Did you know you could make a whole batch of sugar cookies with only one tablespoon of sugar?
Well you can! AND they’re dairy-free and gluten-free friendly!
I’m a firm believer in creating recipes that taste like the real deal, but are secretly better for you. My mantra is “tastes too good to be healthy” recipes, meaning that I try to make the recipe as healthy or nutritious as I can, without sacrificing the taste or making it taste ~healthy~ (iykyk).
These are cookies you can confidently feed your loved ones, add to a gift or goodie bag, serve at a holiday party, or bring to a get together without anyone suspecting they’re actually not packed full of sugar. Now let’s get to the good stuff: how to make healthier sugar cookies fit for any holiday, special occasion, or *just because you’re craving sugar cookies and deserve to treat yourself* kind of mood!
Healthier Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ C flour: AP, GF, WW
- ¼ C coconut flour*
- ¼ tsp. baking soda
- Pinch of sea salt
- 1 TBSP cane sugar
- 2 TBSP (28 g) vegan butter, room temperature*
- 1 egg room temperature*
- 1 ½ TBSP honey
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- Optional: pinch of almond extract
Instructions
- Combine the flours, baking soda, and sea salt and set aside
- Cream the butter and sugar together
- Add the egg, honey, vanilla, and optional almond extract
- Gradually incorporate the dry ingredients in; be careful not to overmix
- Chill the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge and preheat the oven to 350°F*
- Place a chunk of the dough between 2 pieces of wax paper and roll it out to ¼“ thick (the ideal thickness for soft, chewier cookies)*
- Peel back the top piece of parchment paper, cut out the cookies, transfer to a prepped baking sheet, and repeat until all of the dough is used
- Bake for 4-5 minutes* – unlike other cookies, you want to take these out before the edges start to brown, so pull them as soon as they start to change color or have gained SOME color!
Notes
- *Flour: be sure to use the scoop and level method when measuring the flour. For a refresher, watch this short reel
- *Coconut flour: I don’t often call for special ingredients that aren’t common pantry staples, but when I do, it’s for a reason. Coconut flour is the secret trick with these cookies; it provides the distinctive sugar cookie flavor (and not only does it add flavor, but fiber too!)
- *Room temperature: this is super important for the texture and shape of the cookies! Don’t melt the butter to get it to room temperature either, please be patient as melted butter can make the cookies spread too much.
- *5. Chilling the dough solidifies the fat in the dough (which is the butter), so as the cookies bake, the fat takes longer to melt meaning that the cookies spread less and hold their cute little shapes better
- *6. Too much flour can dry out any kind of cookie, so rather using the traditional flour the counter and roll out the dough technique, wax paper guarantees your cookies won’t turn out dry from excess flour
- *8. Bake for an additional minute or so if you prefer a crisper cookie with more of a bite to it
Because sugar cookies aren’t complete without icing (in my humble, sweet-toothed opinion), I’ve revealed a Recipe Room recipe that’s the *perfect* topping for these cookies: White Chocolate Icing. The exclusive icing recipe can be found in the caption of this reel, along with an option inspired by Crumbl Cookies, one of Grant’s weaknesses: chilled sugar cookies. Or for a non-icing option, try these Caramel Stuffed Sugar Cookies.
If it’s the holiday season (or not, I usually start getting into the Christmas spirit in like May), pairing this healthy hot chocolate with these cookies is a dangerously delicious combo – especially for driving through Christmas light displays or cozying up and watching a festive movie!
As always, I really hope you love this recipe! And if you make these healthier sugar cookies and post about them on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest, please tag me because I’d LOVE to see what fun shapes you make!
If interested, the macronutrients are below. They are kept separate at the very end of each recipe blog so that this can remain a safe, positive space for all as not everyone wishes to see the nutritional information.
Macros per cookie (makes ~14): 7.3 C | 2.1 F | 1.3 P
Depending on the size and shape, you may end up with more or less than 14 cookies. If you do and want to know the macros, take the macros of the entire batch (below) divided by the number of cookies made to determine the approximate macros for each cookie.
Whole recipe: 102 C | 30 F | 18 P
The macros for recipes are also available on MyFitnessPal. Simply search the name of the recipe followed by “ – SUNutrition” (so for this recipe, search “Healthier Sugar Cookies – SUNutrition”).
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