Every year in elementary school, my teachers organized a Valentine’s Day party with the help of a few parent volunteers from our class. Unless the holiday fell on a Friday, my mom rarely signed up to do anything. She worked part-time as a scientist and took every Friday off of work to spend time in the classroom grading our spelling tests and math worksheets, which she much preferred over party planning!
When February 14th arrived, we came to school dressed in our favorite pink, red, or heart-themed outfits with matching hair ties and bracelets. (Well, at least the girls… Some of the boys boycotted and wore black and blue instead!) As we grew older, some girls started painting their nails to coordinate with their clothes, too.
Life was much more fun back then… No romantic dates or restaurant reservations or red roses to worry about—just lots of sweetheart candies and chocolate kisses!
While the students ran around outside during the lunch recess, the parents set up festive tables inside and hung red crêpe paper streamers around the walls. When we came back to the classroom, we pulled out our homemade shoebox “mailboxes” covered in heart-shaped stickers and walked around the desks, dropping a little paper Valentine in each person’s box.
Finally, after all of that waiting, we were allowed to eat the food! Although the volunteers tried to set out some not-so-sugary options like Goldfish or pretzel sticks, we always gravitated towards the desserts. Miniature vanilla cupcakes topped with tall swirls of red and white frosting, thick Lofthouse-style sugar cookies covered with pink icing, fudgy brownie bites, stiff heart-shaped sugar cookies coated in pink- and red-colored coarse sugar crystals… Plus red fruit punch and pink lemonade to wash it all down!
I’m pretty sure I tried to take at least one of each treat…
Because I started feeling nostalgic when I spotted those heart-shaped cookies during my last visit to the grocery store, I decided to create my own healthier recipe when I returned home. These Ultimate Healthy Cut-Out Sugar Cookies are the result! They’re soft, buttery, and taste like those traditional ones from the bakery or your grandma’s kitchen… But they contain NO refined flour or sugar—or guilt!
I think that sounds like the perfect Valentine’s Day treat, don’t you?
These healthier sugar cookies start with white whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour comes from a special type of finely ground white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour is made from red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, similar to that of all-purpose flour, but it still has the same benefits as regular whole wheat flour!
Note: Whole wheat pastry flour would be a great substitute!
The other dry ingredients include baking powder, cornstarch, and salt. You’ll only use a tiny bit of baking powder—just enough to give the cookies a more tender texture! Although it may sound like a strange ingredient for cookies, the cornstarch helps keep them soft by soaking up the extra moisture in the dough.
Unlike many traditional recipes that call for an entire stick or two of butter (I don’t even want to think about all of those calories!), this recipe only uses 2 tablespoons of butter. Yes, that’s it! And to make this recipe even easier, you’ll melt the butter to make the cookies more tender, instead of creaming it with sugar.
In other words… You only need a bowl and a fork. No mixer required—and fewer dishes to wash! Always a good thing in my kitchen.
I use a secret ingredient to give these sugar cookies that iconic buttery taste… Butter extract! It’s a clear liquid and sold on the baking aisle near the vanilla extract. Walmart also sells a larger 4-ounce bottle on their wedding aisle for a really inexpensive price! You can find it online, too.
Note: The butter extract is required to make the cookies taste like traditional recipes. You may substitute vanilla extract if you prefer, but they won’t have the same iconic flavor.
To sweeten these skinny cookies, you’ll skip the refined sugar and use a combination of two different wholesome ingredients instead: honey and vanilla stevia. Vanilla stevia is my new favorite find! Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that’s clean eating friendly. It’s very concentrated, so a little goes a long way! This is the type that I buy, and it’s sold in a small bottle with an eyedropper. You can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, as well as online. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Note: Because cookie dough requires a precise balance of liquid and dry ingredients, you cannot use pure honey. I included appropriate substitutions in the Notes section underneath the Instructions.
Once you’ve mixed up the dough, it’s time to chill. Chilling is mandatory. The cookie dough will be sticky after stirring together all of the ingredients, and chilling helps it stiffen so you can roll it out and slice it into fun shapes with cookie cutters!
To chill, shape the dough into a 1”-thick rectangle on top of a very large piece of plastic wrap, and lay another very large piece over the top. See that photo above? You want lots of excess plastic wrap on all four sides because you’ll roll out the cookie dough between the sheets of plastic wrap. That’s right—no need to flour your work surface or rolling pin! I love an easy clean-up like that.
Once you’ve cut out as many shapes as will fit, peel the scraps away from the shapes, instead of lifting the shapes out of the scraps. This trick ensures that those pretty hearts (or stars… or candy canes… or whatever seasonal cookie cutters that you’re using!) maintain their shape and don’t become stretched out or deformed while transferring them to the baking sheet.
Tip: You can gather and re-roll the scraps to cut out more cookies, but I recommend that you only do this once! When you roll the cookie dough too many times, it becomes tougher and not quite so soft and chewy after baking.
Then after a quick trip to the oven, time to cool, and a little icing (if you have the patience!)…
Pure sugar cookie bliss! ?? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your sugar cookies!
| The Ultimate Healthy Cut-Out Sugar Cookies | | Print |
- for the cookies
- 1 cup + 6 tbsp (165g) white whole wheat flour (measured like this)
- ¾ tsp cornstarch
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp butter extract
- ¼ cup (60mL) honey
- ¾ tsp vanilla stevia
- for the icing (optional)
- 10 tsp confectioners’ style stevia
- 2 tsp nonfat milk
- To prepare the cookies, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg, vanilla extract, and butter extract. Stir in the honey and vanilla stevia. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Transfer the dough to the center of a large sheet of plastic wrap, and shape into a 1”-tall rectangle. Cover the top with another large sheet of plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Leaving the cookie dough between the sheets of plastic wrap, roll it out until ⅛” thick. Lightly flour your cookie cutter, and press it into the dough, making sure each shape lies as close to its neighbors as possible to minimize unused dough. Peel the unused dough away from the shapes, and place them onto the prepared baking sheets. Reroll the unused dough, and repeat.
- Bake the cut out cookie dough at 350°F for 8-10 minutes. (The rerolled dough may require a little less time.) Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
- To prepare the icing, stir together the confectioner’s style stevia and milk in a small bowl. Spoon into a zip-topped bag, and snip off the corner. Pipe onto the cooled cookies.
Coconut oil may be substituted for the butter, but the cookies will have a prominent coconut flavor.
Vanilla extract may be substituted for the butter extract, but the cookies will not have the same iconic taste.
You cannot substitute additional honey for the vanilla stevia because cookies require a precise balance of wet and dry ingredients. However, you may substitute ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (120g) coconut sugar (or granulated sugar, if you aren’t concerned about keeping these cookies clean eating friendly) for both the honey and stevia, but the cookies will appear “speckled” if using coconut sugar because it doesn’t dissolve as well.
This is the exact cookie cutter that I used.
I recommend re-rolling the scraps of cookie dough only once. If you re-roll the scraps too many times, the cookie dough becomes tough and the baked cookies won’t have the same soft and chewy texture.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
As written, the icing recipe only yields enough for a “minimalist” decorated appearance. If you like more icing, feel free to make more!
{clean eating, low fat, low calorie, low sugar}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
Mine turned out too thick, dry, and fluffy. Any ideas on how to fix that with the next batch. Flavor was pretty good. Do you have the nutritional facts?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Andy! The nutrition facts are actually included directly underneath the recipe. I know it can be easy to miss! How did you measure the flour? Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups? If the latter, can you describe in detail how you measured? Also, how thick was your cookie dough when you rolled it out? Did you roll it out to ⅛” thick as instructed? Once I have all of that info, we should be able to solve the issues that you experienced! 🙂
Hi Amy!
Can we substitute honey with any of the following:
Nature’s Hollow Sugar-Free Honey Substitue
Truvia Nectar, Stevia Sweetener and Honey Blend
Nectevia Original – Stevia Infused Agave Nectar
Or Organic Maple Flavored Syrup, Sugar Free?
Also, could Jude’s xanathan gum be used in place of the corn starch?
I am trying to keep the sugars as low as possible, and lately I have been interested in trying a honey substitute. Any thoughts would be highly appreciated, thanks!!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Jake! I don’t recommend xanthan gum in place of the cornstarch. It’d be better to just omit it. As for the sweeteners, the problem with most of those is that they’re water-based. Water-based sweeteners create a bready or muffin-like consistency in these cookies when used in place of the honey. It looks like the third one doesn’t contain water (stevia infused agave), so of those four, that would probably be the best one to try first. I’d love to hear how your cookies turn out if you do try that! 🙂
Hi Amy!
Thanks for getting back so quickly! I had a feeling the water-based sweeteners would cause that issue, as I read that somewhere awhile ago but just wanted to hear your opinion on it. Since the third option serving size is heavily reduced, as one teaspoon is roughly 4x as strong as standard agave, how would you recommend I change the ingredients to balance the dough? Or would the consistency not change much?
Thanks again, you are the best btw I love your recipes!
It’s my pleasure Jake! I didn’t realize that about the stevia infused agave. That does cause a problem… Because the way to add more liquid to achieve the correct ratio of wet to dry would be to add 3-4 tablespoons of water or milk, and the amount of both of those would cause a bready consistency as well. However, are you okay to use erythritol (like this)? That’s a zero-calorie sweetener, and you’d get a much better cookie texture that way! Use 5 tablespoons of granulated erythritol + 2 tablespoons of milk (any kind of milk will work — and 2 tablespoons or less shouldn’t cause a bready texture!). 🙂
Thanks again for the quick response! I actually have two erythritol sweeteners, one from Kate Natural and the other from Lakanto. Both of mine are a 50/50 blend with monkfruit in granular form. I also have Swerve, but the taste doesn’t do much for me. Would either of these brands be ok?
My pleasure Jake! I don’t have very much experience with either of those brands, so I’m not sure. It’s probably worth trying though!
Hola Amy!
I absolutely love your recipes.
I don’t have butter extract, what would be your recommendation as a substitute?
I appreciate your time ?
Btw: Congratulations for your website, really upstanding.
Thank you so much for your sweet words about my website Maritza — that means the world to me! 🙂 I’ve actually covered the answer to this exact question in the Notes section of the recipe, located directly underneath the Instructions. I know it can be easy to miss! 😉 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these sugar cookies!
Can gluten free flour be used as a substitute & would there be any other changes if that is used? Thank you!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Lynda! It depends on the gluten-free flour. If it’s a general baking blend (like this one!) that measures cup-for-cup like wheat-based flour, then that’s fine — and no modifications should be necessary! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these cookies!
How long can I keep these cookies for ?
Planning to bake these for my son’s birthday party, with dinosaur footprint on them. Do you think could work, based on the dough consistency?
Thank you
Pollyanna
I’m so honored that you’d consider making one of my recipes for your son’s birthday Pollyanna! That means the world to me! 🙂 Yes, you should be able to make them with a dinosaur footprint pressed into the top. I’ve actually covered how long they keep in the text directly underneath the recipe title in the recipe box. I know it can be easy to miss! 😉 (And if you refrigerate them, they should last almost twice as long!) I can’t wait to hear what you and your son think of these sugar cookies!
Hey Amy! I made these today and I really liked the flavour. However, the inside was still a bit raw (while the outside looks cooked), and was having more of a bread texture instead of a cookie texture. Is there a way to fix this?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Sue, and I’m happy to help! I just want to make sure I understand what you’re saying. 🙂 If the cookies were bready on the inside, then it doesn’t sound as if they were raw. (The cookie dough should still be wet if they’re raw, not dry and bready!) Also, how thick were your cookies before baking? How long did you bake them? Once I know those bits of information, I should have a much better idea of what caused the issue and how to fix it!
Hey Amy! I baked it around 9 minutes, and I didn’t really keep track of the thickness. By the way, can the raw cookie dough be frozen? If so, how many days?
Thanks for sharing Sue! The thickness of the cookies will determine how quickly they bake, so that’s actually key to the baking time and texture. If the texture really was dry and bready, rather than wet and raw, then the cookies were actually overbaked. They have a soft and chewy texture when baked for the right amount of time, and when they’re baked too long, they have a much drier texture inside, similar to bread or muffins. (If baked way too long, then they turn crunchy! 😉 ) So I’d actually recommend two things for next time: (a) keep an eye on how thick the cookie dough is, and (b) bake them for no more than 8 minutes. The centers should still feel soft and slightly underdone when they’ve finished baking, but by leaving the cookies on the warm baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes, it continues to cook the centers without the cookies drying out too much. Does that make sense?
I haven’t tried freezing the cookie dough, but I know that the fully baked cookies do freeze really well! 🙂