Healthier Christmas Sugar Cookies- Nutrition Facts Included!

Recipe:

Servings: 14 cookies

Prep time: 10-15 minutes

Cook time: 8-10 minute

Total Time: 20-30 minutes

For the cookies:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/4 cup plant-based butter or coconut oil (I used the Country Crock plant-based buttery sticks)

• 1/4 cup applesauce

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar*

• 1/4 cup stevia baking blend*

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 2 tsp cornstarch or similar starch

For the icing:

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 1 tbs plant milk

• 1 tbs agave or maple syrup

• 1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350°F

2. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, and cornstarch together until well combined.

3. In another bowl whip the butter, applesauce, vanilla, sugar, and stevia together.

4. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture one third at a time and whisk until dough forms.

5. Place dough on a floured surface and roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out cookies with cutters and place on cookie sheet. If your'e not using cookie cutters you can roll the dough into tablespoon sized balls, flatten them with your hands and place on cookie sheet.

6. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes and then allow them to cool completely.

7. Make the icing by whisking all ingredients together until smooth. Add food coloring if you'd.

8. Ice and decorate the cookies and enjoy!

Notes:

*You use white, brown, or coconut sugar

*You can sub the stevia for regular sugar

Scroll down for Nutrition Facts!

I want to mention that I am not claiming that these cookies are healthy, only that they are healthier than traditional sugar cookies. At the end of the day, they do contain a good amount of sugar per cookie. However, replacing half of the sugar with stevia helps to reduce the sugar content without compromising the taste. Don't tell your family and I'm sure they won't even notice! I also replaced half of the normal amount of butter with applesauce which decreases the amount of saturated fat in the cookies. This replacement does not affect the texture or flavor of the cookie, I promise you won't be able to see or taste the applesauce. These cookies are not dramatically healthier than regular cookies but every bit counts. I think it's cool that some simple replacements can change the nutrition a good amount without really changing the taste. I think that we sometimes makes things a little bit more indulgent then they really even need to be by using so much butter in a recipe where you really only need a small amount to get the benefit of it. But that's just my opinion. Happy December! Comment down below if you try this recipe and what you did or would do differently!

Nutrition Facts

These labels were calculated for 1 cookie (1/14 recipe) without icing. The left label is the facts for this recipe using the country crock plant-based butter, unsweetened applesauce and the HEB stevia baking blend. The right side is calculated using the same butter but double the amount, no applesauce, and sugar in place of the stevia.