The Ultimate Healthy Sugar Cookies
This easy recipe yields cookies that taste the same as ones from a bakery or your grandma’s kitchen! Soft, buttery, sweet… Truly perfect! They’ll stay fresh for at least 4 days if stored in an airtight container on the counter. If the cookies have been drizzled with the optional icing, store the airtight container in the refrigerator instead.
Ingredients
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 erythritol
- 2 tsp nonfat milk
Instructions
- 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 1/8” 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.
Notes
IMPORTANT MEASURING NOTE – READ BEFORE BEGINNING: It’s extremely important to measure the flour correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own and love!) Too much flour will dry out your cookie dough and give your cookies a cakey, bready, or crumbly texture.
IMPORTANT ROLLING NOTE – READ BEFORE BEGINNING: 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.
CHILLED COOKIE DOUGH NOTE: The cookie dough can be refrigerated for up to two days. If the cookie dough has been chilled for longer than an hour, it may need to “thaw” a little on the counter for a few minutes before rolling.
COOKIE CUTTER NOTES: This is the heart-shaped cookie cutter that I used to make the cookies that you see in my blog post photo above. This is the ghost-shaped cookie cutter that I used to make Halloween-themed sugar cookies. These are the Christmas cookie cutters that I used to make holiday-themed sugar cookies.
ICING NOTE: As written, the icing recipe only yields enough for a “minimalist” decorated appearance. If you like more icing, feel free to make more!
FLOUR ALTERNATIVES: Whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour. Regular whole wheat flour may be substituted in a pinch, but the cookies will have detectable “wheat-y” taste.
CORNSTARCH NOTE: The cornstarch helps keep the cookies really soft. If you can't find it or are staunchly against using it, you can omit the cornstarch, but that will change the cookies' texture.
BUTTER ALTERNATIVES: Stick-style vegan butter (I like this one and this one) may be substituted for the unsalted butter. Coconut oil may be substituted for the butter, but the cookies will have a prominent coconut flavor.
BUTTER EXTRACT NOTE + ALTERNATIVE: This is the butter extract that I use. Vanilla extract may be substituted for the butter extract, but the cookies will not have the same iconic taste.
HONEY ALTERNATIVES: Pure maple syrup or agave may be substituted for the honey.
STEVIA NOTES + ALTERNATIVES: I highly recommend using the stevia! I generally buy it online here, and you can use it in all of these recipes of mine as well. Many stevia brands and products have different sweetness levels, so they're not necessarily 1-for-1 substitutes for each other. For the best results, I highly recommend using the same one that I do.
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 light brown sugar or granulated sugar, if you aren’t concerned about keeping these cookies clean eating friendly) for both the honey AND stevia. The cookies will appear “speckled” if using coconut sugar because it doesn’t dissolve as well.
ERYTHRITOL NOTE + ALTERNATIVE: I generally buy my confectioners' style erythritol online here. Regular powdered sugar (confectioners' style sugar) may be substituted for the confectioners' style erythritol. However, regular powdered sugar isn't as absorbent, so start with ½ teaspoon of milk in the icing and add more as needed to achieve your desired icing consistency.
MILK ALTERNATIVES: Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: Other readers have reported that many store-bought gluten-free flour blends (such as this one from Bob's Red Mill) will work as a substitute for the white whole wheat flour, if measured like this. For the best results, make sure your gluten-free blend includes xanthan gum!
DAIRY-FREE OPTION: Use the coconut oil option or stick-style vegan butter (I like this one and this one), and use your preferred non-dairy milk in place of the nonfat milk.
HOW TO STORE: Store leftover cookies in an airtight container. Ones without icing will keep for at least four days if stored at room temperature (or longer if stored in the refrigerator). Ones with icing will keep for around a week, possibly longer, if stored in the refrigerator.
Cookies without icing also freeze and thaw quite well!
HOW TO SHIP: If you'd like to mail some to your loved ones, I have a handy guide that covers the best way to ship these sugar cookies!
{clean eating, low fat, low calorie, low sugar, gluten-free option, dairy-free option}
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?I'd love to hear what you think of it in a comment below! If you take a picture, tag @amys.healthy.baking on Instagram or use the hashtag #amyshealthybaking.