The Better Cookie Option

With the Easter holiday coming up right around the corner, I thought I’d search for some “healthier” dessert recipes for all those who love to indulge but want to keep sugar binges under control. (Cough, cough, Steph) 😉

If you’re like me, and you’ve been eating clean and waiting all year for a Cadbury Egg or some Starburst Jelly Beans, make sure you tune in later this week when I publish my post on the top Easter Candy, featuring the nutritional info for all of them, the best ones to eat, when to eat them, and how to work off the extra intake. To ensure you don’t miss the article, make sure you’ve subscribed to Strong Figure! It’s quick, easy, and free. Now, moving on.

So I did a little digging and found a few recipes that meet the Strong Figure status quo: healthy, low-sugar, and SIMPLE to make. Seriously, who has time for HOURS of baking when there’s lifting to be done?!

This first little find is an all natural, Paleo-friendly, gluten free, and low-carb coconut cookie recipe! Yep, I’m that girl. And I promise it doesn’t taste like cardboard either–Erik and I were practically fighting over them.

This recipe was first found on healthylivinghowto.com, and I modified it only slightly.

Gluten-Free Paleo Friendly Coconut Cookies!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour (I used a coffee grinder and ground my own almonds)
• 1/2 c. Coconut Flour
• 1 tsp Aluminum-Free Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Sea Salt
• 1/2 tsp Guar Gum Powder
• 1/8 tsp Stevia Extract Powder
• 1/2 c. Coconut Sugar Granules
• 3 Lg. Organic Cage-Free Eggs
• 1 tsp Organic Vanilla Extract
• 1/3 c. coconut oil, melted

Directions: In a medium bowl, combine all dry ingredients. Set aside. In a smaller bowl, combine all wet ingredients and then mix with dry ingredients. Let mixture sit refrigerated for 30-45 minutes. Spoon mixture onto cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Store in refrigerator or freezer.

This recipe was super simple for me once I found all the ingredients at my local food co-op. The original recipe calls for an almond cream cheese frosting, but I saved the calories and skipped it! The cookies are amazing just by themselves!The next two recipes I haven’t made yet…honestly, I was excited to share my findings with you so I’m typing everything up now, and hoping for a chance this weekend to attack the kitchen! But out of all the recipes I sifted through–bad pun intended–these two looked the most promising and rather simple to make. The first recipe is a Snickerdoodle Blondie recipe that calls for an entire host of healthy ingredient substitutes.  The second is an Almond-Flour Sugar Cookie recipe. I thought this one could be fun–especially for the kids who A) love sugar cookies, and B) might like to ice them. 🙂

Snickerdoodle Blondies

Found at Chocolate Covered Katie

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c chickpeas (about one can, drained)
• 3 Tbs nut butter of choice (I would totally use almond butter–my fave!)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1-2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3/4 c brown sugar (to keep your sugar/carb count lower, I would pick up some coconut sugar granules. Sweet, healthier, lower in carbs. WIN!)
• 1 TBS unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 c ground flax
• 2 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• OPT: pinch of cream of tartar, raisins (I wouldn’t add the raisins personally because I’d rather not have the extra sugar and I’m not even sure what cream of tartar is. Seriously, I’m not a baker. Keep It Super Simple people.) 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degress. Blend all ingredients until smooth and scoop into a greased or lined 8×8 pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes. The blondies should look a little undercooked when you take them out  of the oven and will firm up while cooling.

That simple.

Almond Flour Sugar Cookies

Found at The Urban Poser

Ingredients:

• 2 cups gound blanced almond flour (I always buy natural almonds and grind them in my coffee bean grinder. Takes more time but way cheaper this way.)
• 1/4 tsp salt (or less)
• 3 TBS coconut oil, softened or liquid
• 1/4 c honey or agave nectar or coconut sugar (Again, I vote for coconut sugar for the lower-carb, healthier sugar option)
• 1-2 TBS applesauce (You can actually replace the applesauce with a fat. If you want a lower carb dessert, add extra coconut oil. Why not? It’s so good for you anyway. If you want a cookie lower in fat, stick with the applesauce.)
• 1 TBS vanilla extract

Directions:

In a medium sized bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well. In a separate bowl, mix oil, honey, applesauce, and vanilla. Add liquid ingredients to the dry, mix until the ingredients form a smooth ball. Wrap the dough in parchment paper or plastic and chill (both the dough and yourself) 😉 for at least one hour or longer.

Roll out the dough once firm between two sheets of parchment paper. Keep the dough 1/2 to 1/4 inches thick. Use a cookie cutter of choice dipped in coconut flour to cut through the dough. Transfer the cookie to a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake cookies in a 325 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes (slightly longer for thicker cookies). Leave cookies on baking sheet til cool. Voila!

And last….

Don’t forget to check out Strong Figure’s most popular recipe post: Paleo Pumpkin Banana Muffins by SF member Andrea. I think these muffins are being made across the globe…this post gets the most hits out of all the recipes I’ve ever posted. Thanks, Andrea!

Do you have any healthy cookie recipes you can share with us? Please let us know in the comments below!! And once you try any of the recipes above, make sure you come back here and let us know how they turned out, and/or give us some tips!!