amazing healthier sugar cookies to wow every time

Impress your family, friends, and even yourself with these healthier sugar cookies that taste like the real thing. Made with toasted almond and coconut flour, butter, and low-carb sweeteners, you’ll wow anyone who takes a bite!

This healthier sugar cookie recipe is a take on the scotch cake cookies we always made with my grandma.

In fact, this is the first year she won’t be baking with us but I know she’s smiling down, thinking that we’re rolling the dough too thick. She’d be so impressed with these healthier sugar cookies.

I had doubts that I could replicate her recipe, without using refined sugar and white flour, but wanted to try. After a couple of attempts, I was ready to ask my 12-year old.

“Try this” I asked, shoving a cookie in his face (not that he minds).

“Is it healthy or unhealthy?”

“You tell me.” I challenged.

He took a bite while wearing his best poker face. With exaggerated chewing, he had the look of a serious restaurant critic, ready to give a response that would either send me back to the drawing board or skipping through the kitchen.

After what seemed like 30 minutes, he finally said, “they’re NOT healthy”.

YES! At that point, the skipping began. A cookie without refined sugar and flour that tastes like it has refined sugar and flour is always the goal!

These healthier sugar cookies were blog ready!

how to make healthier sugar cookies

This recipe is easy however I suggest you read through the tips before starting. Almond flour is more temperamental because it doesn’t have gluten which binds and lends shape to baked goods.

Steps to make these healthier sugar cookies:

• Toast almond and coconut flour in a dry skillet, on low, for 4-5 minutes. Watch closely so it doesn’t burn. Add salt. Put aside to cool (very important).
• Cream butter for 1 minute.
• Add sweetener (Swerve confectioners) and beat on medium-high for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
• Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined.
• Turn the mixer on low and add 1/2 of the cooled almond flour mixture. Once combined, add the remaining flour and mix until combined.
• Add dough to saran wrap and place in the fridge to chill for at least an hour.
• When ready to roll, section off some of the dough and place the rest back in the fridge until you’re ready to roll.
• Lay a wet paper towel on the counter, place a piece of parchment on top, then the dough, then another piece of parchment.
• Roll out until it’s 1/3 inch thick. Use cookie cutters or a knife to cut into shapes.
• Place shapes on a parchment-lined or silicone padded cookie sheet. Bake. Let cool on the cookie sheet once it comes out of the oven. Decorate.

tips for this healthier sugar cookie recipe

There are so many fantastic alternative sweeteners and flours today however using them takes extra love because they lack some of the properties sugar and flour have.

If you’re just getting started with sugar-free or low-carb baking, check out my eBook: Find Freedom in Desserts. It’s packed with tips, shopping guides, recipes, and information on how to create amazing baked goods without sugar and refined flour.

Read these tips before getting started:

• The recipe calls for toasting the almond & coconut flour which you don’t have to do but it takes these cookies to another level. I learned this trick from www.gnom-gnom.com (which you should check out because she’s a genius!)
• If you toast, make sure the flour is cool before adding it to the wet ingredients (stick it in the freezer if you have to). If it’s still warm, the dough won’t stick together as nicely.
• Roll the dough between parchment paper because it’s sticky.
• Use a wet paper towel on the counter to secure the parchment paper.
• Bake cookies on light cookie sheets if you’re not using silicone pads. Because almond flour is a fat, the bottoms can burn more quickly.
• When you take them out of the oven, let them sit on the trays until they’re cool. It takes a little time for almond flour baked goods to set.

how to make sugar-free Royal icing

To make this Royal icing, I used 1/2 Swerve confectioners and 1/2 powdered xylitol.

I know using two different sweeteners isn’t ideal but using only Swerve may make the icing crystalize over time. Adding xylitol will prevent that. Note, be careful if you have pups or kitties in the house because xylitol is toxic.

I buy Xylitol in granular form and use a coffee grinder to powder it. You can also use a dry food processor. You can also buy it in the powdered form here.

If you don’t have xylitol, you can use allulose as a substitute. Buy it here (already in powdered format). You may need to increase the amount slightly because allulose isn’t as sweet. Start with the same amount as xylitol and if needed, add a tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired sweetness.

Combine the sweeteners with meringue powder, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Meringue powder is often used in Royal icing and can be found using the link below or in most craft and grocery stores.

tips for decorating healthy sugar cookies

You can use cookie cutters or use a knife and cut rectangular shapes. Add color to the Royal icing and decorate to your heart’s content. This is a great 5-minute video to watch to give you decorating tips and ideas.

get ingredients for this healthier sugar cookie recipe delivered right to your door:

Almond flour

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Coconut flour

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Xylitol Confection Sweetener

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Swerve baker’s trio

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Vanilla extract

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Wilton Meringue Powder Egg White Substitute, 8 oz.

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Cookie cutters

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Cookie sheets

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KitchenAid stand mixer

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Sugar Cookie Decorating Kit – Wilton

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Rolling pin with thickness rings

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amazing healthier sugar cookies to wow every time

5 from 2 votes

Recipe by Karen Lachman Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Cookies

36

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

13

minutes

Calories

71

kcal

Chill time

75 mins.

Impress your family, friends, and even yourself with these healthier sugar cookies that taste like the real thing. Made with toasted almond and coconut flour, butter, and low-carb sweeteners, you’ll wow anyone who takes a bite!

Ingredients

• 2 cups almond flour, toasted*

• 2 tbsp. coconut flour

• 1/4 tsp. Kosher or sea salt

• 6 tbsp. unsalted butter, clarified butter* or ghee, room temp

• 1/2 cup Swerve granular (or other erythritol)

• 1 large egg

• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

• Sugar-free Royal icing

• 1 cup Swerve Confectioners (or any powdered erythritol)

• 1 cup Powdered xylitol*

• 1.5 tbsp. meringue powder*

• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 4-6 tbsp. room temperature water

Directions

• Add almond and coconut flour to a dry skillet or pan, and toast over medium heat until golden and fragrant (3-6 minutes). Watch carefully and stir frequently so it doesn’t burn. Remove from pan, whisk in salt, and set aside to cool completely (very important!).

  • 

• Cream butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer, 2-3 minutes. Add in Swerve and continue to beat until thoroughly mixed and much of the sweetener has dissolved. Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat until just combined. (may look “separated” which is fine).

  • 

  • 

• With your mixer on low, add in half of your cooled almond flour mixture- mixing until just incorporated. Mix in the rest.
• Wrap cookie dough with cling film (saran wrap) and refrigerate for at least an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 325F and line two large baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper. Use light colored trays if you have them because almond flour browns more quickly on dark trays.
• Roll out dough between parchment paper and either slice with a knife or do cutouts. TIP: place a wet paper towel beneath the bottom parchment paper layer to secure the parchment. Place shaped cookies with parchment paper on the prepared baking tray and place in the freezer for 15 minutes prior to baking.

  • 

  • 

• Bake the cookies 11-13 minutes, or until they are just starting to brown around the edges, switching and rotating the pans halfway through baking. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on pan. The cookies will still be quite soft when removed from the oven but will firm up as they cool.
• Frosting
• In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat all of the icing ingredients together on high speed for 2 minutes. When lifting the whisk up off the icing, the icing should drizzle down and smooth out within 5-10 seconds. If it’s too thick, add a little more water. If it’s too thin, add a little more sifted confectioners’ sugar.
  

  • 

• The icing will dry in about 2 hours at room temperature. If you’re layering royal icing onto cookies for specific designs and need it to set quickly, place cookies in the freezer to help speed it up.

Notes

• Please see the section on Sweeteners for more details and subs for powdering and sweetening options. 
• Read the post for decorating suggestions and instructions.
• You don’t have to toast the almond flour however it definitely takes the flavor up a notch!
• When you make clarified butter, you skim milk solids off the top of melted butter and leave released water in the bottom of the pan. This is a great alternative for dairy-free. I typically make a big batch at a time and store in the fridge.
• If you only have regular xylitol, put it in a coffee grinder or dry food processor to powder it.

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