These cookie recipes are going to give you some great ideas for healthy cookies that are perfect for your cookie exchange. They still taste delicious, but have some really easy recipe alterations to make them lower in carbs and calories. Take a look at some of these decadent creations.
Maple Cinnamon Delights
Cinanmon and maple are the perfect combination when you want to bring something a little different to your Christmas cookie exchange party. For these cookies, you only need a few ingredients, so they are also super easy to make. You will need flour, but you can opt for whole wheat flour to increase the nutrition of the cookies. Use ½ cup butter, then some olive oil to take the place of the other ½ cup of butter. You then need sugar, cinnamon, maple syrup, and maple flavoring.
Low-Fat Pecan Balls
These have many names, from pecan balls or pecan cookies, to Italian wedding cookies. The pecan balls are not very fattening even with the standard ingredients, though you can also use sugar substitutes or switch to almond flour or whole wheat flour instead of regular white flour. All you need for these simple and delicious cookies are confectioners’ sugar, flour, vanilla, salt, butter, and pecan chips. As you can see, they are already going to be a lighter cookie just with the minimal ingredients.
Shortbread Cookies
These are great shortbread cookies that are made to be gluten-free and naturally healthier thanks to the recipe alternatives. You can dip them in some dark chocolate to add to the overall appeal for the Christmas cookie exchange party. Ingredients needed for gluten-free shortbread cookies are dairy-free butter, gluten-free flour, gluten-free baking powder, powdered sugar, xantham gum, and soy chocolate chips or dairy-free chocolate chips. These are fragile cookies, so place them in the cookie tins very carefully.
Light Lemon Cookies
When you want to add something tart and fruity to your cookie exchange creations, these light lemon cookies are perfect. They are a type of snickerdoodle cookie that uses lots of lemon for soft and chewy cookies. You will need egg whites, butter, lemon zest, salt, baking powder, cornstarch, whole wheat flour, vanilla extract, and butter extract. The cookies are simple to make, with a consistency similar to snickerdoodles, but a lemon makeover. The ingredients are naturally lighter than many other types of cookies filled with chocolate, peanut butter, and sugar.
