As a little girl, one of my favorite things about Christmas was making cookies with my mom.
I vividly remember sitting at our dining table, making Rudolphs and Santas and Christmas stars galore, dipping my tiny hands into the delicious, sugary icing bowl, and scavenging more than a few runaway sprinkles. It's one of my best Christmas memories.
My goal for these cookies, more so than anything else, was to take the sugar level down as much as possible without sacrificing the taste.
These are soft (but not cake-y) in and out of the fridge, and by combining coconut sugar and stevia and topping them with a sweet and creamy (yet sugar-free) frosting, these won't disappoint you or your little ones!
Low Sugar Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ c . coconut oil (measure and use it in a semi-soft state)
- 3 T . coconut sugar (or another natural granulated sugar)
- 1 T . chickpea flour mixed with 2 T. milk (or 2 T. of a lightly beaten egg)
- 1 t . vanilla
- ¾ c . spelt flour (can also use whole wheat or a gluten-free blend)
- ¼ t . sea salt
- ⅛ t . baking soda
- ⅛ t . powdered stevia extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl (flour, salt, baking soda, and stevia).
- In a separate bowl, beat the soft coconut oil with the sugar for about one minute.
- Add in either the 'chickpea' egg or regular chicken egg and vanilla, and beat for another minute.
- Add in the dry mix and beat for another minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Roll the dough into balls (I made 10), place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, and press down to get them into the shape you desire (they don't spread much).
- Bake for 8-10 minutes (bottom should be golden).
- Cool completely before frosting them.
Notes
Nutrition
Adapted from this recipe
My husband and I always say it's easy to make food taste good with ample amounts of sugar and butter, but the challenge comes in when your limited for one reason or another.
There are plenty of delicious and perfect sugar cookie recipes out there, but I'd bet my right tail cheek that none of them have UNDER FOUR GRAMS of sugar per cookie...*cough*...like these...*coughcough*.
P.s. That frosting adds ZERO sugar grams. I'll share that with you Friday.
What's your favorite Christmas cookie?
Aside from sugar cookies, I really love snowballs and gingersnaps!
Shared with: Make Your Own Monday, Natural Living Monday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Fat Tuesday
Hanna
I just frosted these with a powdered sugar/milk mix, but it was nice to have a low sugar cookie because of the high sugar icing, lol
lauren
Could you use honey instead of stevie and sugar? Also does coconut milk work with chickpea flour or can u use water?
Meg
If one is grain-free, would they just use all chickpea flour, or coconut flour in place of the spelt flour?
Lauren
Hi Meg,
The chickpea flour might work, but they'd have a totally different taste! You might have better luck with almond flour or try googling 'grain-free sugar cookies'. 🙂
GiGi Eats Celebrities
WOW! Those look UNREAL GOOD!!!! I am drooling over here! I hope my allergen-free cookies I make on Thursday turn out looking like yours!
Mary @ Fit and Fed
OK, Lauren, I'll be waiting to see that frosting! I haven't tried a 'chickpea egg' like you have in this, I'll be curious to try that sometime, too.
Eating 4 Balance
While these cookies look great, I am even more excited to see the frosting recipe! 🙂 I have yet to find a good acceptable, allergy-friendly one.
Matt @ Runner Savvy
Looks good!
Emma
Yummy! Making sugar cookies isn't a Christmas tradition here but when I was little I had an American neighbour who invited me over to help her decorate a whole load one year. It was such fun so I don't know why I haven't thought to do the same myself.
Kim @ Hungry Healthy Girl
Can't wait to give these a try! Making iced sugar cookies is a Christmas tradition with my kiddos and I was thinking of trying to go a healthier route. Pinning this for later!
Susan
I no longer have any reason to bake Christmas cookies, but when I was baking, my very favorite were the Triple the Ginger cookies from allrecipes.com. I like the idea of much less sugar in cookies, and am also very curious about the frosting recipe.
Davida @ The Healthy Maven
Sugar cookies are my favourite! I made some not-so-healthy ones over the weekend with my nephew though I sort of wish I'd had this recipe before so I could have not eaten my weight in sugar!
Marianne
Love these, Lauren.
I used to love gingerbread men and those unbaked chocolate cookies. Some people call them frogs.