My boys have been super well behaved lately so I decided to make this Healthy Holiday Sugar Cookie Recipe while they were sleeping at nap-time. Cut out into train shapes as requested by my four year old. Everyone was super well please especially myself hoping I can still fit into a little black dress and heals after taste testing these amazing goodies!
My mom and I always laugh about my freakishly good memory as a child. I remember everything from when I was about 3 years old being the dress I wore to my 3rd birthday party to how our playroom basement looked like decorated with a Crayola Crayon coloring table. Then there is the memory of how I used to be obsessed over gum and saved each chewed piece on my nightstand to eat the next morning as soon as I woke up (no idea how I remember that!). I guess we all have our strange fixes. Now my 30’s have given me a new fix where my coffee has to be prepared the night before so all I have to do when I get up is push the brew button. Really sad if I try to do anything else before because I have been known to put the coffee grinds where the water goes and place the cereal box back in the fridge… but Shhhh! don’t tell! Please just pretend I am perfect without my mental enhancers of caffeine.
But one of my fondest childhood memories I remember is thinking about all the cookies my mom used to make. Dozens and dozens of every kind. I used to sneak into the garage where they were stored in the cold and eat a few secretly. Shame on me! But they were just too good to resist. Now a days I have much more self control and am totally comfortable diving into to a holiday dessert tray… especially if I know where they are sourced from.
So here is the scoop… I decided to make sugar cookies that are gluten free with a healthier icing version that does not use corn syrup. The alternative? Brown Sugar Syrup!!! And the cookies are made with half the butter half and non-fat protein filled Green yogurt than the traditional versions. In my experience, supplementing most of the butter for non-fat Greek yogurt you actually need to use gluten free flour for it to stay in its compact form for cutting out into shapes. Why? Because gluten free flours have a very dense consistency, one most bakers steer away from. But really it is all about knowing how to work with it not against it.
How to ice your healthy holiday sugar cookie:
- First off, how do you ice sugar cookies? First make the icing and separate into 3 small bowls for adding colors. In each bowl add food coloring gel to each color and blend well.
- Using a spoon scoop each color into small quart size zip lock baggies and snip the ends about 1/16 an inch.
- Outline on each cookie the drawing you want with each color. Then fill in with the color. When each color drys add another layer of another color needed.
Easy Peasy! Supplementing corn syrup in this recipe does no harm at all and still comes out shiny and hard.
After baking mass amounts of cookies this month, and all of our Christmas parties, hopefully I will to still be able to fit in a little black dress and heals! Or at least I can feel good about sinking my teeth into this healthier version of a Christmas cookies recipes. After all, healthy Christmas recipes are the new thing… yet hard to come by until now!
- Cookie:
- 1 stick of butter
- ½ cup of non-fat Greek yogurt
- ½ cup granulated sugar (or Xylitol)
- ¾ cup confectioners sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 2¼ cups of gluten free flour (or white Spelt flour - which is gluten free but has wheat)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Icing:
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 2 teaspoon milk (we like coconut milk)
- 2 teaspoons brown rice syrup
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- Cookie:
- Preheat oven 350 degrees F.
- In an electric mixer, blend on medium speed butter, Greek yogurt, sugars, confectioners' sugar, egg yolks and one teaspoon of vanilla. Blend well.
- Add slowly flour and salt.
- Chill 2 hours. Roll out to 1.4 inch thick. Chill 30 minutes. Using a 2-3 inch round cookie cutter cut out shapes. Place 2 inches apart. Bake at 350, 8-10 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack.
- Icing:
- In a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in brown rice syrup and almond extract until smooth and glossy.
- Divide into separate bowls, and add food coloring's to desired color. Place each individual color into a Ziploc bag. Snip end to 1/16 inch and different areas outline image then fill in each color. Repeat for each color.
xo,
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