Christmas Cookies Made Healthier!
Being health conscious should not preclude anyone from holiday festivities! Here are a few tips on how to make cookie decorating a fun and low-sugar activity this season.
Tip #1 - replace tradition flour with coconut or almond flour (lower in carbs, high in fiber)
Tip #2 - try coconut sugar in sugar cookies instead of white sugar (lower glycemic index than refined sugar)
Tip #3 - make your own frosting with butter and monk fruit sweetener instead of store bought frosting
Apply the above tips to any recipe you’d like!
Here’s the recipe we used to make our holiday cookies from scratch:
FOR THE COOKIES:
½ cup coconut flour
2 ½ cup almond flour (super fine)
¾ cup coconut sugar
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¾ cup butter - softened
4 tablespoons cream cheese - softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
FOR THE VANILLA ICING:
2 sticks of butter - softened
½ cup powdered monk fruit sweetener
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
almond milk or regular milk - as needed to help reach consistency
Optional: green, red food coloring
In a large bowl, mix coconut flour, almond flour, coconut sugar and salt. This can be done by hand or in a standing mixer on low.
Before adding butter and cream cheese, make sure it's softened (but not melted). Slowly add butter to the dry mixture in small cubes, one by one, mixing as you add. Then, repeat with cream cheese. The dough will become clumpy and slightly wet.
Gather dough in a loose ball and cover- place in the fridge for at least 35 minutes or in the freezer for 15 minutes.
While the dough cools, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Once cooled, roll the dough out on a flat surface with a rolling pin - this is easiest to do if you put the dough between two pieces of parchment paper, so it doesn’t stick to the rolling pin. Roll dough into desired thickness- the thinner you go, the more likely the cookies are to crack while decorating.
Cut dough into fun shapes! Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges begin to darken. Since these cookies have no refined flour or sugar, they will remain dark brown.
While cookies bake - prepare the icing. In a medium bowl, mix butter with a whisk or electric beater, slowly adding sweetener in small scoops. After several minutes of beating, the icing may still be too thick - add milk as needed. Divide into smaller bowls and add food coloring!
When the cookies are done, let them cool for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Make sure they are completely cooled before decorating
BE CREATIVE AND HAVE FUN!
