I know people are divided on this — should cookies be healthy?! Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of eating a cookie? If you’re going to eat a cookie, shouldn’t you just eat a big, full-fat, white-flour, and refined-sugar-full cookie?
Well, I think that’s up to you.
Some people believe the body is a temple. Some people believe the body is a temple we bring sacrifices of chocolate and wine to.
Personally, I believe in honoring your cravings and not making any foods off limits (allergies and medical conditions aside) — but if I want something super indulgent, I like to either go out and eat it, or buy one and bring it home. If I want to make a big batch of cookies to keep around the house and eat throughout the week, I want it to be a healthy-ish cookie.
What meets the “healthy-ish” criteria?
- Mostly whole grain flours. Even when I used a gluten-free all-purpose flour, I chose an AP flour with a chickpea flour base (Bob’s Red Mill brand… my favorite). I tried to limit starchier and/or flours that are more highly processed (read: stripped of most nutrients).
- Refined sugar free. All the cookies I chose are made with either coconut sugar, honey, real maple syrup, or molasses.
- All healthy fats. Instead of butter, lard, shortening (even more processed vegetable oils), I used nut butters, olive oil, and coconut oil.
Without further ado, here is a round-up of my top healthy-ish Christmas cookies (and other treats) to make this season.
The Toasted Pine Nut’s Peanut Butter Blossoms
Ambitious Kitchen’s Paleo Ginger Molasses Cookies
Kale Junkie’s Life Changing Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies
Clean Eats by Tay’s Vegan Soft-Baked Snickerdoodle Cookies
Dani Nemeh’s Gingerbread Truffles
The Healthy Maven’s Healthy Peppermint Chocolate Cookies
Sammy Eason’s Vegan Gingersnap Pillow Cookies
Oh She Glows’ Jumbo Chocolate Chunk Cookies (I added flaky sea salt, and it was out of this world.)
