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Healthy Sugar Cookies made low calorie, gluten free with an easy sugar free icing! A simple sugar cookie recipe that's lighter and healthy.
When I was younger, I was a huge fan of sugar cookies. I mean who doesn't love a soft, chewy, sugar laden cookie with fun decorations on top?
Now today my favorite part is decorating cookies. It's such a fun way to relax and celebrate the holiday season in one shebang. I know you and your loved ones will love this healthier sugar cookie recipe too!
What Makes These Cookies Better For You
I absolutely love sugar cookies, but sugar is a fickle thing. I've talked about sugar A lot on Dish On Ditching Diets podcast and in this blog post about stopping sugar cravings.
Most people who are overweight are insulin resistance meaning that they can easily over consume sugar because their body is no longer responding to insulin hormone. I work with my weight loss clients to make them insulin sensitive because insulin hormone really is the key to weight loss.
That's why looking for lighter alternatives with better for you ingredients is also important when you're looking for recipes and I work hard to make that happen for you! Here's why these Healthy Sugar Cookies are better for you.
- Sugar Free - Now I realize sugar cookies are not 'real' sugar cookies without the sugar, but in order to make a lighter sugar cookie you do need to scale back on the sugar. I make these sugar cookie sugar free using monkfruit. They still have amazing flavor!
- Low Calorie - These sugar cookies are just 65 calories each! The average sugar cookie has 145-250 calories each.
- Gluten Free - Gluten can be inflammatory for many people. This recipe uses gluten free ingredients.
- Lower Fat - Sugar cookies generally contain 8-10 grams of total fat per cookie. This recipe has healthy fat added to it and is 4 grams per cookie. That's half the amount!
Ingredients For Low Calorie Cookies
Here's what you need to make these delicious sugar cookies! Substitution recommendations are further down below for you.
- Gluten Free Baking Flour
- Monkfruit sweetener, granulated
- Grass fed butter
- Almond milk, unsweetened
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Monkfruit sweetener, powdered
You'll also need parchment paper, a large baking sheet and rolling pin. A piping bag is optional, but I highly recommend these silicone piping bags! They're much easier to use than plastic bags and make icing your sugar cookies a lot easier.
How To Make Cookies Gluten Free
Here's how you make these sugar free sugar cookies gluten free!
Step one is creaming together the butter, granulated monkfruit sweetener and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. In another bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Slowly pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until a crumbly mixture forms. Add in the egg and almond milk and mix until combined.
Form the dough into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes or so while you preheat your oven to 350 F.
Next roll out the dough on a parchment-covered sheet pan so the dough is between ⅛-¼” thick. Be careful with this as gluten free flour is not as firm as regular flours! Use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out shapes about ½” or so apart from one another.
Bake the sugar cookies for 7-10 minutes, or until the cookies are slightly browned on the bottom, but be careful not to overbake these as they will get too hard when they cool. Allow the cookies to cool.
Step two is making the icing - the best part in my opinion! To make the icing, whisk a tablespoon or so of the powdered monkfruit with 1 teaspoon of the almond milk. Slowly stir in about half of the sweetener a little at a time, whisking as you go. Add the rest of the almond milk and the vanilla extract.
Stir in the rest of the sweetener. Mixing a little at a time like this will help prevent lumps. The end result should be a fairly firm icing that will hold up to being piped on the cookies. If the icing is too firm, add more liquid. If it’s too liquidy, add more powdered sugar.
Spoon the icing into a piping bag or little plastic baggie with the tip cut off. Pipe the icing onto the cookies in whatever design you’d like. Top with crushed candy cane pieces, mini chocolate chips, sprinkles or anything you desire.
Substitutions
Here's a few substitutions you can make for this sugar cookie recipe. Substitutions (especially in baking) can change the texture and taste of the cookies. Remember, substitutions do change the nutritional values of the recipe too!
- Gluten Free Flour - This is a gluten free sugar cookie recipe. No other flours have been tested with this recipe and given how particular sugar cookie recipes are, I would not recommend swapping this out.
- Butter - Ghee or melted coconut oil can be substituted. If you use coconut oil, it may result in a cookie that taste more like coconut.
- Milk - Any milk will work in this recipe.
- Egg - The egg is needed for this recipe to hold the cookies together. You might try an egg replacer, but I have not tried it myself.
- Sugar - Any sugar free substitute can be used. If you want to use real cane sugar or coconut sugar, then omit the milk for the cookie. The result with monkfruit is a slightly flatter, firmer cookie, while the cookies with the cane sugar came out a bit more chewy.
How To Store Your Cookies
Store your sugar cookies in an airtight container on the counter up to 2 weeks. You can store sugar cookies in the refrigerator, but they may get really firm and not be as chewy. Sugar cookies can be stored in the freezer up to 60 days too.
More Healthy Cookie Recipes
- Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies
- Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Avocado Cookies
- Hot Chocolate Cookies Recipe
Healthy Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookie
- 3 tablespoons grass fed butter very soft, unsalted
- 1/3 cup granulated monkfruit sweetener
- 3 tablespoons granulated monkfruit sweetener
- 1 cup Gluten Free Baking Flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon unsweetened almond milk
For the Icing
- 1/2 cup powdered monkfruit sweetener
- 2 teaspoons unsweetened almond milk
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a bowl, cream together the butter, granulated monkfruit sweetener and vanilla extract.
- In another bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Slowly pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until a crumbly mixture forms. Add in the egg and almond milk and mix until combined.Â
- Form the dough into a ball and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for 15 minutes or so while you preheat your oven to 350 F.
- Carefully roll out the dough on a parchment-covered sheet pan so the dough is between ⅛-¼” thick. Use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out shapes about ½” or so apart from one another.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until the cookies are slightly browned on the bottom. Be careful not to overbake these as they will get too hard when they cool. Allow the cookies to cool.
- To make the icing, whisk a tablespoon or so of the powdered monkfruit with 1 teaspoon of the almond milk. Slowly stir in about half of the sweetener a little at a time, whisking as you go. Add the rest of the almond milk and the vanilla extract. Stir in the rest of the sweetener. Mixing a little at a time like this will help prevent lumps. The end result should be a fairly firm icing that will hold up to being piped on the cookies. If the icing is too firm, add more liquid. If it’s too liquidy, add more powdered sugar.
- Spoon the icing into a piping bag or little plastic baggie with the tip cut off. Pipe the icing onto the cookies in whatever design you’d like. Top with crushed candy cane pieces, mini chocolate chips, sprinkles as desired.
- Store cookies in an airtight container up to 2 weeks or in the freezer up to 60 days.
Notes
- My Amazon shop has more products similar to those used for this recipe and that I recommend to my weight loss clients.
- If you enjoy this recipe, check out my cookbook for more delicious recipes!
Nutrition
Hi, these turned out great. Is it possible to convert this into a cookie bar recipe (like your chocolate chip cookie bars) by simply scaling up a couple times? Thanks
I haven't tried it myself, but it would probably require a few tweaks to work and be a solid bar. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!