipes!
Emilie
What kind of frosting was that? HAHA I read your answer over and over…
Who would ever say mean things to you? I love your recipes ..had the chocolate pumpkin pie fir tgxhvg…finally made your whip cream I could’ve ate that alone! These look great im gonna try them soon!
Thank you so much, Michelle!
(Hahah I DO eat the whipped cream alone sometimes ;).)
These look so great, I’m going to make some soon. Thank you CCK!!!!!!
These look so pretty! Like the ones you can buy at the store! They look so perfect!!!
Made these tonight and both my husband and I loved them!! I made one batch with cinnamon added and they tasted a little like graham crackers. I cut them into 2″ rounds and they made 1 dozen. Not that there are that many left anymore….I had to chase my husband out of the kitchen to let them cool a bit!!!
I think I will substitute coconut extract for the vanilla next time and see what happens??? Have you thought of replacing the vegan butter with coconut oil? I was reading that you can use it as a butter substitute in baking but have not tried it yet.
Oh if you try them with coconut oil, I would LOVE to know how it works out! (You might want to add a *tiny* bit more salt, though, because I think Earth Balance has salt.)
I made these today subbing coconut oil for Earth Balance and they still came out delicious and soft! 🙂 I only used 3 tablespoons though because I read that the rule for replacing butter with coconut oil is to use 75% of what the recipe calls for.
Personally, I don’t think adding salt is necessary…I might actually cut down the salt a bit next time and use a heaping 1/8 teaspoon! I prefer things on the less salty side but that’s just me 😉
Great pic here Katie!
I hope to make these. I am a sucker for very crisp, yet buttery Sugar Cookies so I am curious to how these hold up. Since it is one of your recipes I know I will LOVE IT!!
Thank you Katie! My best friend’s birthday is coming up and all she wants is sugar cookies! I have no doubt she’ll enjoy these…and I can sneak some too 🙂
Oh my goodness, these look amazing! Hmmm…which of the sugars did you use for this batch? I have some coconut sugar in the cupboard!
I used regular white sugar. Sucanat would give it a nice gingerbread-y taste, though!
I always bake cookies, not just during the holidays. Although I have to say that the holidays are a good way to excuse the way too big batches I tend to make.
Your pictures are always so pretty! I lovelovelove sugar cookies, and I’m excited that you made ’em healthy 😀
I love baking cookies. This year, I have had three sessions so far: One for a swap, one with the BF’s family and one just for fun. I think I will have at least one more, this weekend, for the office, and maybe one or two with friends. You cannot have “too many” cookies, right?
I’m not sure the holidays would be the same without cookies. And these look amazingly awesomely incredibly stupendously fantabulous. 😉 What did you frost them with? Thanks.
Hey Katie, I know that this is the raziest question, and that it is completly out of the blue, but what are you doing right now and what part of Texas are you in? If you are anywhere in the north-eastern part of the state, i really would love to meet you and tell you my story. If not then please email me the instant you get this post. Beause i feel the need to tell you this, i just have the strangest feeling that i an trust you.
Hi Midzee,
What’s up?
I had no idea about the soft vs crispy cookie storage. Thanks! I love a soft sugar cookie, and baking during the holidays happens because, though I love it always, the holidays are an excuse!! Vegan cookies for all 🙂