Healthier Sugar Cookie Cut-Outs
Think of all the times you’ve put together a recipe for a holiday get together or family party. You run out to the store and gather all the ingredients you need. Meticulously checking the ingredients off one by one to make sure you don’t have to head back to the store. You get home, put everything out on the counter, and get to it. All the ingredients have been thrown together and you’re on the home stretch.
And then it hits you.
You forgot it. Have you ever had that moment? I did today. Right in the midst of my Healthier Sugar Cookie Cut-Outs. Yesterday I made my grocery store haul, making sure I had all the necessary ingredients.
Icing ingredients, check.
Cookie cutters, check.
Sprinkles, check.
You get the idea. So there I was. I had the dough all put together, it was chilling in the fridge, and BAM. It hit me. How the heck am I going to roll this dough out.
I like to think I have a pretty well stocked kitchen. My cabinets can hardly store all the gadgets I have in there. Guess I must have overlooked the rolling-pin on my wedding registry. Fortunately for a little Google search, I was able to find a solution. Just an old wine bottle to the rescue! An absentee rolling-pin wasn’t going to keep me from eating these delicious healthier sugar cookie cut-outs. And now I’m sitting here munching on one of these bad boys as I write this.
These are not your mama’s sugar cookie cut-outs. These are healthier sugar cookie cut-outs. You bet I cut the sugar and bumped up the flour. Furthermore, if you are gluten-free, you can also enjoy these cookies. In this recipe, I use gluten-free flour and oat flour in place of all-purpose flour. If you want to make your own oat flour, you can find my recipe here. The oat flour provides a sweet, chewy flavor to the dough. All I have to say is YUM!
Start by combining all the wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl. When well combined, add in the dry ingredients. Then, when it is all put together, I suggest covering and placing in the fridge for one or two hours. The dough seems to hold up better when it’s chilled.
When your dough is nice and chilled you can roll your dough out on some parchment paper or a cold pastry board. I suggest doing so with a rolling-pin, but a wine bottle works just as well! The dough should be rolled out pretty thin, about a quarter-inch. Then get at that dough with your cookie cutters. Place the cut-out on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place in the oven for 7-10 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Remove from baking sheet and let cool before frosting.
After your first batch is done, you can roll-out the scrap dough for additional cut-outs. Depending the size of your cookie cutters, this recipe should yield about three dozen cookies. However, larger cutters will yield less.
Lastly, don’t judge the delicious-ness of these cookies based on my poor frosting technique. You won’t find me on the next episode The Great American Baking Show anytime soon. Fortunately for me, the looks don’t affect the taste! Who doesn’t like a creepy looking gingerbread man anyways.
So let’s get baking! Throwing this together for your holiday treats? Be sure to let me know by tagging a photo #stephanieleenutrition on Instagram. I’d love to see what you all bake up. Happy eating!
| Servings |
dozen cookies
|
- 1/2 cup stevia
- 1 stick butter
- 4 tablespoons vanilla Greek yogurt
- 2 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/2 teaspoon butter extract
- 1 3/4 cup flour of choice (I used gluten free flour, all purpose flour would work as well)
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1-2 teaspoons water (optional)
Ingredients
|
|
- In a large mixing bowl, combine stevia, butter, Greek yogurt, egg whites, and vanilla/almond/butter extracts. Beat until well combined.
- Then, slowly add flour, baking powder, and salt to the wet mixture until well combined. Cookie dough should be slightly crumbly. If the dough does not come together, add 1 teaspoon of water. Repeat as necessary.
- Cover mixture with plastic wrap and chill for 1-2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 375. When dough has been chilled, roll out very thin, about 1/4 inch, between two layers of baking paper or over a cold pastry board.
- Using cookie cutters, cut out your cookies and place on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper, approximately 1 inch apart.
- Bake for 7-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool before frosting.
