Healthy Soft Sugar Cookies
These Soft Sugar Cookies are so sweet, buttery, rich, and delicious, you’d never know they’re made without the sugar, butter, and white flour!
Sugar free, gluten free, dairy free and vegan SUGAR COOKIES?!? Um, hi, oh yes, I’ll take seven.
Cookies are very difficult to “healthify” compared to other desserts like cake and ice cream since they require a specific ratio of butter:sugar:flour. Or, maybe they’re just difficult for ME to healthify because I don’t use butter, sugar and flour.
I’ve always struggled with baking cookies… they either turn into soft and puffy muffin tops or crunchy cracker thingies. They’re either to moist or too dry. Or they crumble between your fingers. Or I burn them (oops). But finally, some good news: these cookies!
These Healthy Soft Sugar Cookies are a breakthrough. A triumph. They’re soft and chewy, sweet and rich, addictive yet satisfying… and surprisingly healthy.
They taste like Pillsbury sugar cookies sans the dangerous hydrogenated oils, unhealthy white sugar and bad-for-you bleached flour.
As a baker and food blogger, my kitchen is constantly pumping out yummy new treats. True story, one day I made 2 layer cakes, a batch of brownies, and 3 batches of cookies. Yes, my life is amazing. If you’re slightly jealous, I suggest you get baking ASAP! And maybe start off with a batch of these deliciously sweet and chewy, (secretly) Healthy Soft Sugar Cookies 😉
Healthy Soft Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 180g 1½ cups Oat Flour
- 96g ½ cup Granulated Erythritol (or dry sweetener of choice)
- 1 tsp Double-Acting Baking Powder
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 112g (½ cup) Coconut Oil (soft)
- ¼ cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (room temperature)
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 tsp Natural Butter Flavor
- 1 tsp Liquid Stevia Extract
- 30 drops Almond Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the oat flour, erythritol, baking powder and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, almond milk, vanilla extract, butter flavor, stevia extract and almond extract.
- Dump the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients and fold together. Fold until the mixture can form into a dough ball (it will look sticky at first, but then the oat flour will absorb the liquid and turn into a play-doh/cookie dough texture).
- Use a medium cookie scoop to portion out the dough onto the prepared cookie sheet. Roll the dough portions into balls, then use your fingers to press them into patties. Form them just a tiny bit thicker and smaller than you prefer your cookies -- they spread out a little. Bake for ~12-14 minutes, or until baked through (when you tap the center of the cookie, it should be soft, but shouldn't leave a permanent fingerprint indentation).
- Slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheet and let the cookies cool completely. Serve immediately, or transfer them to a slider freezer bag and store in the freezer for up to one month. For a "freshly baked" cookie straight from the freezer, place a cookie on a plate and microwave for ~20 seconds!
For a cookie that tastes almost identical to a Pillsbury sugar cookie, the difference in health is pretty drastic. Pillsbury sugar cookies have 3g of trans fats and nearly 1 tablespoon of sugar PER cookie, while mine have 0g of both.
Are you curious to see the ingredients inside a Pillsbury sugar cookie? Look no further (unhealthy ingredients are in bold):
Sugar, Enriched Flour Bleached, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil, Water, Wheat Protein Isolate, Eggs, Baking Powder, Salt, Artificial Flavor.
Ahhh! My eyes! My eyes!
Like, seriously? Sugar, Bleached Flour, Partially Hydrogenated Oils? The first 3 ingredients alone are incredibly detrimental to your body. I can’t believe I used to eat that crap for the holidays (and any other festivity that included cookies).
ANYWAYS. Onto the bigger and better. These healthy homemade cookies 🙂
Hope you enjoy!
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With love and good eats,
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– Jess
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Indulge − no strings attached!
Would it be a straight swap for the same amount if I used butter instead of the shortening? I avoid sugar and gluten, but I personally don’t think anything is wrong with butter (in reasonable amounts).
I think butter would replace the shortening no problem 🙂
I agree, I think butter is perfectly fine as long as it is organic or hormone-free and if you don’t have high cholesterol or are at risk for heart disease… I just try to avoid it in my recipes because high cholesterol and certain diseases are so prevalent these days 🙁
I just made these and they are really delicious! However mine are grainy (not in a bad way- almost as though I put in cornmeal or something) and quite crumbly. No chew about them at all. I didn’t have butter extract so they don’t taste buttery but with the frosting they are really delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Hey Jessica! Curious on how i can measure 30 drops almond extract if i don’t have a dropper in my bottle?! Thank you can’t wait to make this recipe!
Good question! I would estimate it’s around an 1/8th of a teaspoon? If you don’t have that measuring spoon, I would just fill a 1/4 tsp measure half way. Hope you like the cookies! 😀
-Jess
Yay, so happy and grateful for this recipe!
The holidays are aproaching and I always love making homemade sugar cookies and was looking for a sugar and white flour-free alternative. I have all the ingredients at home, will give these a try. Thanks! 🙂
Thank you Stella!! I hope you like/LOVE the cookies 😀
-Jess
your recipes amaze me! your such a baking queen!
Just tried these, they’re AMAZING! I want to try subbing the coconut oil with an alternative like unsweetened applesauce- have you tried this?? or are there other alternatives you can recommend. Thanks 🙂
I’ve tried a few of your recipes before (the protein bars and the lemon squares), but the one type of cookie I tried to make (the lemon ones) turned out… really poorly. (It tasted like the beans. Not exactly what I was going for, but that was likely an error on my part.)
This time, however, I really needed the cookies to work out because my dad needs to lose weight AND cut out sugar, because of his diabetes. He loves sweets, so I needed to find some alternatives to regular, store-bought cookies.
Personally? I love how these turned out. They’re gooey and moist, with just enough sweetness. I don’t think they taste exactly like the Pillsbury cookies, but I like them all the same. (Now I just have to convince my dad to switch over!)
Not only do they taste good, but I also had all of the ingredients on hand because I had tried a few of your recipes in the past. The simplicity of the recipe just makes it that much better! The clean up is a breeze because the dough sticks together like the protein bars.
Your site is my go-to for healthier recipes. Thank you so much!
Hey Michelle! Reading through your comment, I couldn’t help but smile! 😀
I’m so glad you liked the sugar cookies. I wish you and your father the best! I think it’s great that you’re trying to help him manage his diabetes. Kudos to you Michelle!!
-Jess <3
I just made these now! They’re in the oven baking and smell delicious, can’t wait to try them out!
YAYAY!! How exciting!! I hope you like the cookies 😀
-Jess
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